Houston Ballet presents Contemporary Masters

Photo taken from our seats at the CWM Pavilion

Last Friday, my husband and I went to see the Houston Ballet perform it's "Contemporary Masters" ensemble at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. whew... that's a mouthful! It displayed beautifully the company's range of classical, traditional ballet along with the very inventive, contemporary forms of dance.

My favorite piece of the evening was called "Falling Angels" choreographed by Jirí Kylián. It was profound and provoking. I felt like I was watching a montage of the beauty and ugly in all of us. The dancers were so graceful and elegant, yet, they pushed the image of the pretty ballerina in a very human way. They went through discoveries on the stage for instance showing movements where they put their arms inside their leotards resembling bearing a child. It took the audience on a journey through a life and the strife for perfection one feels. With the women on stage fighting themselves for something unattainable, I watched a theme for perfection come alive.

The lighting was simple, but magnificent. I am not entirely sure of the how, but I know Joop Caboort the lighting designer did a fantastic job. There seemed to be strips of light on the stage in different locations at different times of the solo sections. It helped highlight the soloist, but more interesting actually was when the other dancers moved in the darkness with bits of them slipping into the light. It was so simple, yet, radiant. The light bounced off the dancers when they would enter the light adding a heightened awareness to the performers in the background along with the soloist.

It was such an enjoyable evening. I find that going to the ballet turns me into a kid at Christmas. When we first arrived at the pavilion, I was nearly jumping with excitement. The seats were free too! We sat in the grass seats just on the outskirts of the pavilion which is huge. I wasn't so sure at first how it would effect the view of the performance being so far from the stage, but I soon realized with the first piece what amazing seats we had. As the dancers on stage twirled and dipped, the kids that were sitting all around the grassy area of the arena got up and began dancing on their own. It certainly wasn't expected from the performance, but watching the little girls and boys look to the stage and then try their own moves was very touching. I felt so lucky to have the opportunity to see the Houston Ballet perform, and would gladly go again.