A Trio to Treasure--For Different Reasons

Symphony #9, Wooden Dimes, Swimmer
San Francisco Ballet
Streaming      
March10, 2021 

by Rita Felciano 
copyright © Rita Felciano 2021

For anybody with doubts about Ballet being a contemporary art form, this was the show to see. Alexander Ratmansky’s “Symphony #9” and Yuri Possokhov’s “Swimmer” bracketed Danielle Rowe’s world premiere of “Wooden Dimes.” They made for an intelligent satisfying evening of 21^st century dance. There was barely a false note among them. 

Co-commissioned by American Ballet Theater, “Symphony #9” was seen in a taped 2019 SFB version; it showcased the company in enviable shape. Even streamed Ramansky’s take on the Shostakovich (conducted by Martin West) looked superb. Quickly shifting groups of multiples billowed and contracted with quasi militaristic discipline. The ominous undertones of uncertainty and fear -- first signaled in the score -- often contradicted the sense of surface “community.” Again and againd discordant harmonies in the brasses or woodwinds called up choreography that was as crystalline as it was mercurial.