Saturday, July 19, 2008

Building Dances-National Ballet of Flanders


I got big pay back for all those American Girl Store trips this year. Madeline went with me to see the National Ballet of Flanders perform a work by one of my biggest heroes, William Forsythe. Forsythe was the director of Ballet Frankfurt up until two years ago when the civic funding was pulled from the company. I saw his work at BAM a number of times and those performances have been my best theatrical experiences. This performance of Impressing the Czar was a nice fix of beautiful theatrical design. I love Forsythe's sensibility! I really get a lot of ideas from how choreographers structure their work visually and intellectually. The traditional costumes are perfectly baroque, the modern costumes are sleek and not a parody- And who knew that masking tape and gold lame were sympathetic materials. This piece although wacky (Madeline did not get it) is a total "work" of the imagination. Go see it of you have a chance...the dancing is extra good too
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