The evening is titled “Contemporary Innovators” and true to form, there was a lot of skin shown (bare legs, chest and even feet), doing away with traditional ballet in one of two evenings during Pacific Northwest Ballet’s run at New York City Center (February 24 – 27). In David Dawson’s classically seasoned A Million Kisses to my Skin (NY Premiere) partners offered up daring lifts, frolicked with deeply arched backs, hip thrusts, and possible nods to Balanchine-esque motifs. Besides the very stern Batkhurel Bold, the rest of the cast (Sarah Pasch, Miles Pertl, Jerome TIsserand, Sarah Ricard Orza, Emma Love Suddarth and Kylee Kitchens) especially, Angelica Generosa was really lovely. William Forsythe’s brightly colored, funky and angular tutus in The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude (1996) originally done by Frankfurt Ballet, was a pretty cool nod to the Bauhaus ballet and Oskar Schlemmer. It was short (lots of entrance and exits, leaps, and quick feet), and sweet (picturesque formations and such). The evening closed with Crystal Pite’s dramatic Emergence (NY Premiere). Taking equal attention was the set and the large cast (around 40). Painted with large sweeping swirls, the backdrop with a large hole in the center gives off a piercingly bright light aimed directly at the audience, served as a gateway. Pite maneuvers these gyrating army of bodies low to the ground, in large and small groups, as they count, clap and punctuate the air with gestures and repeating phrases. Kudos to the entire cast and to Artistic Director Peter Boal.
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