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Balanchine’s Jewels Paris Opera Ballet |
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The corps express
the crystalline structure of emeralds and rubies by clasping hands in the air
(green or red), Diamonds make for a tighter bond, an intricate waist-level
line. The peroration is a treatise
on formal beauty. A solo girl continues in the manner of a discourse en
pointe animated by movement, then another girl, two girls and a boy, two pas
de deux, the company. Fauré’s umber-and-pallor out of Puvis de Chavannes
unwinding is revealed by analysis. The New York Times
reviewer was fooled, Rubies moves the air echt Balanchine. A “hot”
ballet lending itself to a final comparison with Massine’s Parade. Balanchine notes even the
orchestration of Diamonds. The finale is a cotillion or ball, it might
be Eugene Onegin, emerging from abstraction. The direction for
television suffers from “arbitrary divisions” (Kafka) but doesn’t
add and detract. |