Washington Ballet’s “Beyond the Limits, an Evening Curated by Anabelle López Ochoa” is an inspired trilogy of works that challenge conceptions of what ballet is and can be.
A Dancer’s Prayer by Houston Thomas opened the program with a bang, featuring dancers in black bodysuits with metallic details tracing vectors among a clean, illuminated grid. The reflective silver of the suit, the quality of the weighted movement, and the serious facial expressions conjured up images of quicksilver and lava, thick and dangerous.
High-contrast spotlights were interspersed with strobes and intensified with fog to create an atmosphere of anticipation. The electronic, immersive music, composed by Johannes Goldbach, provided subtle yet powerful tones through which surprising sounds burst to create a sonic score shaped like the surface of the ocean.
The energetic rise and fall of this piece was well choreographed to keep the audience interested for a significant period of high intensity action. The concept poem, written by Skyler Maxey-Wert, was repeated several times during composition.
The opening phrase of this poem, “in a moment of contemplation, we turn our gaze inward,” was combined with the same movement phrase each time, giving the audience a central moment from which to thoughtfully expand into and out of the ideas explored. on the stage. .
In the second work, Delusional Beauty, we move to a more surreal world, different from the previous one but equally curious.
A golden figure wearing a spherical flower headdress moves slowly and sinuously toward a two-dimensional tree topped with three golden balloons. The dancers move around the two enduring figures, drawn to the power of the flower person and forced to be close to a loose balloon that appears and travels between the hands.
Delusional Beauty by Annabelle López Ochoa demonstrates exemplary use of props to enhance narrative and create meaning. Like the Dalí she was inspired by, this piece is sublime; a work of art in motion.
The balloon has such a compelling and unique slow-motion quality that the dancers, especially Gilles Delellio, complemented so skillfully. It was just fun to watch the dancers improvise with the prop and adapt to the little unchoreographed movements of the floating balloon.
Cristina Spinei’s colorēm was the standout piece and closed the show with a lasting image and an unanswered question, which led the audience to remember it long after the performance was over.
Spinei’s choreography featured a mix of contemporary dance vocabulary and ballet technique. The stark contrast of the red or gray jumpsuits made the unison formations and choreography of this piece visually striking and memorable.
Traditionally, all dancers performed gender partner roles, regardless of gender, with strength and finesse. It was nice to see the company practicing skills and ways they may not be familiar with. In each case, I was impressed by the versatility of his talent.
The relationship between groups reached its highest point in the relationship between Gilles Delellio and Maki Onuki. The expression in his pas de deux felt charged but not romantic, emotionally dynamic in the way it keeps one watching. These dancers performed with the beauty and subtlety that makes people love ballet.
The red and gray groups were not divided by gender or any other demographic difference and movement was varied equally. The apparent non-representation of colors allowed for the projection and interpretation of meaning, which I thought was one of the smartest elements of this work.
I found myself reading the colorēm binary as a politician. In Washington, DC, during a presidential election year, a clash of red and blue-gray instantly reminded me of political relationships on an interpersonal scale. In another place and time, the expressive systematic movements might have reminded me of blood cells or insects. Spinei’s work is a master class on the value of the abstract.
As the final production of the 2023.24 season, I left “Beyond Boundaries” wanting more in the most delicious way. I’m curious to see what works the company will present under the direction of Edwaard Liang in his first full season as artistic director in the fall, and how Washington Ballet will continue to evolve alongside and among the arts in DC.
Image by @xmbphotography
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