BEST CADAVERS TO DANCE WITH
The finest 21st-century work of the current S.F. Ballet season so far is Liam Scarlett’s “Die Toteninsel,” where the dark and brooding mood of the tone poem is carried forward with a wealth of emotion. This is as somber as Scarlett’s previous “Frankenstein,” but not at all lurid.
The British choreographer scored richly here, using the great (but rarely heard in concert) Rachmaninoff tone poem “The Isle of the Dead,” inspired by the Symbolist 1880 painting of the German romantic Arnold Böcklin. Unlike many other contemporary ballets focusing on pure athleticism, this one accentuates emotion and character interaction, providing that essential element, still without an actual story line. It was exuberantly received by the sellout house at the March 29 world premiere.
The bare-chested men—perhaps cadavers—play out slow motion scenes on the spooky side, then do high lifts of the ladies challenging their superhuman/post-human strength, deftly lit sideways from the wings. A sense of yearning, perhaps for earlier days, pervades the scene. The tempo picks up for some wild dances, then a neat pas de deux (Lauren Strongin with Joseph Walsh), before the music returns to the minor modes in the bass register, with rich, vibrant cellos and basses at the forefront, as Strongin crosses over from Life to Death. Esteban Hernandez was a blur in solos forming bookends.
Scarlett appeared to take a bow at the March 29 world premiere, marking the fourth piece he created for the SFB. Hopefully, just the latest of many more. It might well end up the hottest ticket of the season.
The closing piece was, as expected, a lot of glitz and pizzazz. Arthur Pita’s “Bjork Ballet” is perhaps a 25th-century piece, somewhere between “Star Wars,” the surreal and the psychedelic. The dance is punctuated by a dazed wandering masked mime intent on fishing in the orchestra pit. Marco Morante’s stunning ballerina costume of slender red ribbons (and little else) for the will-o’-the wisp Elizabeth Powell, reproduced in a photo, already ranks as the top PR for the whole season.
As they say about quantum mechanics, if you think “Bjork Ballet” all makes sense, you don’t understand it at all.
Casts vary from night to night.
S.F. Ballet in Program Six, with Scarlett premiere, through April 9. Opera House, San Francisco. For info: (415) 865-2000, or go online.
