I purchased a $81 Joffrey subscription straight from the Joffrey instead of taking on the Groupon. My logic being that the Joffrey would get the whole $81 instead of a portion from Groupon.
To my surprise, Athanasia and I ended up with lower level box seats in the Auditorium Theater. If you’ve never been to the Auditorium Theater in Chicago, it is old world beauty and charm, with amazing acoustics and modern technology. The off kilter tiled floors, grand sloping worn marble steps, domed ceilings and archways give the sense of magic and excitement. And then you walk into the actual Auditorium….the ceiling gives way to gilded gold tile and marble, gold toned fabric theater seats, the orchestra pit (with live orchestra) and the giant red curtain. It’s majestic and magnificent. I think – I’d love to dance on this stage. I’d love to see the dressing rooms, backstage, ropes, props and back hallways. I’d love to be waiting in the wing for the music to start. But it’s not my turn to perform. It’s my turn to watch.
The Forgotten Land had this wondrous back drop of a cloud filled sunset sky. I couldn’t tell if there was a lighting element or if the performers literally made me think the sky was lighter or darker at different parts of the performance. It was so subtle, so small, and almost unnoticeable how the sky changed with each performance group. The movement started before the music did. Without any audio cue, I wondered how they could tell other than the sound of the rapidly rising and vanishing curtain. They danced as a group. They danced as pairs. They moved in harmony. They moved in rhythm. They moved. And we moved with them.
Pretty Ballet was, in fact, beautiful. The curtain rises again. The stage is covered with dancers in varying positions. And the eye immediately goes to the very tall man holding up a woman in red slippers with a bit of red in her light almost white blue dress and tutu. She is moving a bit robot-like, smooth, fluid but only at the joints. He walks off with her and the stage moves into a symphony of sound and beauty. Trios and quintets of women and men dance together, dance separately, create symmetry, create opposition and create beauty. I couldn’t have told you what the back drop was, if there was one. I never saw it. I couldn’t stop watching the dancers. Then the couple comes back – the woman in the red slippers and the very tall man. Oddly, he does not appear to dwarf her onstage, but I am also sitting higher up….my perception is definitely skewed. It was over in a breath and the curtain closed again.
The finale was the Green Table. The red curtain disappears and the stage has a green table in the center with 6 to 7 dancers on each side wearing old men masks dressed in black suits. As the dance unfolds, it appears to be a conference of leaders convening. There is an obvious disagreement and the stage goes black. And then Death is on the stage. Dressed as a soldier with a black helmet, black boots, and skeletal black lines, Death starts his death march. Soldiers appear marching to war led by a white flag that gets darker and dirtier with each appearance. The women left behind weep, wail and mourn for their loved ones. The men are taken. Some of the women are taken. Some people go violently, others quietly, others welcome Death with their arms wide open and others without much fanfare or circumstance. And when it’s over, there again is the green table, where it starts, between men disagreeing…..and sending others to their deaths.
I left thinking about how wonderful a live orchestra is with ballet. I left thinking I wish I was half as talented at one thing. I left thinking each performance would be worth $81 - not three separate performances. I left thinking - I am going to ballet class on Monday :)
