Yesterday, Serena and I went to see Spellbound Contemporary Ballet’s The Art of Fugue, a performance based on J.S. Bach’s unfinished work.
I have been gifting Serena two subscriptions to our city’s theater’s dance season for some years. She loves dance, both classic and contemporary. I thought I did not. Usually, she goes with one of her best friends. I don’t remember ever going before, and yesterday, I only went because none of her friends were available.
I know nothing about ballet, and truthfully, I expected to get relatively bored. Instead, I got excited. I sat there in the stalls, open-mouthed, the whole time. The nonstop one-hour and ten-minute show flew by; it was delightful.
Many of the dancers’ movements, individual but primarily choral, reminded me of Hayao Miyazaki’s masterful sequences, particularly those in which one or more characters literally “liquefy” to the ground or otherwise amalgamate, which happens quite often in his works. I wonder if Mauro Astolfi, the choreographer, took inspiration from Miyazaki or if it was just a figment of my imagination (Serena, I later found out, had the same thoughts.)
Next year, Serena’s best friends are staying at home. There’s a new ballet fan in town.