| World Premier � 2007 Composer: Ned Rorem Music: Ned Rorem String Quartet #4 1. Minotaur: Very fast, ugly and relentless - Insistent - Cajoling - Pleading - Frantic 2. Child Holding A Dove: Infinitely Tender 3. Acrobat on a Ball: Very fast 4. Still Life: Absolutely Strict 5. Seated Harlequin; Wistful 6. Head of a Boy: Massive, Very Legato 7. Basket of Flowers: Very fast 8. Self Portrait: Always Frantic And Coarse (Cello)/Motionless, Cold, Removed (Others) - Horror And Indifference - A Bit Faster - Tempo I 9. Three Nudes; like the wind, whispered and slippery 10. Death of Harlequin: Infinitely Tender (The paintings of Picasso inspired the music.) Choreography: Helgi Tomasson Scenic & Costume: Sandra Woodall Lighting: Michael Mazzola |
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| On Common Ground |
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| Rehearsing Tomasson's 2007 world premiere.
Photo/ Erik Tomasson |
| Helgi Tomasson's new work, is a rich and sophisticated exploration of connectedness -- a visceral response to Ned Rorem's alternately sweet and strident score. Strikingly spare, yet conveying a sense of richness, On Common Ground seems to be the choreographer�s visceral response to the music. The work opens with two men dancing in unison and moves through a brilliant series of solos, duets, trios, and ensemble scenes. Then the dancers regroup onstage in a finale that emphasizes the contrast between couple and couple and between each duo and the trio./ SF Ballet Program Guide 2007 |
| "We have two lead couples who are very different and they are on this common ground � call it a stage or whatever that is � and still the differences are there.� Helgi Tomasson |
| Tomasson echoes the music's extreme counterpoint in his choreography, and it's best seen in the second movement duet for the two principal women. One is a breath of fresh air; the other seems to struggle with some inner torment. Powerful sequences of unison dancing make the passages of contrast all the more telling. Sharp, large-scale solo movements share equal time with soft, suspended pas de deux, punctuated by a trio of interwining dancers who bust into unison leaps that somehow seem to round corners. Fresh, intriguing lifts stamp each episode of partnering with originality while appearing entirely organic. The tenderness and purity of the first duet, in which the dancers interpret a georgeous violin-carried melody, make the pas de deux that folow seem even more disturbing than the intense music./ SF Ballet Program Guide 2007 |
| information for research and entertainment and is a collection of thing s that anyone can find using Google. |
| Impressions of what I saw when I went to the final dress rehersal/ 4/4/07 (paintings on photos) |
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