Powerful moves
DC bound: Houston Ballet Falling to the Kennedy Center
- The Houston Ballet performs at the Kennedy Center this week.Photo by Amitava Sarkar
- Stanton Welch first created Falling in 2005.Photo by Ron McKinney, Art Institute of Houston North
It's going to be a busy week for 10 Houston Ballet dancers who head to Washington, DC, to perform at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Tuesday and Wednesday as part of the Ballet Across America II. The company is in the middle of Ashton's charmerLa Fille mal gardeeright now as well.
They will be performing Stanton Welch's Falling, a neo-classic homage to Mozart's Salzburg Symphonies, in DC. "It's intricate, like a diamond," Welch says. "Falling utilizes a very old fashioned, classical ballet look with rounded arms and soft shapes, nothing long and sharp."
Playful and all about dance, Falling was just performed at Miller Outdoor Theatre last month.
Welch first created Falling in 2005 for the San Francisco Ballet where it was met with critical praise by Michael Wade Simpson of the San Francisco Chronicle. "The whole work has a fresh sense of direction and musicality ... Falling is a delight in shades of pastel, with good ideas and excellent dancing delivered in a joyful, Mozartian spirit," Simpson wrote.
This marks the second appearance of the company in Ballet Across America and their eighth performance at The Kennedy Center. Houston Ballet will share the program with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet and North Carolina Dance Theatre.
By the weekend, the dancers will be back in full peasant regalia for La Fille ready to send ballet lovers into the summer ballet drought with a smile. I will be heading to DC on Tuesday as well for the Dance/USA conference — which will give me a chance to cheer the home team on.