The ballet began lustily enough.  Downstage in a pool of light three scantily clad men laid one on top the other like a post-orgy malaise. First, then second, stood, revealing the biggest star of Italian ballet, Roberto Bolle. At 51, Bolle continues to strike a powerful, charismatic figure on stage. But the dancing in his sixth decade is limited. No jumps, no speed. The choreography is built for him to emanate and built around his incredible skill as a partner.

Bolle as Caravaggio walked around the stage searching for inspiration. Maria Khoreva, a soloist at the Mariinksy Ballet, entered and the two danced the first of many pas de deux throughout the two-act ballet. Other than Caravaggio, none of the dancers are specific characters, they are all embodiments of ideas: Light (Khoreva), Darkness (Sanaa Athmani), Beauty (Martina Pasinotti), Destiny (Alessandro Casà), Soul (Matteo Zorzoli), Gypsy (Ludovica Cappozoli), Bacchi (Mattia Teora, Francesco Curatolo). The choreography is likewise lacking in specificity. Kristopher Millar dresses the entire principal cast in similar flesh-hued, skin-tight separates, so Light and Darkness look exactly the same, along with their poetically named cohort.

Caravaggio the painter was radical in bringing humanity to his subjects whether they be the Holy family or members of his social milieu. Look at any of his paintings and see in every subject he put to canvas a unique worldview, no two exactly alike. Intermittently in “Caravaggio” Bigonzetti brings in a big ensemble of dancers to represent the diverse society that influenced the painter’s style, and they dance in unison ninety percent of the time. There is some rudimentary use of canon, but mostly the men lift the women, there are jumps and turns. Bigonzetti is big on stylized, idiosyncratic port de bras in his ballets. In this one, the women shift their weight back and forth in fourth position while their arms thwack to the front and back in between hitting fourth port de bras. For Bolle and the male soloists, one hand circled around the other as you would wrap a cord, then circled around the head before framing the face. And, there’s a not forgettable amount of high fiving and skin slapping.