Painterly Expression
The Sarasota Ballet’s return to Jacob’s Pillow for five days of a triple bill that included two little-seen works by Sir Frederick Ashton and a world premiere by Jessica Lang, was charged with anticipation and curiosity.
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Frederick Ashton’s much-loved “Rhapsody” is perhaps epitomised by the scene in which six male dancers hold the lead aloft and parade him around like a king, a ring of glittering ballerinas encircling the reverent display. The plotless ballet, created as a birthday present for the Queen Mother in 1980 and presented here as part of a double bill celebrating the Royal Ballet’s founding choreographer, is all about spectacle—in fact, Ashton specifically enlisted Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian virtuoso extraordinaire, for the starring role to ensure the piece had a central spark powerful enough to ignite the blaze of majesty he envisioned.
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Francesca Hayward and James Hay in Frederick Ashton's “Rhapsody.” Photograph by Helen Maybanks
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The Sarasota Ballet’s return to Jacob’s Pillow for five days of a triple bill that included two little-seen works by Sir Frederick Ashton and a world premiere by Jessica Lang, was charged with anticipation and curiosity.
PlusLos Angeles–based dance artist Jay Carlon knew that the proscenium stage couldn’t house his 2024 work, “Wake,” in its fullness. So he moved it elsewhere: to a rave.
PlusChoreography wasn’t on Lia Cirio’s radar when artistic director Mikko Nissinen asked her to participate in Boston Ballet’s ChoreograpHER initiative in 2018.
PlusIngrid Silva’s expression is calm, the side of her mouth upturned a few degrees, as if she’s delighting in the reception of her own joke.
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