Wow! What an evening!
First to ZZ’s Pizza, where we sat at the bar and watched Butler beat Kansas State. And saw the beginnings of another upset – West Virginia over Kentucky (Pat followed the rest of it on her iPhone, before, during intermission, and after the ballet). The re-opened Zz’s is still as good as ever – and maybe (in the case of the house salad and the banana cream pie), even a bit better. Very hard to do.
Then to the Aronoff to see the world premiere of Mozart’s Requiem as a ballet. The loge level was the perfect spot to see all the patterns of those wonderful dancers. My favorite dancer, Cervilio Miguel Amador, performed as part of the company, then had a solo, again with the company, then a bit later a duet with Dawn Kelly. And back again after intermission with the company. His compactness and power – along with grace – make him easy to spot.
The staging, the lighting, the choreography, Carmen DeLeon, Xavier’s Chorus, excellent solo singers. And a thrilling, archetypal story of paralyzing grief, just going through the motions, falling into despair, then the slow recovery and finally, moving on. An incredible story told with great drama through bodies and music, not with words.
We truly have a world class ballet – they absolutely earned the more than 5 minute standing ovation.