Boston Ballet Review: Celebrating Jorma Elo
February 25, 2021 | Digital
Jorma Elo was in the original 1991 cast of Nederlands Dans Theater’s Petite Mort by Jiří Kylián. I know this because before YouTube, dancers used to geek out over DVDs and VHS tapes; a party would often turn into a huddle of people around a television watching the newest acquired tape.
This was how I first saw Kylián and when I later discovered Elo, it just made him that much cooler in my eyes.
Elo, unsurprisingly, has made a name of his own as an internationally requested choreographer as well as the Resident Choreographer of Boston Ballet. The program, Celebrating Jorma Elo, is a culmination of fifteen years of Elo’s work being performed by the Boston troupe.
If you are looking for a subscription that gets you more bang for your buck, I would say this is it. For $90, you receive three different programs (this one and two upcoming) and at an hour and a half, with eleven different pieces featured, the Celebrating Jorma Elo program is worth every penny. Most of the works are presented as excerpts which one might think could take away from the satiation of seeing a show from beginning to end but this program still delivers.
The digital show starts with three pieces, all filmed in 2021, and the dancers donning masks.
The first is Plan to B set to music by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. A standout, Principal dancer Ji Young Chae achieves an impressive quality in the work through deep plies and long shapes which extend far beyond her fingers and toes.
The piece has flairs of formality to it with Renaissance-like string and harpsichord accompaniment and the dancers in formal-inspired attire (velvet material, a tuxedo striped leg) but the movement is just…cool.
Abstract miming, riddled with texture and slicing hands, it cuts through the music. Elo is a master of many things (dance vocabulary, utilization of silence, building tension) and choosing music is something he understands. He knows what will work and he takes that sound (often a furious string instrument) and spins it through his dancer’s limbs.
Next up is Bach Cello Suites with music by Johann Sebastian Bach. A lovely excerpt of a pas de deux, it is a more classic approach with the female in a simple leotard and pointe shoes and a bare stage except for a solo cellist.
The third is a world premiere called Story of a Memory with a music remix including sounds from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Nancy Euverink. Clearly made for filming, the piece differs greatly from any other works in the program.
The two dancers, Viktorina Kapitonova and Tigran Mkrtchyan who dance it well, appear in and out of sync with each other due to shifting camera angles; left, right, up close, and far away. The quick cuts and abrupt costume changes disrupt the continuity, making it hard to follow at times. In the end, the movie magic strips the piece of clarity.
After the 2021 works, we are gifted with eight additional from the Elo archives.
In a #TBT moment, Boston Ballet repeats Plan to B but with the cast from 2004. The footage is grainy (in a legitimate way Instagram filters can only dream of) but is a wonderful nod to dancers who contributed to the essence of what Boston Ballet is today. Because the taping was from a live show you can even hear the gasp from audience members after a perfectly executed revoltade.
The following seven excerpts are a range of surprising moments including microphones and dialogue, an almost Balanchine-esque piece, and in the final number we see what might be his most balletic approach yet (a piece I would like to see more of).
The dancers execute each style beautifully. Special nods to audience and Elo favorites, Lia Cirio who dances with determined precision; Kathleen Breen Combes, now the Executive Director of Festival Ballet Providence, who showcases rich and explosive dancing; and the wonderfully dramatic presence John Lam brings to the stage.
In an evening celebrating Jorma Elo, you can expect to see a lot of Elo although you never know which side of him you are going to get. But rest assured it will be innovative, exciting, and make you itch to get back to a theater to see these amazing dancers where they belong.
2020-2021 Virtual Season | BB@yourhome
Boston Ballet’s Celebrating Jorma Elo is available to stream through March 7.
Featured Photo for Boston Ballet Review of Lia Cirio and Paulo Arrais in Jorma Elo’s Bach Cello Suites © Rosalie O’Connor, courtesy of Boston Ballet
