American Ballet Theatre Review

The American Ballet Theatre was absolutely beautiful. From the sets, to the dancers, to the music, everything was beautiful. Every single “act” brought something new to the performance and I enjoyed every single one.

The first act, “Sinfonietta,” seemed to be about symmetry. There was no real set during this act, which made me think that the focus must really be the dancing. The choreography seemed to alternate between one, to two, to a group of dancers. The dancers did a lot of running and jumping in this act. I noticed that they made the choreography look so easy, when I know it is not. I know that the dancers have to be in control of almost every muscle in their body during the dance. I cannot imagine the work and hours of practice that went into each practice. However, something I did notice that bothered me was the actual sound of the dancers shoes hitting the stage. For some reason, the sound of the ballerinas coming down on their feet distracted me from the actual dancing and the orchestra too. I know it is foolish to be bothered by it because these dancers are coming down on their feet with their full body weight and coming down after being so high off the stage. Still, the sound bothered me and I found myself paying attention to it often. The music in “Sinfonietta” was high-spirited and mimicked the high-energy dancing. I was heavily relying on the orchestra for some kind of story line, but then again, I think this act was meant to focus more on the actual dancing and choreography and not on a story line.

The second act, “Jardin aux Lilas,” was the most emotionally touching act of the entire night. This act’s story line was taking place in a garden, which was beautifully created on the stage, where there is a farewell party. The garden party is meant to celebrate or focus on a soon to be married couple, however, it ended up focusing on the tension between lovers. The bride appeared to be set up, or arranged to marry a much older gentleman, whose costumes varied much differently from the rest of the dancers. There was a longing between the bride and the man she truly loved and wanted to be with. The audience is left hoping and expecting a final kiss between the bride and the man she wants to be with. Unfortunately, this final, farewell kiss never comes. There is also tension and a different sense of longing between the groom and his mistress. The theme that rang through this act was yearning and longing. I also thought that this choreography told the story of how unfortunate life can be. Both the groom and the bride seemed to be aware that they would not be happy in this forced union and wanted to be with other people. This specific act, more so the scenery and set, reminded me of Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Nights Dream. I actually think someone(s) in the class mentioned it during the act. Something I think that is important to notice is that the title of this act, “Jardin aux Lilas,” means “Lilac Garden” when translated into English. The thing to note is that lilacs represent the emotions of love, which I see very fitting for this act. The dancing obviously mimicked longing and orchestra played softly. The music made me feelsad and almost depressed.

The third and final act, “Fancy Free,” was my personal favorite. This specific act seemed to be more along the lines of modern ballet, not that I would know (this was my first time seeing a ballet). The story was about three, humor-filled sailors. The sailors were spending “a night on the town” when they started competing for the attention of two dames. The sailors were competing for their attention and almost asking the women, “Pick me, pick me, pick me.” Their dancing was high-spirited. I almost forgot that I was watching a ballet when one of the dancers jumped on the bar table and jumped back off. The choreography of the dancing captured the humor between the sailors. At one point the sailors burst into fighting each other in a very sill manner that was hard to take seriously. The orchestra, of course captured this silliness. The music was light-hearted and I think it was also meant to capture the time period in which this story would take place, perhaps the 1940s or 50s. The way the act ended was neither woman choosing a sailor, I think they just walked out of the bar and in the middle of their fighting, the sailors did not notice. However, a third woman comes out and the cycle starts again.

     I definitely see myself going to another ballet in future. The only things I did not like about the ballet were the actual sound of the dancers shoes hitting the stage floor and the amount of clapping the dancers received. I did notice that the curtain was lifted around three times and the clapping continued for quite a long time. I thought this was basically feeding the dancers’ egos. However, after I thought about it, I think they deserved it. They made each movement and motion look so graceful and beautiful. I cannot imagine the amount of energy that went into each performance and I think that it is appropriate that their hard work be appreciated with a few rounds of clapping.