{"id":4951,"date":"2013-02-12T23:58:47","date_gmt":"2013-02-13T07:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=4951"},"modified":"2013-03-07T06:39:35","modified_gmt":"2013-03-07T14:39:35","slug":"sf-ballet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/sf-ballet\/","title":{"rendered":"SF Ballet: World Premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo (above) Maria Kochetkova and Jaime Garcia Castilla in McGregor’s Borderlands.\u00a0 \u00a9 Erik Tomasson<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Wayne McGregor’s New Work – Borderlands<\/em><\/h1>\n

Review by Jo Tomalin\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sofiane Sylve and Vito Mazzeo in McGregor’s Borderlands.
\u00a9 Erik Tomasson<\/p><\/div>\n

The opening season of SF Ballet began with Program 1<\/em> January 29, to February 3, 2013 at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House offered three different ballets, all distinct in flavor.<\/p>\n

The headliner is undoubtedly the World Premiere of Borderlands <\/em>created for SF Ballet <\/em>by multi-award-winning British choreographer and director Wayne McGregor. McGregor has also created new works for La Scala, Paris Opera Ballet, the Royal Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theatre and New York Ballet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

San Francisco Ballet in McGregor’s Borderlands.
\u00a9 Erik Tomasson<\/p><\/div>\n

Borderlands <\/em>is a vibrant ballet inspired by the abstract paintings of German-American artist Josef Albers. In fact, McGregor and his team spent time at the Josef Albers Foundation in Connecticut immersing themselves in the way Albers worked with colors as a means to deceive the eye, which McGregor used as a starting point for this ballet.<\/p>\n

Twelve dancers vividly perform the many fibrous, pulsing, zippy, four-minute segment dances in duos, trios, and groups starting in the huge walled white box (Scenic Design by McGregor and Lucy Carter). Slowly the white box turns shades of gray to dark gray.<\/p>\n

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Maria Kochetkova and Lonnie Weeks in McGregor’s Borderlands.
\u00a9 Erik Tomasson<\/p><\/div>\n

The dynamic lighting design (Lighting Design by Lucy Carter) becomes its own element of this ballet as it ranges from gray to electric blue and neon orange; it complements and contrasts with the electronic sonic score music composed by Joel Cadbury and Paul Stoney. This is a visceral and relevant ensemble work with stunning solos and duos, unexpected shapes of athletic lifts, and dramatic visual and challenging choreographic movement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sarah Van Patten in Lifar’s Suite en Blanc.
\u00a9 Erik Tomasson<\/p><\/div>\n

Suite en Blanc<\/em> choreographed by Serge Lifar, Staged by the accomplished Maina Geilgud with \u00c9douado Lalo\u2019s rapturous music, opened the program. \u00a0This is a neoclassical ballet with a breathtaking traditional look set against a black background. As the curtains opened there were formations of dancers on two levels in long white dresses or tutus, the men in gray tights and romantic ruched-sleeved shirts filled the stage.\u00a0 The Corps of twenty dancers, trios and duos were exquisite and the four soloists on January 30 (Koto Ishihara, Vanessa Zahorian, Gennadi Nedvigin and Maria Kochetkova) were elegant, precise and projected well. A wonderful ensemble piece to start the season!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Vanessa Zahorian and Rub\u00e9n Mart\u00edn Cintas in Robbins’ In The Night.
\u00a9 Erik Tomasson<\/p><\/div>\n

In The Night<\/em> choreographed by Jerome Robbins was a passionate and lyrical ballet Re-Created by Kevin Connaughton, set to music by Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Chopin, featuring pianist Roy Bogas. Three couples in beautifully ornate and richly textured costumes, designed by Anthony Dowell partner and interact in combinations. Sasha DeSola and Steven Morse danced romantically, reaching out to each other then entwining arms, Morse lifts and whisks DeSola away \u2013 beautiful. Next, Jennifer Stahl and Tiit Helimets, a couple with a compelling and strong presence, danced with quick changes of pace, swaying lifts and quivering swoops. Finally, Sarah van Patten and Luke Ingham performed flawless lifts and gentle placement in their fascinating lyrical and hot – cold relationship, which also had a playful side. In The Night<\/em> is a captivating piece exploring love, under the starlit sky of Jennifer Tipton’s Lighting Design.<\/p>\n

SF Ballet\u2019s next program: Program 3<\/em> features Possokhov\u2019s The Rite of Spring<\/em> \u00a0(February 26 \u2013 March 10).
\nDon’t miss it!<\/p>\n

For more information:
\nSF Ballet: http:\/\/www.sfballet.org<\/a>
\nWayne McGregor: http:\/\/www.randomdance.org<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0\u00a0 Jo Tomalin Reviews Dance, Physical Theatre, Theatre & Movement Performances<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D.<\/span>
\n<\/a>More Reviews by Jo Tomalin<\/a><\/strong> – Click on list to right of page
\n Critics World<\/strong>
\n www.forallevents.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bio below…<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo (above) Maria Kochetkova and Jaime Garcia Castilla in McGregor’s Borderlands.\u00a0 \u00a9 Erik Tomasson Wayne McGregor’s New Work – Borderlands Review by Jo Tomalin\u00a0 The opening season of SF Ballet…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":5005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[287,291,295,292,298,307,297,715,303,306,290,302,310,293,305,296,304,299,309,300,288,285,301,294,308,289,286],"class_list":{"0":"post-4951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jo-tomalin","8":"tag-borderlands","9":"tag-dores-andre","10":"tag-frances-chung","11":"tag-gennadi-nedvigin","12":"tag-in-the-night","13":"tag-jennifer-stahl","14":"tag-jerome-robbins","15":"tag-jo-tomalin","16":"tag-joel-cadbury","17":"tag-kevin-connaughton","18":"tag-koto-ishihara","19":"tag-lucy-carter","20":"tag-luke-ingham","21":"tag-maina-geilgud","22":"tag-maria-kochetkova","23":"tag-maria-kotchetkova","24":"tag-paul-stoney","25":"tag-roy-bogas","26":"tag-sarah-van-patten","27":"tag-sasha-desola","28":"tag-serge-lifar","29":"tag-sf-ballet","30":"tag-steven-morse","31":"tag-suite-en-blanc","32":"tag-tiit-helimets","33":"tag-vanessa-zahorian","34":"tag-wayne-mcgregor"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"