"Nine Sinatra Songs", And Other Dances - Sacramento Ballet


Left: Question time after the show. Ron Cunningham on the microphone. Seven dancers visible - left to right - Jack Hansen, Kirsten Bloom, Ilana Goldman, (obscured), Nicholas Pabst, (Tarah Finley?), Alexandra Cunningham.




Wonderful program! It was time to check into my crush on dancer Tarah Finley.

But wait! So many other crushes too! Amanda Peet is an AWESOME dancer!

The first offering was George Balanchine's "Scotch Symphony" (1952), with Kirsten Bloom and Jack Hansen dancing pas de deux, and Nicole Haskins in a solo role. Lightning-fast classical ballet, with some characteristically-Scotch toe taps.

One interesting feature of the evening was the unexpected rearward motion of the woman dancer towards her partner. In Scotch Symphony, the rearward motion was simple - pirouette, developpe, arabesque - but the Twyla Tharp dances featured a much more aggressive rearward attack.

The second offering was Twyla Tharp's "Nine Sinatra Songs" (1982). The funniest number was "All The Way", with Kirsten Bloom and Michael Vester. Amanda Peet displayed an almost feline approach to ballet that was riveting to watch! There was one trick that wowed the audience: Peet began running from stage right and launched herself feet-first, like a javelin in flight towards Jack Hansen, stage left, as he distractedly put on a coat. Hansen caught Peet midair at the last possible moment. It looked as if he could not track her movement even in peripheral vision until the last moment, and thus had to rely on musical timing. As a trick, it wasn't the most-complicated thing of the evening - it required perfect timing, of course, but more sophisticated wizardry had been on display all evening - but as theater, it was AWESOME!

The third offering was a world-premiere: Trey McIntyre's "Wild Sweet Love". Ilana Goldman was frequently featured as the (unloved) single woman looking for love. The first selection featured awkward music (by the Zombies) which I felt was actually too awkward for the circumstances. The second selection featured the world's most popular song (and the scourge of the single woman), Felix Mendelsohn's "Wedding March." Otherwise, it was an interesting and engaging piece, but hard to characterize in regards to style - lots of pop music, like from Queen, or the Partridge Family's theme.