Early in the week, as preparation for upcoming midterms began, students decided to take a break from their obligations and witness a special live event.
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal enticed the crowd at 7:30 last night at the Eisenhower Auditorium. The packed crowd buzzed with anticipation for the show.
“I’m excited. It’s different so I’m expecting a different type of choreography, bunhead, ” Lauren Doyle (freshman-communications) said.
People in the crowd were amazed with the show.
Samantha Sarandis (sophomore-health and human development) said, “As soon as the curtain was drawn, it took my breath away.”
The expressionist style of Les Grands Ballets represented an “inhuman quality” that added to the beauty of the piece, Sarandis said.
But there remained something inherently powerful and masculine about each piece.
“A lot of the movements required strength and there’s masculinity in that,” Nathan Elsesser (freshman-business management) said.
The first piece of the night, Four Seasons, contained a traditional aspect.
The piece embraced sculpture, and manipulated the art of sculpting into movement.
The duets in the piece reflected this art of movement and acted as an extension of each person.
“It’s almost the point of a duet,” Sarandis said. “ You don’t want to see two people, you want to see the connection.”
But the second piece, titled Cantata, was drastically different from The Four Seasons.
The dancers were fully clothed, as opposed to flesh-like garments worn in The Four Seasons piece. The dancers also took their hair down and discarded their shoes.
“It seemed like they were going with a zombie-like theme for the second act,” Patricia Noel (sophomore-communications) said.
Despite the carnal ambiance of the second piece, Cantata seemed more human than The Four Seasons.
“It felt like they interacted with the crowd and each other more” Noel said.
Students loved the show and said that if they had the opportunity, they would see Les Grands Ballets Candadiens de Montreal again.
“Especially if they have a master class like they did earlier today,” Doyle said.
But despite the humor or inhuman quality of the performance, the predominant aspect that drew the crowd was the sheer beauty of the piece.
“It’s gorgeous,” Sarandis said. “The amazing part about ballet is that you could take a picture at any time and it would always look beautiful.”
