PAS DES QUATRE PAS DES QUATRE
BSO/Pops musicians, Boston Ballet dancers collaborate on video
Elita Kang has always loved ballet. As one of the city’s great musicians, Kang has the chops to perform any violin part the Boston Ballet might require. But Kang, assistant concertmaster for the Boston Pops and Boston Symphony Orchestra, already has plenty of scores and symphonies to keep her busy.
With the city’s performing arts institutions shuttered, Kang finally found time to fulfill a dream gestating since childhood. Enlisting help from Symphony Hall and the Boston Ballet, Kang worked on a collaborative video with a fresh take on the Act II pas de deux of “Swan Lake.”
“Once the shutdown happened, I thought about the solo from ‘Swan Lake’ in particular because the orchestration is so sparse,” Kang said. “I reached out to (principal harpist) Jessica (Zhou), who is one of my closest friends at the symphony, and from there it was a short leap to finding dancers.”
Kang reached out to Boston Ballet principal dancer Paulo Arrais and the joint effort quickly fell into place. Kang and Zhou recorded their parts separately then sent the editedtogether violin and harp music to Arrais, who choreographed a twist on the pas de deux. Typically danced by a ballerina and male dancer playing the white swan Odette and Prince Siegfried, Arrais created a version of the romantic duet with fellow principal dancer and reallife partner Derek Dunn in a fellow dancer’s apartment.
The resulting video features all four artists, a mix of music and dance, drama and grace — watch the piece at bso.org/athome and bostonballet.org/love.
“The first time I saw a rough cut of what Paulo and Derek had done to our soundtrack I actually cried,” Kang said.
Arrais created a deeply intimate piece despite a long list of challenges. Notably, he had to choreograph for himself and his partner with no mirrors to check their progress as they mapped out the steps and had to perform within the confines of an apartment.
“When I choreographed ‘ELA, Rhapsody in Blue’ (his mainstage 2019 debut for the Boston Ballet), I was in the front of the room and could see exactly what the work would look like because I was an outsider,” Arrais said. “Creating for myself is different. I need mirrors to see if my idea works for the audience so we had to video parts to watch as we went.”
He also needed to remake the pas de deux for two male dancers. As part of a traditional company, Arrais doesn’t have much experience dancing with another man. This challenge was a welcome one.
“We are so used to having control of the duets and letting the ballerina shine so beautifully, I had to create a give and take that is only going to work if we are both in control,” he said.
For artists who need practice to maintain their skills, who draw inspiration from ensembles, making the video reconnected them to their callings.
“Getting to collaborate with another great local institution was kind of a thrill and an unexpected boon in these times where our world feels like it has collapsed and narrowed,” Kang said. “It’s been strange and wonderful that we have been able to expand our worlds by collaborating with people that we’ve never met but have now become friends with.”