Boston Ballet’s Fancy Free

miss fourteen likes to get fancy & go out. she especially likes to get fancy and go in to the city without her younger siblings. ::smiles:: so we were thrilled when we had the opportunity to see Boston Ballet’s Fancy Free at the Boston Opera House.

Fancy Free is a three-movement ballet, meaning there are three entirely separate ballets. It opens with Barber Violin Concerto, a company premiere choreographed in 1988 by New York City Ballet’s Peter Martins. A classical couple meets a modern dance couple. The modern couple was hilarious, I’ve never sat in a theater watching a ballet and laughed so hard in my life. truly awesome.

Next, three sailors hit the town looking for quick romance in “Fancy Free,” the early (1944) and brilliant collaboration of choreographer Jerome Robbins and the young Leonard Bernstein. In my opinion, anytime you add the swing with ballet, you have a winning combination!

The final piece Études, a long single-act Danish ballet by choreographer Harald Lander that premiered in 1938, is incredible for the grand finale at the close of the 2011-2012 season. the ballet traces the study of dance, opening with twelve silhouetted ballet students at the studio barre, their legs brightly lit from the knees down as they work in changing groups on the basic moves of ballet. During this piece, i believe kiana leaned over and whispered to me, oh my gosh. oh my gosh. oh my gosh. repeatedly till the piece was finished. it was breathtakingly beautiful. i’ve never seen more precise dancing in my life. we were both stunned.

Are you a fan of the ballet? If Fancy Free returns for the 2012-13 Boston Ballet season {or you can find it in a theater near you}, and you only go to one ballet in your entire life – choose this one.

{photos by me.}