Love and Ballet: Passionate Rabbit at PNB

Last weekend I took my daughter to see the final program in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 2017-2018 season. It was the mixed rep “Love and Ballet.” The program began with Christopher Wheeldon’s “Tide Harmonic” and the pas de deux from “After the Rain,” which I wrote about earlier this week. The other pieces in the program were Benjamin Millepied’s “Appassionata” and Justin Peck’s “Year of the Rabbit.” There were several reasons I was excited to for this program of non-narrative ballets.

Appassionata

Music: Ludwig van Beethoven (Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57, “Appassionata”, c. 1804-1806)
Choreography: Benjamin Millepied
Staging: Sebastien Marcovici and Janie Taylor
Scenic and Lighting Design:  Lucy Carter
Costume Design: Alessandro Sartori
Lighting Supervision: Emma Jones
Duration: 24 minutes
Premiere: February 5, 2016; Paris Opera Ballet (originally titled La nuit s’achève)
Pacific Northwest Ballet Premiere: September 23, 2016 (renamed Appassionata)

I’m not sure how I missed its PNB premiere in 2016, since I was a regular attendee that season, but this was the first time I’ve seen “Appassionata.” In fact, as far as I can tell, this was my first time seeing anything by Millepied, which seems strange since the name is so familiar. But I don’t remember what I don’t write, so I was looking forward to finally getting a visual to go with the name.

One of the few details of the pre-talk that did sink in was the rarity of ballets set to music by Beethoven. I love Beethoven, so that was another reason to look forward to the piece. Even though I’d never thought about it before, seeing ballet set to Beethoven’s music was sort of strange – it felt a little prickly, kind of like when they use pop music.

Another reason to look forward to this ballet was the cast. It would be one of my last chances to see Karel Cruz perform. And since there was a small cast and no story per se to follow, I could work on getting better at identifying the dancers. Noelani Pantastico and Karel Cruz are already easy for me to pick out. But Appassionata gave me the opportunity to study Elizabeth Murphy and Leah Merchant (I think I’ve got it now) as well as Jerome Tisserand and Steven Loch. (There’s no excuse, especially in the case of Tisserand whom I’ve been watching since 2007, but I still can’t always find these two in the crowd.)

Watching the Kaleidoscope dance performance recently reminded me that enjoyed dance as an audience member does not require knowledge of dance. Dance is very direct, and appreciation is as simple as taking delight in what you see. But knowledge can of course grant extra depth to appreciation, and not being able to do something as simple as tell dancers apart makes me feel very dull sometimes.

Thinking about my own bluntness, combined with the Crayola colors of the three pairs’ costumes, reminded me of the children’s picture book The Day the Crayons Quit. I imagined the dancers as personifications of their colors. When they reappeared in black, gray, and white pajamas, I imagined that this is what the crayons got up to while they were on strike. Hilariously, while I was dreaming of colors, my 9-year-old built up elaborate relationships and personal histories for each of the six members of the group.

However much story you choose to read into the dance (or not) there was a lot of cool movement. Dancers boomerang and swing around each other. The all-white pas de deux was definitely the “love” part of Love and Ballet and I envied the dancers the lazy, lovey Saturday morning of the kind you never get again once you have kids.

Year of the Rabbit

Music: Sufjan Stevens (Enjoy Your Rabbit, 2002), orchestration by Michael P. Atkinson
Choreography: Justin Peck
Staging: Craig Hall and Janie Taylor
Costume Design: Justin Peck
Lighting Design: Brandon Stirling Baker
Premiere: October 5, 2012; New York City Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet Premiere: March 18, 2016

Unlike “Appassionata,” I did see this ballet in 2016, but I had mostly forgotten it. I’ve always been more into the Chinese zodiac than Western astrology. Recently, the girls and I got really into the series Fruits Basket, which added some much-loved characters to our personal ideas about the various zodiac animals. The seven sections of Justin Peck’s ballet present the Ox, Rabbit, Tiger, Dragon, Rooster, Lord, and Boar. Technically, the sections are each named “Year of…” so perhaps they convey the feng shui of each zodiac year, rather than the animals themselves. In any case, there wasn’t much in each section that evoked the titular animal.

I mean, Angelica Generosa as an Ox? Even if there is a bit of bullish ground-pawing, no. Just no. Not an ox. Still, she’s one of my favorite dancers. I’ll happy watch her solo no matter what the brochure says she’s supposed to be.

Anyway, in the dark where I couldn’t constantly check the program, it didn’t take long before I lost track of which animal we were on. Instead I just relaxed into the playful mood of the piece and enjoyed the movements. Like the other dances in this program, there is some interesting partnering and a more emotional, informal mood than a lot of neoclassical ballet.

But Year of the Rabbit doesn’t stray too far from the classical canon, and that’s fine. As much as I love the mind-blowing, breathtaking numbers that make you wonder if what you are seeing is actually ballet, I also love a night of good ballet. You don’t need showstoppers to have a lovely night at the ballet.

Tickets

The remaining performances are:

June 7-9 at 7:30 pm

June 10 at 1:00 pm

Tickets ($37-$187) may be purchased online. Subject to availability, tickets are also available 90 minutes prior to each performance at McCaw Hall – these tickets are half-price for students and seniors; $5 for TeenTix members. If you are between ages 20-40, sign up for ThePointe to receive discounts.

{I attended Love and Ballet compliments of Pacific Northwest Ballet.}