Last week I got to see Boston Ballet’s – A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Choreography: George Balanchine/Music: Felix Mendelssohn), while working at the ballet shop during the intermission. A while back on the T I accidentally met with this woman who turned out to be a big ballet fan and BB volunteer. We got to talking and she shared with me some inside info about the BB volunteer program. I guess students receive a discounted ‘rush ticket’ for $20 two hours prior to curtain time for any performance, but by becoming a volunteer you get to work a bit and in exchange get to see the performance for free.
The show on Sunday was a remarkable performance, I was mesmerized by the mixture of the connection of the music to body movement, dance and its emotional resonance, the brilliant dancers and the beautiful set as much as Elo Experience. Having only heard snippets about the play’s plot through classes before, I knew very little about the plot. But the expert performance by the dancers made the story surprisingly easy to comprehend. The set had swampy and at times magical colors of blue, green, purple, gold and silver that were central to the performance lighting and created a dream like mood into the realms of the fairy world. There was one scene during the first part of the performance where a cloud of fog flooded the stage against specks of blue/green under-lights, during which time the four lovers battle and finally lay sleeping on the ground. The fog slowly emerges against their bodies and at a moment completely vanishing them, then run off the stage and into the orchestra pit. This was such a surreal scene for me, it bought up such emotional resonance almost like an uncanny scene out of David Lynch’s “Eraserhead”. The costumes and its whimsical blends of light purples, pink, and fairy stardust also added to the imaginary aspect of the play.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was Balanchine’s first original, full-length ballet. Called by critic Clive Barnes, “a fantasy spectacle of love,” the ballet is a masterful combination of storytelling and choreography danced to the exquisite sounds of Mendelssohn. The ballet tells a story of love, illusion and adventures of two pairs of mortal lovers and the king and queen of the fairies. The production includes a large cast complete with 25 students from Boston Ballet School and sets and costumes designed by Tony Award-winner Martin Pakledinaz.
Cant wait to see the contemporary ballet, “Bella Figura” up next on April 30th!
The show on Sunday was a remarkable performance, I was mesmerized by the mixture of the connection of the music to body movement, dance and its emotional resonance, the brilliant dancers and the beautiful set as much as Elo Experience. Having only heard snippets about the play’s plot through classes before, I knew very little about the plot. But the expert performance by the dancers made the story surprisingly easy to comprehend. The set had swampy and at times magical colors of blue, green, purple, gold and silver that were central to the performance lighting and created a dream like mood into the realms of the fairy world. There was one scene during the first part of the performance where a cloud of fog flooded the stage against specks of blue/green under-lights, during which time the four lovers battle and finally lay sleeping on the ground. The fog slowly emerges against their bodies and at a moment completely vanishing them, then run off the stage and into the orchestra pit. This was such a surreal scene for me, it bought up such emotional resonance almost like an uncanny scene out of David Lynch’s “Eraserhead”. The costumes and its whimsical blends of light purples, pink, and fairy stardust also added to the imaginary aspect of the play.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was Balanchine’s first original, full-length ballet. Called by critic Clive Barnes, “a fantasy spectacle of love,” the ballet is a masterful combination of storytelling and choreography danced to the exquisite sounds of Mendelssohn. The ballet tells a story of love, illusion and adventures of two pairs of mortal lovers and the king and queen of the fairies. The production includes a large cast complete with 25 students from Boston Ballet School and sets and costumes designed by Tony Award-winner Martin Pakledinaz.
Cant wait to see the contemporary ballet, “Bella Figura” up next on April 30th!
hilitehead 
elaborate?