Thursday, March 05, 2009

Ants on stage

Going into the Innovation program at the National Ballet of Canada, I figured that the Peter Quanz piece and the Sabrina Matthews piece would be well received, since both work in the neo-classical style the subscribing crowd likes so much, orchestral music and all. But it was Crystal Pite who provided the "Were you there when..? moment. She took her adventurous contemporary style and eerie rumbling soundtrack and used it to turn classical ballet moves on their head. The piece was dark, metaphorically and literally (my only complaint). You knew you were seeing something special when the female dancers came on stage en masse, all en point, masked like ants and you felt it was some weird hybrid insect scuttling out, cylon meets arachnid. Everyone's heart was beating faster at the end. Listening to the lobby conversations, even the stuffiest looking matron agreed--Pite's Emergence was a powerful piece.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous3:43 PM

    I'm seeing the piece tomorrow -- really looking forward to it. Especially Crystal's piece!

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Thanks for the comment!