(Images via http://www.bostonballetblog.org & theunmarkeddoor.com)
Every couple of months I try and see a dance show, and I was very fortunate to see the premier of Boston Ballet’s “Elo Experience” last week by world renowned choreographer Jorma Elo at the Opera House. I was particularly excited about this show because I had heard the performance combined contemporary and classic ballet elements to create a one-of-a-kind piece. When I saw the actual performance I was completely breath-taken and revitalized, I even remember getting chills throughout certain parts of the performance. Aside from the avant-garde fusion of spoken word and electric movements by the dancers, the theatrical stage lighting, sound design, costumes, and music sequences truly distinguished the performance from traditional shows.
Elo Experience shows a love story represented in a masterpiece assemblage of seven different ballet excerpt creations. The curtains drew open for the first act to reveal an eerie empty stage and Jeffrey Cirio (Second Soloist). There was no dramatic orchestra tune, just Cirios perfected modern moves as he danced in silence in an almost mime like fashion while his breathing patterns echoing over the sound system as background music.
Then Larissa Ponomrenko (Principal dancer) entered the scene and acted as Cirio’s companion throughout the acts. Both dancers frequently talked about ‘speed limits’, and ‘being late’, and ‘building a house’, weaving in moments of Ponomarenko’s native Russian dialect. Moonlight, love, and time were reoccurring themes with spoken excerpts from Frank Sinatra’s – Fly Me to the Moon – that added an element of modern culture, in juxtaposition to Tchaikovskys compositions in the background. Large geometric stage lights of electric blue and amber with moving fixtures also enhanced the performance and helped tie the pieces together. The dancers treated the performance as a journey to which I became emotionally engrossed, laughing along to the playful sequences and moving towards the edge of my seat during the dramatic turns.
The performance was unique in its implication of classical ballet technique married with innovative concepts. Although the choreography was driven by modern concepts, the dancers never lost their technical focus. The performance narrative displayed the relationship between man and woman, its tension and the residual/eternal forces of love – the push and pull, ending with Cirio who recites, “we walk in the snow together and slowly grow old” in a dying cadence.
I was looking through the booklet only to spot a fellow Mongolian dancer from Khovd, Mongolia by the name of Altan Dugaraa. Its not everyday that you find a Mongolian in Boston, especially a Mongolian dancer, so I was very proud of him and his honorable rank as an international dancer.
Back to my point – the power of dance, of body, movement, and action offer a powerful effect. I was a bit blue before the show, but afterwards I was emotionally moved in a way words cannot replace. It kind of shows you that we are physical creatures who should not be bound/enclosed or mentally/physically repressed. I always think there is nothing better than getting influenced by the arts in times of emotional turmoil.
Every couple of months I try and see a dance show, and I was very fortunate to see the premier of Boston Ballet’s “Elo Experience” last week by world renowned choreographer Jorma Elo at the Opera House. I was particularly excited about this show because I had heard the performance combined contemporary and classic ballet elements to create a one-of-a-kind piece. When I saw the actual performance I was completely breath-taken and revitalized, I even remember getting chills throughout certain parts of the performance. Aside from the avant-garde fusion of spoken word and electric movements by the dancers, the theatrical stage lighting, sound design, costumes, and music sequences truly distinguished the performance from traditional shows.
Elo Experience shows a love story represented in a masterpiece assemblage of seven different ballet excerpt creations. The curtains drew open for the first act to reveal an eerie empty stage and Jeffrey Cirio (Second Soloist). There was no dramatic orchestra tune, just Cirios perfected modern moves as he danced in silence in an almost mime like fashion while his breathing patterns echoing over the sound system as background music.
Then Larissa Ponomrenko (Principal dancer) entered the scene and acted as Cirio’s companion throughout the acts. Both dancers frequently talked about ‘speed limits’, and ‘being late’, and ‘building a house’, weaving in moments of Ponomarenko’s native Russian dialect. Moonlight, love, and time were reoccurring themes with spoken excerpts from Frank Sinatra’s – Fly Me to the Moon – that added an element of modern culture, in juxtaposition to Tchaikovskys compositions in the background. Large geometric stage lights of electric blue and amber with moving fixtures also enhanced the performance and helped tie the pieces together. The dancers treated the performance as a journey to which I became emotionally engrossed, laughing along to the playful sequences and moving towards the edge of my seat during the dramatic turns.
The performance was unique in its implication of classical ballet technique married with innovative concepts. Although the choreography was driven by modern concepts, the dancers never lost their technical focus. The performance narrative displayed the relationship between man and woman, its tension and the residual/eternal forces of love – the push and pull, ending with Cirio who recites, “we walk in the snow together and slowly grow old” in a dying cadence.
I was looking through the booklet only to spot a fellow Mongolian dancer from Khovd, Mongolia by the name of Altan Dugaraa. Its not everyday that you find a Mongolian in Boston, especially a Mongolian dancer, so I was very proud of him and his honorable rank as an international dancer.
Back to my point – the power of dance, of body, movement, and action offer a powerful effect. I was a bit blue before the show, but afterwards I was emotionally moved in a way words cannot replace. It kind of shows you that we are physical creatures who should not be bound/enclosed or mentally/physically repressed. I always think there is nothing better than getting influenced by the arts in times of emotional turmoil.
hilitehead 
elaborate?