(Paulo Arrais and Irlan Silva in Wayne McGregor’s Obsidian Tear; photo by Rosalie O’Connor, courtesy of Boston Ballet)
Last night (Friday November 7th) I had the wonderful honor of attending Boston Ballet’s opening night featuring Obsidian Tear and the world premiere of Fifth Symphony of Jean Sibelius. The combination of the music and the artistry of the dancers was so beautiful. Obsidian Tear featured nine male dancers and their powerful strength partnered with grace and fluidity on stage. Growing up at my dance studio, I was never exposed to male ballet dancers that much, there were mostly just girls in the program. With these male dancers, you can just see the years of training and dedication in the way that they move with such precision. Some people when watching a ballet or play think it looks so easy and forget about the years that goes into training before working on a show even begins. For those who still do not think of dance as a sport, their opinion can be easily combated within 5 minutes of this performance.
The next piece after intermission was Fifth Symphony of Jean Sibelius. I felt that the storyline in this piece was very intertwined with nature. It featured an entire cast of men and women with a lot of partner work. The trust that went into some of the leaps and holds was just amazing. You could see the hard work of both of the dancers, male and female, to create the motions required in the choreography. The costumes for each piece were amazing. In Obsidian Tear, the dancers wore costumes that were structured, but also fluid chosen by fashion director Katie Shillingford. It definitely paired well with the choreography by Wayne McGregor, the different tempos in the music written by Esa-Pekka Salonen and guest conducted by Daniel Stewart. The costumes were also carefully created for Fifth Symphony of Jean Sibelius by the costume designer Yumiko Takeshima. Jean Sibelius wrote the music and it was again conducted by Daniel Stewart. The choreography for this world premiere was done by Jorma Elo.
I wish I could mention every single person who worked on the show to make it so special, but it definitely takes a team so the list would go on and on. Her Campus Framingham would just like to congratulate everyone at Boston Ballet for a great opening night and world premiere! A big thank you to Celia Scherman, public relations and social media intern, for giving us this opportunity! For more information about the shows and to buy tickets you should head to https://www.bostonballet.org/home.aspx. The site has great behind the scenes videos and cast biographies.
(Boston Ballet in Jorma Elo’s Fifth Symphony of Jean Sibelius; photo by Rosalie O’Connor, courtesy Boston Ballet)
(Paul Craig and Lia Cirio in Jorma Elo’s Fifth Symphony of Jean Sibelius; photo by Rosalie O’Connor, courtesy Boston Ballet)