Balanchine’s birthday present

This year‘s premier night of ice and blowing snow seemed more like one in Balanchine‘s native St. Petersburg than anything else.
Wheeldon's poetically titled ballet, “After The Rain,“ at the New York City Ballet is an approximately 15 minute, 2-part work, set to as many sections of music by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. Both compositions are in his tintinnabuli mode, so named to note the use of primitive, triad materials, with one specific tonality.

The dance, initially for three couples to the “Ludus“ movement “Tabula Rasa,“ and climactically for one of the duos (to “Spiegel im Spiegel“) is increasingly dreamy and hypnotic in mood. Mark Stanley‘s lighting and the use of well arranged scrims and side pieces wash the first part with an icy air, especially when the dark sections of the background take on the chill texture of black ice. Wendy Whelan with Jock Soto, Sofiane Sylve with Edwaard Liang, and Maria Kowroski with “Ask la cour” cut through the astringent atmosphere of artful light and of silence-framed sound from composition's two violins and prepared piano with unwavering determination, often emphasized by the thrust of the far-reaching, yet sensual limbs. One recurring image ...