...::: Viridiana :::...

Ballet Boyz

"Oooh. Aaah" and "Ouch," were frequent thoughts while watching Ballet Boyz from the UK. I went to see them yesterday at my former alma mater's beautiful Royce Hall. The cast was surprisingly small, three male and two female dancers. They are part of George Piper Dances, whose approach is collaborative -- combine world-renowned dancers, choreographers, and composers to create dance. This means you get a mixed bag of performances, which is not always a good thing, because you want the show's overall tone to be unified. One thing that was unusual but very cool is that they used film as part of their dance presentation. Each performance was segued by a film clip projected onto the large cinema-style screen. We learned a little bit about the dancers in their trip from London to Germany to New York and finally to Los Angeles. It was funny and unexpected.

“Mesmerics” was my preferred piece. Set to the music of Philip Glass and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. It was mellifluous and cinematographic. I also enjoyed the music from "Torsion," by Richard English, but felt the dancers were too slow and repetitive. The music was full of drumbeats and techno, and they were doing classical ballet, so you go figure. I am looking forward to the coming dance venues at the UCLA Performing Arts.