Saturday night, Justin and I went to see LINES Ballet,at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts… finally! I’ve been meaning to go see them for years now. And sure enough, they were gorgeous.

Samedi soir, Justin et moi sommes alles voir LINES Ballet au Yerba Buena Center for the Arts…enfin! J’ai voulu aller voir cette companie depuis des annes. Et biensur, ils etaient magnifiques.

Laurel Keen (who received a Princess Grace Award) and Brett Conway

The 2 pieces we saw were their “Migrations” and “Sky Clad”. The first one was based on ” the hierarchical migration of birds and mammals” and the second was performed on live Indian music. Both were technically amazing. Definite eye candy for the dance educated and the novice.

Les 2 morceaux qu’on a vu sont “Migrations” et “sky Clad”. Le premier etait base sur “la hierarchie des migrations des oiseaux et mamiferes” et le second etait sur de la musique indienne live. Tous les deux etaient techniquement allucinants. Pour sur, un regal aussi bien pour les eduques en dance, aue les novices.

Part of Migration (beautiful mystery)

The dancers are classically very strong and push their boundaries with either off center work, partnering with great resistance mastering, but most importantly Alonzo King‘s signature, the hip work and hand placement. I find in his work from the movie One Last Dance (which was pretty bad…the only this good was A. King’s work) and the 2 pieces presented at the show, this recurring, interesting approach to the movement with hip variations. Hips are sticking out, they are swirling around, but in a very controlled balletic way. It creates lines and dynamics unique to his style.

Les danceurs etaient classiques, tres forts et poussaient leurs limites avec du travail hors de l’axe, des pas de deux avec maitrise de la resistance, mais plus important, la signature d’Alonzo King, le travail des hanches et le placement des mains. Je trouve dans son travail dans le film, “One Last Dance” (qui etait assez nul,…le seul truc bien etait la chore d’A. King) et les morceaux presentes au spectacle, cette approche interessante et recurrante du mouvement du bassin. Les hanches sortent, tourbillonnent, mais d’une maniere tres controllee classique. Ca cree des lignes et des dynamiques uniques a son style.

Aesha Ash (was on the cover of Dance Magazine)

The down side of having a “style” is that it can become redundant. For that matter I found, movement wise, that Sky Clad was loosing me. Only the main duet really caught my attention. However Migrations was very interesting because it had a specific theme, almost a story, and it really incorporated emotions….soooo important in dance! Movement for movement can be incredible, but soon boring. We can only take so much of legs kicking high and males doing 5 or 6 turns, if there isn’t any human feeling behind it.

Le probleme f’avoir “un style” c’est que ca peu devenir repetitif. Et a propos de ca, au niveau du mouvement, j’ai trouve que “Sky Clad” m’a un peu perdu. Seul le pas de deux principal a retenu mon attention. Par contre, “Migration” etait tres interessant car il avait un theme, une histoire presque, et a vraiment incorpore des emotions….tres important les emotions dans la danse! Du mouvement pour du mouvement peu etre impressionnant, mais vite ennuyeux. On peu seulement voir une certaine dose to jambe en l’air et d’hommes faisant 5 a 6 tours, s’il n’y a pas de substance humaine derriere.

Incredible split!!!

But LINES Ballet is definitely high up there in the ranks of quality dance companies. The dancers are truly amazing and daring, so is the choreography. I think Alonzo King has a special talent for duet creations…he really interweaves his dancers unlike I’ve ever seen before.

Mais LINES Ballet est definitivement la haut dans le rang des meilleures compagnies de danse . Les danseurs sont sincerement magnifiques et audacieux, telle la choregraphie. Je pense qu’Alonzo King a un talent special pour la creation de pas de deux, car il entremele ses danseurs comme je n’ai jamais vu ailleurs.