Malandain’s “Les Saisons” is set to both Vivaldi’s famous composition and composer Giovanni Antonio Guido’s “The Four Seasons of the Year,” a relatively unknown work created around the same period. The ballet takes movements of each of the composer’s scores in seasonal order from Spring to Winter. 

For the sections danced to Vivaldi, Malandain’s choreography uses contemporary movement with some sections looking like sophisticated versions of playground games, with the dancers following one after another, hopping up and down, and slapping their hands and arms at their sides. Others appeared to emulate folk dances with daisy chains of dancers holding hands and interweaving lines of bodies. 

For the sections using Guido’s baroque music, Malandain took a more balletic approach. The dancing for Guido’s Spring began with a quartet of two women in bustled skirts and two men in waistcoats, each with an ornate floral pattern a la a Gustav Klimt flower painting. Their dancing was light, elegant, and courtly, and Guido’s music was marvelously engaging.