A-OK

As I was in the Church St and Dundas St area for a morning yoga session on Saturday, I rewarded myself with a lunch at Sabai Sabai. I had a great meal here for Songkran but that was a while back. Will it be as tasty as my recent visit to Soos or just better than average like Khao San?

It was a delicious lunch and cheaper than expected given the high quality. That might explain why the place was empty at 11:30 but wasbustling about an hour later. For appetizers, I got some shrimp chips. What came out was a large basket overflowing with enough for several people. Don't know if it was in-house (how could they afford it at $4) or good-quality import, but the chips were flavourful and crunchy. The tamarind was a tad on the sweet side instead of tangy, so the chips were better as is or dipped in the curry.

Speaking of curry, the fish panang curry ($11) was excellent. Fragrant, nicely seasoned, and with a good dollop of coconut milk, it was perfect poured over the rice. Most importantly, the fish was tender, with a slightly crispy coating, and carried a lot of flavour. The kitchen did a great job given that most places fumble the seafood curry.

Lady Sing The Tunes

I've often complained that cover band Dwayne Gretzky sing too much "classic" songs, given their age. Amazingly, they have finally scheduled a concert where they will sing only 90s tunes. Too bad it will be during the Easter week-end and I can't attend. So despite an incipient cold, I decided to venture out late Thursday evening to perhaps the "next best thing", a Ladies of the 90s tribute at tiny Holy Oak café.

The band was called Sheryl and consisted of local musicians including Kelly McMichael. But it didn't just fall on her to sing the songs of Paula Cole, Jann Arden, Sarah McLachlan et al. A rotating line-up of female singers sharing both lead and harmony took their turn, to the delight of the mostly female crowd. But the men weren't entire left out as they not provided a tight musical foundation, but drummer Stephen Foster got his spotlight with Natalie Imbruglia's Torn. But Felicity Williams provided the high point. Her experienced voice provided depth and emotionality whereas some others gave surface-level interpretations. They were good, but sounded retrospectively karaoke-ish, after Williams sang her first line. But I can't harp too much on a night of music that was as fun for the band as the audience.

So Soos Me

On my way home from a job fair on Thursday, I stopped by Soos for dinner. I was surprised this new mid-range Malay spot was empty, given the good review it got recently on The Globe and Mail. But the place filled up afterwards. The front was modern beige and black, with two ceiling lamps resembling giant sea urchins. Old wooden windows were used as partition. A smaller room in the back can host a party of 10 or so, done up more classically including patterned wallpaper. From the greetings, it sounds like they have regulars already.

I ordered the pork belly pancake ($11) and a laksa ($17). The pork belly was tender and rich, with a lot of nice fatty chew. The soy reduction gave it some saltiness, but not overbearing. The taro root pancake was forgettable though, too hard and crunchy. The laksa was a cousin to Thailand's khao soi. The curry broth was lighter and less creamy, making it less overwhelmingly rich. The fried tofu, chicken, and prawns were nicely done and flavourful. The vermicelli  base had both thick and thin noodles, adding interesting texture. This was a warming and excellent soup.

Walking Head

Thursday evening, I dropped by the Great Hall for a hi-tech job fair. With 600 confirmed attendees, I figured it'll be packed cheeks-to-jowls. Although how that would work was unclear as the venue was not currently licensed to host that many people. But there were much less than that and the mood more convivial. After all, beer was available at the bar.

I was pleasantly surprised at the nearly equal split in gender, even if there were designer/creative and product/marketing in the mix. I guess the exciting world of mobile apps startups do not skew so overwhelmingly male as other tech sectors. Most of the attendees were attractive and nattily dressed. If there were beards, it was trendy hipster beard. No neck-beards to be found. In fact, there were few over 45. In keeping with the demographics, companies actually had onsite perks (a massage therapist) or touted them in their brochure ("beer-o-clock", free lunch). There was also catered food for everyone. It reminded me of a recent online discussion about ageism, working hours, and expectation in IT. As one commenter stated: "Pay me in cash. I'm an adult, I can buy my own damn snacks." But I don't turn down free food. So skipping over the cotton candy, I grabbed some pork sliders, chicken skewers, and fried unidentifiables.

Products ranged from reading apps, tchotchke (okay, custom products for branding), to numerous do-it-yourself services (accounting, A/B testing). One company had a bracelet that uses your unique heartbeat to authenticate yourself (your car, your macbook).  How can I find the space for another armband given my Chi power bracelet, smartwatch, and Nike monitor? Seriously though, yes many major players are moving away from passwords and PINs. But some of their predictions were hand-wavingly optimistic. Hotels aren't even willing now to update their passcard entry despite a known flaw (and published exploit); yet they will spend millions to install a system from a start-up that will initially be used only by a tiny fraction of their customer base? But perhaps I could be a new "Ipod not as good as Nomad" guy.

Shopify had a large section to themselves. They sell their e-commerce platform to companies, usually smaller in size. Touting 100,000 clients, I asked them about the "hard problem". No surprise when they talked about strategies to scale out their services, support high traffic, and ensure long uptime. That got me thinking that this might be a "hard problem", but you'd think it's a solved one (for some value of solved). Any company which measures in millions of users need to do it, not to mention the "big boys" like Google, Facebook, Twitter. Is everybody re-inventing the wheel and hand-rolling their own solution? There was one embarrassing moment. Despite touting the ease-of-use of their intuitive interface, many attendees needed help walking through all the steps to make a "purchase".

Peace Out, Man

Tuesday night promised to be a night of chill-out music at the Danforth Music Hall. Opening act Cate Le Bon certainly started that way. Songs like I Can't Help You were moody pop, although sometimes enlivened with some yelping from the singer. But they also had a 60s psychedelic vibe that they indulged mid-set; Wild and Sisters careened through wavy chords while maintaining a solid bass. As a native Welsh, she should put more emphasis on her appealing accent which, when it came through, seemed to energize the words.

The near-capacity crowd was there for all-girl band Warpaint. They played dancey but slow and understated tunes with whispery vocals including the Madonna-esque Undertow that immediately got the ganja lit. Even their "cover" of My Guy (actually a reworked song called Billy Holiday) stripped away the upbeat poppiness. But they slowly ramped up the tempo and instrumentation until by the encore, they were doing extended jams that got the crowd, if not rocking, then at least doing some serious head-nodding. Most dudes were into the hypnotic mood, as well as the attractiveness of the members of Warpaint, while the women preferred to sway to the increasingly sexy beats.

Eastern Promises

As I was in the East end Tuesday night, I took the opportunity to dine on the Danforth strip. I settled on Combine Eatery, a trendy neighbourhood spot. It has the typical close tables, large communal slab, and so on. Their motto was "south north of the border" so the menu listed burritos, SoCal tacos, ribs, and burgers. I ordered 3 fish tacos with salad ($15.95) and a side order of Combine rice ($4.95).

The salad went well with the Spanish-style rice. The rice had a nice chew and slightly sweet from its tomato base. The fresh tomatoes, arugula, etc. were tasty but the bed of lettuce was bland, mostly because it had almost no dressing. Too bad the tacos were problematic. In the West end, there's a plethora of taco joints from traditional hole-in-the-walls to more expensive trendy spots. Not sure how many are in the East end, but this was not good representation.

The fried basa was crispy and tender. They went light on the sauce toppings to emphasize the light and fresh texture. So far so good. But the corn tortillas were tough and dry, worst I've ever had. By the 3rd one, as the tacos cooled down, it was inedible. I noticed through the open kitchen that they had a surge in taco orders and were doing 12-15 on the flat-top. So maybe it was a bad batch that got over-done. And yet, this is basic kitchen management. I'll split the difference and call these sadly mediocre. At $6 each, which is even more than the pricey West end joints, it was simply unacceptable.

Art Attack

When poet Christian Bök wrote Eunoia, for each of the 5 chapters, he only used words that contain vowels of one type (for example, only 'e' or 'a'). In fact, eunoia is the shortest word that has all the vowels. Choreographer Denise Fujiwara decided to use similar constraints. On Saturday, I went to Enwave Theatre to see the result of this work which took several years to develop.

Her dance was also divided into 5 chapters (A, E, I, O, U). There were several ways that the dancers expressed themselves through these constraints. It was either style (salsa, tap, kathak), activities (wrestle, miming, handstand), variation of particular movements (rolls, drops), or a given body part (knee, heel, torso). They also played with props (hats, cups) and costumes (dresses, pink). Throughout, They rapped, recited, chanted, acted, or sung Bok's verses from Eunoia. Only chapter E had an overarching theme with its invocation of ancient Greece and Helen of Troy.

There were also lots of audio-visual components. The visuals obviously included many of the words and lines. But they had their own patterns such as a Greek temple (written out with just 'temple'), a sort of "lyric video" that revealed all the phrases formed up the letter i, and words falling as snow or bubbling up as water. The music and sound was harder to discern outside of some obvious ones such as whistling or the Doctor Who theme. According to the program notes, they also played with thirds, sixths, or tenths, and elevenths, etc.

It was a fun show and the audience was included in the game-play. The evening started with a game of hangman (with bananas for prizes), though there were some slowpokes. Several words in and people were still not realizing all the words had only 'a' as a vowel. They did better with the crossword. Surprisingly, though the dancers encouraged the audience to text or tweet during the show, only 1 person in the front made a few attempts.

I enjoyed it as performance art, since there wasn't really much dance. In fact,a variation of this piece would be great for kids. They'd have to remove the racier sections like the part about pornos and thr-bbing c-cks or doing push-ups while huffing about 'B-b- s-cks L-l- c-nt'.

Wrap It Up

After an early evening work-out, I was looking for a place to eat. I've been hankering for pizza lately, but Toronto doesn't really have its version of the 99 cent pizza, even if the "high-end" stuff is now excellent. So I was faced with a choice at College and Roxton between Gino's and Pizzaville. I've had Gino's cardboard so that leaves one contender. When I was younger I thought the phrase "Sex is like pizza. Even when it's bad, it's still pretty good" was oh so clever. It's a lie, of course. Bad pizza is pretty bad. So I kept walking.

At Ossington, I recalled that College Falalel ranked as the best falalel shop on blog.to. It was also one of the few to carry "East Coast donairs". The idea of a donair doesn't really appeal, but the regular options could be ok. The first thing I noticed was that prices were almost double that of other places for your usual chicken/beef/etc. shawarma, though still south of $10. The sign said 'Made Fresh' and certainly the ingredients looked home-made (for example, the hummus was chunkier than the perfectly smooth paste). My shish-kebob ($6.99) was reasonably tasty chicken breast and the usual onions, parsley, pickled cabbage, and so on. They also carried a variety of other dishes including Middle-Eastern desserts and fried goods.

District Fine

Due to a mix-up in my calendar on Monday, I found myself in the freezing wind around College and Ossington instead of at home. So I decided to drop by District Oven, recently opened by the owner of 93 Harbord. After 3 years of renovation, this upscale Middle Eastern now replaces the old Brazilian bar, site of numerous World Cup celebrations.

The inside was enormous. You could fit 3 typical Toronto restaurants in here; no worries about fellow diners overhearing your conversation. It was warmly decorated with dark wood, plush lounge sofas. In some ways, the space worked against the food which was homey and comforting, even with chef's upscale touch.

I ordered a grilled eggplant appetizer ($8) and a lamb tagine ($23) with a side of basmati pilau ($5). To my disappointment, I did not get a complimentary (according to a recent review) freshly baked pita. The extremely puffed up bread certainly looked delicious at the other table. The eggplant was nicely grilled with just a touch of charring. The romesco sauce added some smooth nuttiness. The tagine was wonderful with the lamb soft and falling off the bone: rich, tender and nicely balanced in seasoning. It was a generous portion and went great with the saffron rice. The other dishes on the menu also sounded delicious: flatbread pizza, kafta burger, cauliflower "steak". The only downside was that District Oven is a tad pricey to be a regular visit.

Play It Again

A few of the local library branches have piano rooms. So on Saturday, I went to the Parliament site to check it out. What a disappointment. Not only was it out of tuned but worse, a number of the keys did not work. In a way, it was a bit like the neighbourhood. Some of the houses have been renovated but numerous others showed decades of benign neglect.

After about 1 hour on the temperamental piano, I was looking for a luncheon place. I recalled that the Globe and Mail critic recently raved about King Place at Dundas and Sherbourne. Certainly, this Pakistani place did not entice from the outside, all bright neon next to a convenience store. There was a large selection of pre-cooked choices and an equally confusing menu. But the large menu essentially enumerated 1, 2, or 3 picks meals.

I chose Chicken Kashmiri, Okra, and Palaak Paneer ($10.99). My lunch price was slightly cheaper than the listed price because I had only 1 meat option. All dishes had strong flavour, good spice, and very rich (i.e., quite oily). This was food you eat every 8 weeks if you want to save your arteries. The naan was crispier than usual, slightly salted and had flecks of sesame. In fact, it reminded me of the Persian flat bread barbari.

Daylight Savings Time

With the time being moved up an hour last week-end, and another snowstorm blasting through the region, it was a good night to stay in. But local power-pop band Hands & Teeth was having their EP release party at The Dakota Tavern. I've been waiting awhile to get a copy of their songs, so I headed out Wednesday night through the snow and slush.

Amos The Transparent opened the night. Amazingly, they had driven up from Ottawa that day, and was heading back there after their gig. The Dakota was a better sound-system fit for them than the last time I saw them at Sneaky Dee's. Their elaborate arrangements disguised the fact that, as the singer pointed, "here's another sad song." The male and female vocals often traded lyrics and harmony, with the other instruments including the cello providing a lush foundation.

It turns out Hands & Teeth EP Before The Light (7" vinyl) wasn't ready yet, though you could get a download card. They also had pleasing 3-part vocal harmonies, but their music had greater variety between sunny pop and noisy rock. Perhaps each member still bring their own sensibilities or write individual songs, but unlike before most of the lead vocals are now done by singer Natasha Pasternak. Not a bad choice. With her tousled blonde hair, crop top, and slinky skirt, not to mention a pretty mean hand on guitar and synth, Pasternak had a great stage presence.

Say My Name

The Royal on College used to show quite a bit of classic 70s and 80s sci-fi and fantasy. From Rollerball to The Dark Crystal, I watched them all. They don't do much of that anymore, but for March Break they had a matinee showing of The Neverending Story. Although this was a "kids' movie", it may not have been appropriate for all kids. One parent found out quickly that it was too scary for her little girl, but the rest seemed to enjoy it.

Aesthetics have changed. Movies used to take their time to set things up, now it's a barrage of amped up scenes. They used to be darker too: from the opening scene where we learn about the death of Bastian's mother, to the drowning of Atreyu's horse, things weren't sugar-coated for kids' sensibilities. And kids' flicks nowadays probably don't have a character say: "People without hope are easier to control." They certainly would not include nudity. True, these were giant sphinx statues and not people. But it was also quite obvious, as they loomed over Atreyu, that they had large, bare breasts complete with nipples. Two other things I appreciated: no winking over-their-heads jokes, to appease bored parents; and conversely, no dumbing things down for the tykes. The only negative was the instantly recognizable and dated 80s synth music for the soundtrack.

Black Swan

I have seen The National Ballet's version of Swan Lake a few times, including last Fall. But like numerous patrons, I went to another remount on Saturday specifically to see the new Principal Guest Artist Svetlana Lunkina. This "prima ballerina" recently "fled" from the Bolshoi Ballet to settle in Toronto, during the whole acid attack fiasco. She has since danced in a few minor roles with the National Ballet, but everyone wanted to see her in the spotlight. And what better ballet than this.

Immediately, I was struck by the sharpness and precision of her movement, rendering her rather bird-like. It fitted well with her role as Odile, which in Kudelka's version is literally a swan and not merely a woman ensorcelled. But the obverse is that her interaction with Evan McKie (Siegfried) lacked a touch of romanticism, except in the 3rd act when Odile was overcomed with grief from Sigfried's betrayal.

But her style was perfect as Odette. From the moment Lunkina flew into the palace court-room in glittering black, she was commanding, alien, alluring. Of course, all versions of Swan Lake have Odette perform the bravura 32 fouettés (kick turns). She was great, but not exceptional; Lunkina didn't drift but her leg was dropping near the end. A minor technical issue to a beautiful performance.

I wasn't quite as enamoured with McKie. Siegfried's role in Swan Lake is fairly low-key. In many scenes, he stands around. So it was imperative that in his solo moments, he should draw all eyes. Like other Siegfrieds I've seen, McKie had shaky foot-work and over-rotations. But as a partner for Lunkina, he did a great job.

Fry One On

I heard that Khao San Road on Adelaide had some new dishes. Since I was in the neighbourhood on Saturday, I dropped by for a bite. In addition to new appetizer Crispy Rice Salad ($12), I also ordered a slight variation on the pad thai, the 3-flavour pad thai ($15).

Crispy Rice Salad

Three Flavours Pad Thai

The crispiness of the rice comes from being fried in a big rice ball. Then it is broken up and mixed with ginger, lemon grass, cilantro, and scallions. There is some spiciness from the khao yum sauce. First, the flavours were wonderful and fragrant, when you can taste it. Unfortunately, this particular version overwhelmed with tangy acidity. The crusty rice had a nice crunch. But as a personal preference, I felt that cooked or steamed peanuts would have provided a better balance than the roasted kind.

The pad thai also had great flavour though the primary taste of tamarind distinguished it from the usual dish. The beef was a bit hit and miss. Most Thai restaurants only seem to do chicken well and I was hoping for an exception here. The noodles were too greasy though, and reduced the nice chewiness of good fried noodles. Khao San was better than most, but I'm not sure worth the $35 lunch.

Grill Baby Grill

I heard through the twitter vine that the Izakaya portion of Kinton Ramen's Bloor St. location had a soft open this week. On Thursday, I dropped by the 2nd floor restaurant to try some Japanese bar/finger food. It wasn't too full and so the service was very attentive. Could be the soft open, but I suspect that it might not seem obvious from the ground that there was a second restaurant sharing the same entrance as the much more visible Kinton Ramen.

Momo

Kawa

Being a Yakitori (grilled skewers), it wasn't a surprise that half of their two page menu had various meats available. And half of that was all the different parts of the chicken, since Yakitori also means grilled chicken. With each chicken skewer going for $2, I selected 3: Momo (thigh), Kawa (skin), and Sunagimo (gizzard). You also had your choice of either Tare (teriyaki) or salt. I also opted for Ton Toro/pork cheek ($3) and Shiitake Nikuzume ($3.50).

Sunagimo

Shiitake Nikuzume and Ton Toro

Both the chicken thigh and skin were delicious and fragrant. The gizzard was all right but not a retry; you're essentially eating gamey cartilege. Pork cheeks were good, but had a tougher texture than I expected. The mushroom was plentifully stuffed with ground chicken. This was a filling dish, but not memorable. The jalapeno version is probably a better choice.

Tako Ajillo

Dekitate Tofu

From the other side of the menu, I got Yakionigiri ($3), a charcoal-grilled rice ball filled with Konbu kelp; Dekitate Tofu ($7), a soft tofu being slowly cooked in a heated container at your table; and Tako Ajillo ($7), octopus frying in a dish of garlic olive oil. The rice had a great smoky flavour, but the kelp didn't register. Perhaps the other option of plum would be more distinctive. The tofu was soft and had a sweet milky flavour which went great with the roasted salt and ponzu sauce. The octopus was the outstanding dish: rich and chewy. The oil gave it an almost sausage texture and mouth-feel, which went appropriately with the side-dish of toasted bread.

Yakionigiri

Houji Cha Creme Brulee

Though I was full, I did relent on the Houji Cha Creme Brulee ($5). It was soft and creamy, but the roasted green tea flavour didn't come through.

Pho Real

A recent N.Y. Times Travel article profiled Toronto's Ethnic Buffet. It raved about the food joints, locations,  and neighbourhoods that are familiar to locals here. However, the tastes of both the writer and quoted Toronto expert Joe Fiorito (Toronto Star) are called into question when they both declare that Pho Hung in Chinatown serve the best pho in town. Umm, no. Sure, the "real" best are located in either Mississauga or North York with large Vietnamese population. But even with the remaining ones closer to downtown, Pho Hung is on the wrong side of mediocre. A result, no doubt, of its prime tourist location.

But this piece reminded me that during this cold winter, I have yet to eat the once ubiquitous beef noodle soup (having lost its cachet to Japanese Ramen). So on a snowy Tuesday, I returned to Pho Linh at College and Dufferin, popular enough that Vietnamese families drive there from other parts of the city on the week-end. The clientele has changed and expanded over the years. It was all "natives" back in its low-key grungier days. Then came an infusion of Chinese visitors, usually led by a Chinese-Vietnamese elder. The South Americans and labourers from the surrounding working-class neighbourhood finally tweaked to its offerings. There were few Caucasians though, who found the brighter and more open Pho Phuong (Phoenix) across the street less intimidating.

But with the renovation upgrade at restaurant and gentrification of the area (Tavoos, Me and Mine, Brockton Barista), there were now many Caucasians here, though generally of the hipster type. I ordered a fresh roll ($2) and a small pho tai nam ($7). The roll was soft and fragrant with greens, with pork and shrimp. This version of pho came with raw beef slice (tai) and cured beef cuts (nam). Add some basil, mint, and bean sprouts, and it made for a warm soup. I was pleasantly surprised to see some adventurous diners were trying more esoteric dishes including banh canh cua gio heo which comes with familiar ingredients (crab claws) and less mainstream ones (fatty pig knuckles).

Hospitality

The owner of Via Mercanti in Kensington Market has opened a second location on Elm Street inside the newly renovated YWCA. It was a quiet street, being surrounded by hospitals and medical buildings. The restaurant didn't have too many windows, but it has a good amount of patio space for the summer, even if the view was simply tall buildings. Inside, the decor tried to invoke a homier feel with large prints and artifacts from Salerno, the proprietor's hometown.

Once I realized that compared with the old spot, which was a pizzeria/restaurant, this was a restaurant/pizzeria, I went with a pasta dish. But since I still had my original hankering for pizza, I started with some Bocconcini di pizza ($6.00). Essentially, these were fancy pizza pockets. Warm crusts held oozy fior di latte and ricotta cheese, with some salty goodness from the ham and prosciutto. I couldn't finish them fast enough.

The pasta alla Bolognese ($18.25) wasn't quite as good. The tomato sauce was excellent, fresh with a slight acidity. You could taste the ground beef, though you couldn't see much of it. Mostly though, the rigatoni was just slightly on the wrong side of al dente. For every piece that had that perfect chew, another was just a tad too gritty. Otherwise, it would have been a great dish.

With the pizza balls, pasta, and complimentary fresh focaccia bread, I was in a carb stupour. So though it was still a chilly Saturday in March, I walked a couple of blocks to work off some of those calories.

Simply The Best

For the last Friday of their Horseshoe Tavern residency, cover band Dwayne Gretzky promised to play nothing but the hits drawn from their various themed shows. As usual, the place filled up early and fashionably late arrivals had to stand in line. Ben Kunder started the evening with a mix of modern country and Americana. For this gig, his band was composed of well-known locals including bassist Anna Ruddick (Ladies of the Canyon).

For the first set, it turned out that instead of mixing up the songs, Dwayne Gretzky grouped them by show. This had some mixed results. The first 5 songs to open, drawn from their Rumours (Fleetwood Mac) gig, started things on a high note especially The Chain. The middle section deflated some of the energy. Songs like Ophelia and Don't Do It from The Last Waltz (The Band) didn't quite have the same recognition. But things picked up again with "Ed Sullivan: Early Beatles". But for me, with Beatles songs being so familiar, song after song was approaching cheesy bar band territory.

The second set had more variety but they stuck to the big hits: Sledgehammer, Psycho-killer, Somebody to Love. The energy in the whole room was high and stayed up until closing time. There were a couple of firsts tonight: house lights were turned off for Dancing In The Dark; actual head-banging for Bohemian Rhapsody; though Tyler Kyte often gets quite a few lustful gazes, a girl actually stuck her head into his crotch; finally, on closing number With A Little Help (From My Friends), Kyte crowd-surfed across the crowd. Both band and audience were pumped up. At the end, Robin Hatch remarked that she had probably blown out her voice on the last few numbers.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Friday night, I attended a mixed program at the National Ballet. Thanks to a promotion, I was able to sit in the 2nd row at orchestra level. However, with the pit and the front of stage, it wasn't as close as I was expecting. There was also gigantic heads that block your view. I think the elevated seats along the side are probably better.

The first piece was a remount of Aszure Barton's Watch Her. Perhaps a commentary on the male gaze, it started with a man peeking through the window of a featureless wall. The partition is pulled up to reveal a collection of women, somewhat primly dressed, moving in unison. Throughout the next 40 min, they would dance in groups, pairs, and singly, always followed by men in business suits. The women seem to hold the power though, as they often admonished the men with tapping toes or a silencing finger pressed to their lips. 3 dancers showed different sides of relationships: the cold and imperious Sonia Rodriguez, the tender Svetlana Lunkina, and the playful Jenna Savella. The nearness to the stage actually made some of the group choreography harder to appreciate.

The second piece was Frederick Ashton's A Month In The Country mounted in 1976. If I've learned anything from the play A Misfortune, then an older Russian husband with a much younger wife is always recipe for disaster. So here we had Yslaev (Hazaros Surmeyan) oblivious to the adoration that Rakitin (Patrick Lavoie) lavished upon Natalia Petrovna (Greta Hodgkinson). Yet although she basked in the attention, it was actually her son's tutor, the charming Beliaev (Guillaume Côté), that caught her eye. Her feelings were revealed after she jealously slapped her naive ward, Vera (Jillian Vanstone), for pushing herself at Beliaev. Once Vera found out about the clandestine dalliance, things escalated. I enjoyed the traditional but naturalistic choreography. Often classical narrative ballet has formal tableaus (a sequence repeated interminably, dancers sitting around watching solo after solo) that seemed not just artificial and hermetic but stultifyingly long.