BalletX opens its winter series with powerful, strong dance - and bunny ears?
This weekend might be your only chance to see otherwise glorious concert dance performed by dancers wearing very large bunny ears. Such was the case when Trey McIntyre's Big Ones received its world premiere Wednesday night, as BalletX opened its winter series at the Wilma Theater.
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This weekend might be your only chance to see otherwise glorious concert dance performed by dancers wearing very large bunny ears. Such was the case when Trey McIntyre's Big Ones received its world premiere Wednesday night, as BalletX opened its winter series at the Wilma Theater.
McIntyre was the mentor for BalletX's new choreographic fellowship. He and Yin Yue, an emerging choreographer from China chosen among 50 applicants, worked together for two months, each producing a new ballet.
The Winter Series also included an East Coast premiere from Matthew Neenan, the company's cofounder.
McIntyre's Big Ones was danced en pointe, in pleather costumes, to songs by Amy Winehouse and the Vitamin String Quartet - and with enormous headgear.
In a preshow talk, McIntyre said that the piece was light and that the bunny ears were supposed to emphasize the absurd. But they were the only things absurd about the piece - and very distracting from the otherwise strong dance. The piece started out with the ears lined up on stands that seemed ready for microphones. Perhaps they spoke to Winehouse's bad choices and in-your-face need for attention.
Yue's piece, One Heartbeat Above, One Shadow Below, set to an original score by Juliane Jones and Doug Beiden, also could have used some editing. The movement was powerful, opening with series of steps that repeated until tragedy struck. This ballet concerned death - how it affects the victim as well as those left behind. But the telling leaned too much on clichés: the dying man in the pool of light, loved ones leaning on each other trying to cope. It also felt clichéd to have an angel visit the victim, but it was touching how Cali Quan "flew" on the shoulders of two other dancers.
Andrea Yorita was among the strongest in Neenan's Show Me, duets and quartets danced to Brooklyn Rider and Beethoven. This piece, which debuted at the 2015 Vail International Dance Festival, featured Neenan's quirky port de bras and strutted steps. (Two more sections were added for this Wilma run.) Very much a group piece, it touches on many styles of dance. Again, Yorita stood out, often literally throwing herself into the partnering.