Milwaukee Ballet closes season with two magnificent works
The Milwaukee Ballet wound up its 2024-25 season with a blockbuster performance of two ballets on May 17 at The Pabst Theater.
The first was a marvelous, original ballet called In the Dark choreographed by Tsai Hsi Hung. In the Dark was the winner of the Milwaukee Ballet’s 2024 international choreographic competition, and the dance uses the vocabulary of classical ballet in new and exciting ways. Instead of smooth, graceful movements, it has sharp, harsh, violent movements. Instead of pretty girls in pink tutus and tights, it has strong women in black leotards and bare legs. Where classical ballet tries to turn the dancers into ethereal beings who barely touch the ground, In the Dark emphasizes the earthy physicality of the dance. The audience was blown away, as was this reviewer.
The second part of the program was a very moving ballet based on Bizet’s opera Carmen. The dancing itself was not as original as the dancing in In the Dark, but the ballet told the story in a way that emphasized the disruptive and even destructive nature of romantic love. The first act of the ballet presented the soldiers and the women who work in the cigar factory as living in a well-ordered, peaceful and even joyous world.
That world is disrupted by Carmen’s intense sexual allure, by her insistence that she is free of any obligation to her lovers and by Don Jose’s obsession to possess her. This is romantic love in the authentic tradition of Tristan and Isolde and of Launcelot and Guinevere. In this tradition, love does not lead to a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence. It leads to tragic death and sometimes to the destruction of kingdoms.
The Milwaukee Ballet’s dancers presented the story powerfully and movingly, and the audience gave them a standing ovation. The Milwaukee Ballet is one of Dairyland’s jewels, and it is always worth a trip from Appleton to Milwaukee to see the company’s performances. Tickets for next year’s season will be on sale soon, and you should look into enriching your life by attending one or more of the performances of the Milwaukee Ballet.
