Review - Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Part 2

After a pause, we saw a duet from "Known by Heart", a ballet by Twyla Tharp. This piece was performed by two guest stars from the New York City Ballet, Miranda Weese and Tom Gold. They danced to music by Donald Knaack. Choreography wise, a modern oriented ballet which was fairly challenging technique-wise. It was a short sequence showing the man pursuing this woman, who would rather not be pursued. Gold did a good job of portraying the virile man who avidly tries to attract the woman. Weese, although technically clean and obviously very proficient, was lacking in expression. Although her role was that of a woman with a blase attitude towards the man, it was almost as if she had a blase attitude towards being on stage at that moment. Also, costume wise, whoever had made the decision for Weese's costume made a poor choice of a very unflattering shorty unitard.

Next, after another pause, we saw another duet, "Ave Maria" from "The Grapes Of Wrath", a Santa Fe premiere. The choreography was by Dwight Rhoden, set to the famous music by Cacini (which unfortunately was played far too loudly). The lighting, designed by Michael Mazzola, was set to a reddish-orange cast, heightening the passionate atmosphere. The costumes, designed by Janet Cambell, consisted of a reddish brown loincloth for the man and a loincloth and crop top for the woman. This piece was danced by Brooke Klinger and Seth delGrasso, both who did a splendid job. Both danced with the energy and passion the piece demanded. Klinger with her hair long and loose, danced with intensity, and delGrasso was strength and passion. One neat point in the dance was when Klinger lay on the floor, and delGrasso continued dancing by her side, and then she slowly begins to rise from the floor, pulling herself up into a plie on releve in second position, which she held for some time. His piece was definitely the highlight of the show for me.

After an intermission, the company ended the performance with the Santa Fe premiere of "Transtangos" by Jimmy Gamonet de los Heros.This piece was set to music by Astor Piazzola. Lighting was set to look like the inside of a Latin club, designed by Michael Mazzola. The costumes, suits for the men, Latin styled dresses for the ladies, fit the tone of the piece. This was danced by almost the entire company, divided into several parts with various solos and duets. This piece was a bit slow moving for me, the choreography and music was not very interesting. The leads, Seth delGrasso and Brooke Klinger, danced well, although Klinger's cheerful expression seemed very strained.

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