Lifted Spirits
Even at his most straightforward, Paul Taylor often imbued his dances with a sardonic wit. Whether invoking darkness or light, he did so with a wink.
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Few personalities in the ballet world question the essence of classical dance nowadays. Masterpieces such as “The Nutcracker” or “Swan Lake” are little more than gainful blockbusters in December programs. “The Sleeping Beauty” is no exception: its seemingly Manichean argument, happy-ending, fairies' parade and decorative choreography had plunged the ballet into formaldehyde for centuries. So, when a modern-minded choreographer took on an age-old fairytale ballet, one could think that the outcome had to be of the cerebral type, for a few jaded balletomanes to enjoy. Fortunately, Ratmansky’s revival is anything but a pedantic throwback to the days of yore. He doesn’t lecture the audience. Nor does he keep ballet in mothballs. Restoring Petipa's lustrous classicism, his approach highlights ballet as a theatrical art, thus fighting a strong anti-narrative trend. And with a little help from his ABT friends, he succeeds partly in casting a new light on that distorted tale on pointe. Although he tries to make ballet more approachable, he occasionally lends the piece an unintentional elitist tone; for the many, his reconstruction of “The Sleeping Beauty” might have looked a little jet-lagged.
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Misty Copeland and Gabe Stone Shayer in Alexei Ratmansky's “The Sleeping Beauty.” Photograph by Doug Gifford
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Even at his most straightforward, Paul Taylor often imbued his dances with a sardonic wit. Whether invoking darkness or light, he did so with a wink.
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