So Stanton Welch’s Naked and Val Caniparoli’s Ibsen’s House in Program 2 (Wed, 2/4) were both better than I remember them from last year. At the end of the day, neither is terribly compelling, but both were very pleasant pieces. I think for many works, one can see more details given a second viewing, and that was true for both of these.
Unfortunately, Kristin Long totally bit it during Naked, where by “bit” I mean “fell down upon,” and “it” I mean “the floor.” This isn’t unusual in that people fall down with uncommon frequency during a show, but I think she didn’t finish the performance, since it looked like Elizabeth Miner appeared midway through the piece. I hope she’s okay.
William Forsythe’s in the middle, somewhat elevated was a bit of a disappointment, in that it seemed to me to be like an earlier draft of his Artifact Suite. That is not to say in the middle was not a great piece, but just that both pieces exuded Forsythian style, and I felt like Artifact Suite was more “whole.” Maria Kochetkova is bordering on Marit Larsen levels of cuteness. Sofiane Sylve and Elana Altman were both great, although I had extreme difficulty telling them apart with the somewhat odd lighting. From the bits of online video, neither is really comparable to Sylvie Guillem in this piece, though.