Ballet’s ‘Kaleidoscope’ goes beyond the Beatles
Anyone attending the Milwaukee Ballet’s “Kaleidoscope Eyes” program Thursday strictly for a dance set to Beatles music had the opportunity to make several exciting discoveries.
In contrast to full-length story ballets, whose narratives naturally funnel visual attention toward a few key performers, this program of contemporary choreography emphasized the lyricism, athleticism and rapport of the Milwaukee Ballet as an ensemble of dancers and collaborators.
“Kaleidoscope Eyes” featured two world premieres. “Addendum,” choreographed by Garrett Smith, winner of last year’s Genesis competition, paired nine dancers with tiny chairs — perhaps the size kindergartners would sit in. The chairs served as partners, props, anchors, pitons, occasionally even weapons, for dancers in solid-colored hoodies. They moved, often briskly, to recorded music by composer Zoe Keating, who layers and samples her cello
IF YOU GO The Milwaukee Ballet performs “Kaleidoscope Eyes” through Sunday at the Marcus Center, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, visit milwaukeeballet.org or call (414) 902-2103.
playing to create something exciting and propulsive. (I’m guessing some Beatles fans will be adding her music to their iPods this weekend.) Marc Petrocci and Garrett Glassman danced an entertaining duet tinged with humor — like so many male relationships, a shifting blend of affection and tussle.
Resident choreographer Timothy O’Donnell made his intentions plain in “The Sixth Sin,” opening with a recorded narration from young Asha Metcalfe, equating happiness with a perfect body and fat with misery. Part satire, with photo shoot sounds and effects, part lament, “The Sixth Sin” explored this envy of physical perfection in the form of a male and female ideal, Alexandre Ferreira and Valerie Harmon (who do not escape this worship unscathed). O’Donnell offered us hope through a gentle dance of rapprochement between Barry Molina and Ferreira.
Trey McIntyre’s “A Day in the Life” featured dancers moving to a string of 11 Beatles songs. Several came from the Beatles’ “White Album,” and that’s a good analogue for this choreography — not a tight concept album, but a rapidly changing anthology of moods.
Some dances fit the vibe of the song snugly, such as Petrocci’s coltish but crisp movement to “Mother Nature’s Son,” and Parker BrasserVos’ goofy prance to “Wild Honey Pie.” In other segments, the connection to the song was opaque to me, such as the happy dancing to the sarcastic “Ballad of John and Yoko.” No offense to Mr. McIntyre, but these songs are so familiar and so powerful, it’s difficult for the choreography to engage them on equal footing. Nonetheless, Petrocci’s final movements and the epic final chord at the end of “A Day in the Life” brought equally sustained applause from the enthusiastic audience.