On Sunday May 7th, I attended the final performance of Global Visionaries by the Joffrey Ballet. The show was about two hours long and was separated into three different pieces, The Miraculous Mandarin, Joy and Mammatus. Each performance was about 30 minutes long and all three were very different in style. Here is what I thought of them…
The Miraculous Mandarin
Out of all the pieces, this was unfortunately my least favorite. It started off the show, but not necessarily in a good way. From beginning to end, I was trying to figure out what the story was that the choreographer, Yuri Possokhov, was trying to portray.
After the performance was over I had the opportunity to discuss it with my friends who attended it with me. we all agreed that the story line was rather confusing.
Joy
The goal of this piece was to provoke joy through the movements of these dancers. I have to say that this goal was definitely reached. This was my favorite piece because I was constantly being surprised and amused.
First, the dancers all came on stage wearing nude colored suits and danced in a variety of forms that strayed from traditional ballet.
The next few scenes were more structured in choreography, but still very captivating. First, the men came out and did their own short dance and then the women came out and did the same. Both the pieces were light-hearted and eye-catching.
I will not give away any more details about the piece so that I do not spoil it. I will say that the choreographer, Alexander Ekman, did a marvelous job of bringing the title of the performance to life.
Mammatus
This piece created by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa seemingly focused around a lightening storm. What gave me this impression was that there was lighting bolt looking lights on top of a grey background. There was also rain and thunder sound effects.
For the majority of the piece the dancers wore black. In the very end though, the two leads came out and danced in white almost making it seem as though they were the end to the storm.
This was the last performance and I think that was an appropriate way to close the show. It was captivating, dark, mysterious and filled with energy.
Annabelle Lopez Ochoa definitively stepped outside of the norm with the choreography, but he did a very good job of making it just right.
What well-known ballets have you attended? have you attended any performances by the Joffery? If so, let me know in the comments which ones they were and what you thought of them.
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