Bright, glossy red wigs and leather stocking-socks, suggestive caressing and thrusts of all kinds, feather-boas and piled, flashy headdresses.
That's what modern ballet is made of.
Ballet Hispanico gave a one-night performance in Chicago on Friday, and my fine-art-critic-aficionado friend got us two prime seats at the event.
The performance was comprised of three parts: a dramatic, barefooted story of tribal war and mourning; a montage of sultry modern-burlesque-styled numbers; and a more traditional showcase of hispanic club dancing.
The second part, 'Mad'moiselle' – with its campy red-headed night-doll costumes, provocative male-female interaction and eclectic modern-hip-hop-influenced style – was most surprising. Indeed, it turned out that this performance was the debut showing of the number. Chicago got a preview of the show, before it premieres in New York in the coming weeks. Que bueno!
Aside: these dancers' bodies, true to 'forma,' were delights to watch. Throughout the ballet, the company gracefully extended gorgeous legs, twisted trim torsos and flaunted knotty, pliable backs. And I was just as occupied by pondering the strength one should have to assume such controlled, attractive movements, and the wherewithal – constant wherewithal – to keep up a grin. Pretty self-possession. Y que gracioso estaba todo!
{Thanks for reading!}
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