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Mar. 21st, 2026 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI've seen two Boston Ballets in relatively quick succession over the past month, both combo programs featuring two pieces; the first was "The Rite of Spring" (Elo's, not Nijinsky's) paired with Pite's "The Seasons' Canon," and the second was a premiere, Stromile's "The Leisurely Installation of a New Window," paired with Ashton's "The [Midsummer Night's] Dream."
Breaking with the actual curation of the productions, I'm going to talk about "The Rite of Spring" and "The Leisurely Installation of a New Window" together because they both came first in their productions, they had kind of similar vibes, and I experienced similar feelings of mild disappointment about both of them that were not technically the fault of the productions. I was really excited about "The Rite of Spring" because I wanted to see some ballet dancers do a dramatic ritual sacrifice, and I was really excited about "The Leisurely Installation of a New Window" because I wanted to see some ballet dancers slowly install a window. Instead, both of these pieces were kind of abstract explorations through dance of the Relationship between the Individual and Society, and I think both would have been enjoyable for fifteen minutes but ran a bit long at half an hour.
The description for "Window" in the playbill reads:
Eighteen dancers inhabit the work through distinct but interdependent roles. The Seeker stands close to tradition, moving with discipline and clarity. The People operate within shared systems, attentive to both order and its quiet tensions. The Reformers introduce disruption, not as spectacle, but as pressure applied from within.
This did help me understand better what was going on in the dance, as the Seeker stalked around holding a book and then portentously passed it off to some dueting Reformers, but also made it feel a bit like a LARP that I was not participating in. On the other hand Reeves Gabriel of The Cure was There and Participating in Ballet Music (and every bit of marketing wanted you to know that Reeves Gabriel Of The Cure was There and Participating in Ballet Music) and occasionally the music would get very thrillingly electric guitar and you'd be like "Hello, Reeves Gabriel of The Cure!" So it's not that I didn't have a fine time, I just would have been okay with somewhat less of that time.
However, after these very mildly disappointing openers, I loved both "The Seasons' Canon" and "The Dream" very much! The Seasons' Canon is, justifiably, a known Boston Ballet showstopper -- a huge piece with a huge cast, and as you guys know I often have trouble with a piece that is not trying to tell me a story but this piece is truly just Humans Make Big Shapes and it's riveting. Could not take my eyes off it. The trailer here gives a bit of a sense but of course is not that much like seeing it Actually On Stage, but it does let you see one of the things I found most striking about the piece which is how extremely non-gendered it is -- everyone on that stage is dressed identically in pants and nude tank that makes them look topless, the whole corps looks like one and moves like one and there is nothing to distract you from that. Really, really cool experience.
And "The Dream" -- look, I'm a simple soul, and what I have discovered is that I love Ashton's silly panto-esque ballets. They are fun and they are funny and I love it when people get to be funny in dance! Dance jokes are good actually! Titania ballet-hopping her way towards Bottom in a way that manages to be simultaneously fairy-like and hilariously sultry, the arguing lovers constantly picking each other up and pirouetting a partner firmly Away from them Thank You, the rude mechanicals!! we wanted more rude mechanicals but I was so glad we got what we got. A+ Midsummer Night's Dream, would see again.
Breaking with the actual curation of the productions, I'm going to talk about "The Rite of Spring" and "The Leisurely Installation of a New Window" together because they both came first in their productions, they had kind of similar vibes, and I experienced similar feelings of mild disappointment about both of them that were not technically the fault of the productions. I was really excited about "The Rite of Spring" because I wanted to see some ballet dancers do a dramatic ritual sacrifice, and I was really excited about "The Leisurely Installation of a New Window" because I wanted to see some ballet dancers slowly install a window. Instead, both of these pieces were kind of abstract explorations through dance of the Relationship between the Individual and Society, and I think both would have been enjoyable for fifteen minutes but ran a bit long at half an hour.
The description for "Window" in the playbill reads:
Eighteen dancers inhabit the work through distinct but interdependent roles. The Seeker stands close to tradition, moving with discipline and clarity. The People operate within shared systems, attentive to both order and its quiet tensions. The Reformers introduce disruption, not as spectacle, but as pressure applied from within.
This did help me understand better what was going on in the dance, as the Seeker stalked around holding a book and then portentously passed it off to some dueting Reformers, but also made it feel a bit like a LARP that I was not participating in. On the other hand Reeves Gabriel of The Cure was There and Participating in Ballet Music (and every bit of marketing wanted you to know that Reeves Gabriel Of The Cure was There and Participating in Ballet Music) and occasionally the music would get very thrillingly electric guitar and you'd be like "Hello, Reeves Gabriel of The Cure!" So it's not that I didn't have a fine time, I just would have been okay with somewhat less of that time.
However, after these very mildly disappointing openers, I loved both "The Seasons' Canon" and "The Dream" very much! The Seasons' Canon is, justifiably, a known Boston Ballet showstopper -- a huge piece with a huge cast, and as you guys know I often have trouble with a piece that is not trying to tell me a story but this piece is truly just Humans Make Big Shapes and it's riveting. Could not take my eyes off it. The trailer here gives a bit of a sense but of course is not that much like seeing it Actually On Stage, but it does let you see one of the things I found most striking about the piece which is how extremely non-gendered it is -- everyone on that stage is dressed identically in pants and nude tank that makes them look topless, the whole corps looks like one and moves like one and there is nothing to distract you from that. Really, really cool experience.
And "The Dream" -- look, I'm a simple soul, and what I have discovered is that I love Ashton's silly panto-esque ballets. They are fun and they are funny and I love it when people get to be funny in dance! Dance jokes are good actually! Titania ballet-hopping her way towards Bottom in a way that manages to be simultaneously fairy-like and hilariously sultry, the arguing lovers constantly picking each other up and pirouetting a partner firmly Away from them Thank You, the rude mechanicals!! we wanted more rude mechanicals but I was so glad we got what we got. A+ Midsummer Night's Dream, would see again.
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Date: 2026-03-21 04:01 pm (UTC)with the context that dance is an art form that is very much outside my wheelhouse, i usually don't Know enough to have a reaction beyond "wow this looks like a real feat of athleticism & the performance aspects are cool"-- i also went on a whole "what did you think a tiger shark was?" journey from your first mention of the title to the description of the actual work
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Date: 2026-03-22 12:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-03-22 03:37 pm (UTC)Anyway, I want this but for home repair!!
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Date: 2026-03-21 06:58 pm (UTC)Installation of a New Window does sound overlong! At a certain level, choreographers can feel very insistent that they have to explore ALL the ramifications of THEIR CONCEPT and they can't seem to back off or edit themselves (pointedly not looking at Pina Bausch) and their point gets lost in a kind of hypnotic exhaustion for much if not all of the audience. Then (I imagine) they double down on it.
Including The Dream in that program is a wise choice, but it does highlight the more erudite elements, not to say tedium, of what has gone before. A ballet that the audience can understand and follow, structured and with a plot, does in fact give space for abstraction and exploration of the forms of dance!
thank you for posting about this and please do say more about ballet forays in the future!
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Date: 2026-03-22 12:49 pm (UTC)I will try to keep posting about ballet!
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Date: 2026-03-23 03:09 pm (UTC)I did really love the one very controlled dancer with a book, moving through light of a different color than everyone else. But I'm not sure I really got the Big Themes Being Expressed, I have to say. Which is often true with me and abstract ballets -- I really enjoy them! But I'm often enjoying them much more as visuals and kinetics than as an exploration of society or whatever. (Explorations of something more straightforwardly emotional, like love or grief or loneliness or whatever, land more clearly for me.)
Anyway, I agree with Becca that I liked it but felt it went on too long, but I LOVED The Dream. So frothy! So funny!! So delightful!
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Date: 2026-03-22 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2026-03-23 03:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-03-22 03:21 pm (UTC)Subpar Rites of Spring are SO disappointing; the fact that the score is as good as it is makes it worse. One of those things where, Nijinsky and then Bausch having perfected it long ago, you really wonder why anyone bothers trying again…
Very amused by Reeves Gabriel of The Cure and your Reeves Gabriel of The Cure writing :)
But I am SO pleased for you re: Pite and Ashton! Truly two of my very favorite choreographers, and The Dream one of my favorite ballets of all time. It's so funny!
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Date: 2026-03-28 12:27 pm (UTC)I'd previously seen and loved Ashton's Cinderella and I think I liked the Dream even better, even though it did not contain surprise Napoleon and Wellington (we did check the cast list beforehand just in case.)
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Date: 2026-03-22 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2026-03-29 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-03-23 07:02 pm (UTC)However, "The Seasons' Canon" and "The Dream" both sound delightful. I also saw a ballet adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, but by a different choreographer, perhaps Ballanchine? Anyway, it was also delightful, more ballets of Shakespeare comedies please, would love to see a ballet Much Ado about Nothing. Although I also saw an amazing ballet Romeo and Juliet so perhaps I should just say "more ballet Shakespeares in general."
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Date: 2026-03-28 12:30 pm (UTC)The R&J that the Boston Ballet did last year is by far my favorite thing I've ever seen from them, even moreso than the Dream! I've also seen a lovely dance Hamlet and I did actually see a pretty good dance Much Ado once, although Much Ado in particular I think loses something when B&B can't banter ... like you can capture it somewhat in dance form but that romance is SO much about words that I do miss it. I'd die for a dance As You Like It, though.
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Date: 2026-03-30 12:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-03-25 10:27 pm (UTC)Ooo, the Seasons' Canon looks so cool! I love watching the corps in ballets, especially when it involves a lot of moving in sync and big shapes so this sounds like just my thing!
I also feel comedic ballets are underrated, possibly because people think ballet is Serious Art? But it can be so funny! I just saw the SF Ballet production of Don Quixote last week and very much enjoyed the slapstick bits.
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Date: 2026-03-28 12:38 pm (UTC)