Benjamin Millepied's Danses Concertantes at the Joyce

I thoroughly enjoyed the two short ballets choreographed by Millepied which comprised the Danses Concertantes program I saw at the Joyce Theatre on Friday night. The performance featured an amazing cast of dancers from ABT including Isabella Boylston and Cory Stearns in a couple outstanding duet solos. Both pieces, "28 Variations on a Theme by Paganini" (to music by Brahms) and the world premiere of "Without" (to music by Chopin), were everything classical ballet should be - interesting, beautiful and perfectly technically executed. The new piece "Without" was particularly enjoyable with the dancers in bright colored costumes slinking in and out from heavy curtains surrounding the stage. Although the promo video for the performance doesn't really capture what the actual performance was like, it does feature some nice highlights from Millepied's work so you can get a sense of it:



I do have to say that my sister and I were seated very close to the stage which has its pluses and minuses. On the plus side, you really get a great view of all the intricate moves and footwork as well as a close up of the dancers' expressions. However, it is a little hard to take in the entire piece when a number of dancers are on stage at once so I felt as if I was shifting my focus around a lot. Also, I know ballet dancers are supposed to be impossibly thin but one ballerina in particular, featured in an unflattering gray costume, looked so thin that at close range, it was a little off putting to watch her even though her dancing was beautiful. Next time I see her dance, I think I will sit at a greater distance.