by Rachel Hellwig
Atlanta Ballet’s “The Best of Modern Choreographic Voices” opens with “Seven Sonatas” by Alexei Ratmansky, a work originally created for American Ballet Theatre. A piano ballet, featuring live performance of Scarletti selections, it depicts three lyrical, windswept, and witty couples in white. Some of the most distinctive features of Ratmansky’s style are its improvisational quality and playful, sometimes irreverent use of classical ballet, as well as unexpected moments of humor. Hard-to-get, push-pull, please-don’t-go-yet courtships are highlighted in the pas de deuxs, often with comedy. When one man’s beloved skims offstage out of his reach, he merely shrugs and keeps dancing until she returns. Interestingly, intermittent somberness and the quiet ending hint at a more solemn undercurrent of anxiety about losing “the one you love”, though this is usually hidden behind much lightheartedness. [Read more…]
