Ballet Across America @ The Kennedy Center

Returned to the Kennedy Center on Saturday to see this eclectic Ballet revue. Each night involved a different set of companies from across the country, mostly the south and south west. Ours started out with Ballet Memphis. WOW. What a show. There were five dancers on stage most of the time keeping our eyes very focus on their movements. They were dressed in vaguely country western attire and dancing to the music of Roy Orbison. This performance was just amazing. Standing O.

The next act was Ballet Arizona . This was a much larger company and a longer performance. There were frequently many routines occuring simultaneously on stage, one flowing into the next. The music was more traditional classical. While it had it's moments (times when it seemed like one male dancer after another was simply floating they had such air in their jumps), there was so much going on we both found it hard to concentrate.

The last act was the Pacific Northwest Ballet, which we had seen while in Seattle on vacation last year. They also used a slightly larger set of dancers, though not as large as Arizona's. The music was frenetic, and could easily have been pulled from a Hitchcock film. The costumes were ultra mod, med in tight fitting button downs and slacks in neutral colors, women in simple skirts and dresses in the same neutral colors. This performance was also excellent, nearly comparable to the first. I did find though that by the time this one came on, I was a bot too tired to concentrate fully.