SF Ballet: Chroma, Beaux, Number Nine

My good friend and fellow balletomane Nataly accompanied me to the SF Ballet's second program of their season tonight.  It was a very mixed bag, featuring Chroma by Wayne McGregor (above), Beaux a world-premiere by Mark Morris, and Number Nine by Christopher Wheeldon.  Each work was abstract and non-narrative and each work had a unique relationship with their prospective musical accompaniment.

I have never had such an immediate feeling of dislike about a ballet as I did about Chroma.  I use the word "hate" sparingly, but I almost want to use it about this ballet.  It was rife with cliches and lacked any strong structure or sound transitions.  Any worthwhile moments felt like watching super-lite Jiri Kylian work from the '90s.  Half of the musical accompaniment was orchestrated versions of White Stripes songs which seemed completely arbitrary and reinforced the lack of cohesion.  McGregor stated that he wanted the work to feature physical extremes.  When I first read this in the program I was hoping for something akin to Balanchine's Agon, instead it was like watching a ballet made for Las Vegas, no artistry, just lots of hyper-extension and bombastic partnering that offers the audience no genuine connections.  I was shocked and disappointed to find out that this ballet has won many accolades and is the work that landed McGregor the resident choreographer position at the Royal Ballet!  This made me think that this is choreography that the patriarchs and matriarchs that hold administrative positions in ballet companies believe to be new and edgy when really it's just crap ( similar to how all the old Broadway critics thought Spring Awakening was reinventing the musical for my generation when really it was a 19th century story about adolescent sex with underwhelming top 40-esque pop music).

Mark Morris's world premiere Beaux got everything right that Chroma got wrong.  With a cast of nine incredibly talented men, Morris successfully blended gesture with ballet, created character and personality in an abstract, non-narrative ballet, and utilized the beauty of understated movement to complement the bravado of men in ballet.  It was wonderful to see the personalities of the dancers in the movement, a quality that is usually reserved for modern dance.  Isaac Mizrahi's set and costumes were the only unfortunate contribution to the production.  The non-set was a large floating screen hovering in front of the cyc that was pink and brown army camouflage print.  The unitards the men wore were a similar pattern.

I originally saw the ballet Number Nine in January at the SF Ballet Gala and had very mixed feelings about the choreography.  I immediately loved the score by Michael Torke, but I felt the ballet needed editing.  Also at the Gala the dancers looked insecure in the movement, like perhaps they needed more rehearsals.  Tonight, however, I was completely won over.  I think the key was my place in the audience.  At the Gala I sat in the orchestra whereas tonight I sat in the balcony; the balcony offered a far superior view to appreciate the patterns and mathematical precision of the choreography.  Also the dancing was strengthened by having a more skillful and seasoned cast.  As always Yuan Yuan Tan was absolutely stunning in the "blue couple's" choreography.