Origin of Species

On Saturday, I went to The National Ballet to see an eclectic mix of modern ballet pieces, or maybe non-narrative as some of them are several decades old. The newest piece, and a "challenging main course" as the ballet talk speaker noted, was Genus from Wayne McGregor. This was the North American remount of his original work with The Paris Ballet. Dancers dressed in black with white patterns resembling skeletal blotches, or perhaps moth coloration, danced across the stage in twos, threes, and solo movements. They sometimes mimicked each other, always a half-step out of sync, other times in random frenzy. Hazy mirror surfaces reflected their movements from all sides. Extreme extensions are followed by loss of limb control. Natural scenery was projected overhead for the most part, with a section that showed 19th century monographs detailing discovery and classification of insects.

After intermission, 3 "dessert" pieces were presented. Tarantella (George Balachine) showcased the technical prowess of a country couple. As I'm don't love Balachine, I'm glad it only ran 7 minutes. Self and Soul (Robert Binet) was submitted for the Erik Bruhne 2016 competition. I thought it was interesting but still revealed the relative youth of its choreographer. The Concert (Jerome Robbins) was definitely the crowd-pleaser. A group of concert-goers to a Chopin recital, the enthusiast, the introvert, the society girl, and other stereotypes gave us a glimpse into their reverie and daydream as they listened to Andrei Streliaev. There were plenty of gags including out-of-sync dancers and even a mallet over the head prop.