11:11 reviews

[socalgal]

Here is a review clip from the City Paper......

http://citypaper.net/articles/current/dance.shtml

A Perfect 11

by Janet Anderson

dance review

Pennsylvania Ballet was driving a fast train full of creativity when it closed out its spring season. The headliner was in-house choreographer Matthew Neenan's 11:11, performed to lilting Rufus Wainwright songs, including "Oh What a World" about that fast train. Neenan trumped his own ace with a world premiere, "As It's Going," performed to live string and piano music by Shostakovich, a work so astonishingly sophisticated the young choreographer shifted the weight of the program to his newest work.

Neenan's 11:11, a suite of dances to Wainwright's lilting songs, got a luscious performance from the buoyant, charged-up dancers who'd originated the roles in 2005. Julie Diana and Meredith Rainey were virtually boneless flying through the songwriter's "Vibrate." When the whole cast whirled across stage to "Oh What a World," you were seeing PAB at its best. (Wainwright came to opening night and rushed backstage to congratulate the company, saying he was going to forget his Judy Garland project and just do ballet.)

Christopher d'Amboise's "Symposium," a carefully thought-out abstract dance taking its inspiration from the painter Mondrian, opened the program. Dancers moved against a simple backdrop of black-and-white lines that looked like one of the famous artist's paintings. Arantxa Ochoa and Alexander Iziliaev were superb, executing sharp linear moves. But d'Amboise came off a little earnest in comparison to the verve and flair of the in-house choreographer. Keep that fast train going!"

PENNSYLVANIA BALLET June 7, Merriam Theater"

[lillianna]

I see on the City Center site that PA Ballet is scheduled to perform 11:11 at the Fall Dance Festival. It is a great piece. I hope that PA Ballet does perform 11:11 at the festival.