“I’m dancing the role of Diego Rivera. No pressure. Just one of the greatest artists of his generation, said Houston Ballet Principal dancer Connor Walsh with a laugh. He was describing Broken Wings, one of three works in the mixed rep program that opens this week.
“Thankfully people think the ballet is more about Frida [Kahlo] which takes a little bit of the pressure off.”
Besides the ballet by choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa about Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, Stereo is King is a new work by Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch. And Jiří Kylián ‘s Petite Mort are all on the lineup for a program showing the range of the company.
Broken Wings premiered in 2016 in London; this is the first time Houston Ballet is performing it. Walsh said the company is excited about telling the story of Kahlo. “Someone whose story is well known that we can dig into, we can find inspiration in so many ways. There’s been great books, her visual art, there’s been films. We’re so lucky that there’s so many other things happening in our city at this moment. It’s a great production and fun music that’s very clever for a one-act ballet, he said. “
“We get to celebrate a culture that we don’t often get to do on the ballet stage. Is really fulfilling.”
Diego Rivera was Kahlo’s husband and a painter in his own right, known for his leading the movement of large murals telling a story. As Walsh describes him: “He was a big sort of flamboyant, big personality. The focus of his presence is really their long and tangled and complicated love story that was both influential in her work and a major part of her adult life.”
Walsh is also dancing the lead role in Petite Mort by choreographer: Jiří Kylián set to music by Mozart. “This is one of my favorite ballets to ever exist. We’re bringing this back. It’s been a long time since we’ve done so. It’s one of the ballets that I think is just about perfect. I’ve watched it my entire life and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.
“I think every step and every movement is so intentional and so thoughtfully placed that I just think it is one of the masterpieces of contemporary dance,” he added.
“I think art works best when it has intention, motivation — even abstract work, what are we trying to say with it? What are we trying to do? This is a contemporary work of art that is about sensuality, about being a man being a woman, relationships, all of these things, all together but subtlety placed.
“There’s a lot of symbolism with the use of the swords which is such a powerful way to open when it’s all in silence and the only music that is used is swords slicing through the air and the men’s feet squeaking on the floor. So the ballet starts with a real tension.
Kylián is always amazing at starting his work and creating an atmosphere before the music comes in. These Mozart pieces are some of Mozart’s finest. Everything from the first touch the first interaction the first reveal, the way the music enters, You go from one pas de deux to the next. This piece is performed all over the world.”
Artistic Director Welch’s work is set to percussion by Mason Bates while the dancers are in point shoes. This isn’t the first time Welch has used percussion as the music for his dancers.
The music includes indigenous instruments such as Thai gongs and Tibetan prayer-bowls. Bates composed the bestselling The Amazing Adventure of Kavalier & Clay for The Metropolitan Opera. He was appointed the first composer-in-residence at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,
Mixed rep, by its nature is designed to offer different styles to its audiences. As Walsh explains:
“With Petite Mort you have the Mozart classical music paired with classically inspired but beautiful contemporary dancing. Then Stanton’s Stereo is much more contemporary dancing with the Mason Bates music. But a slightly more classical vocabulary where the dancers are still in point shoes. Then you have more of a narrative work. So, you have story telling more inspired by historical events. Especially with a historical person that people can really relate to. That piece as well brings in more sets and costumes.
“It gets to show the company’s range as far as contemporary dancers and showing different styles. This is a time to highlight the whole company. The company can show its strength as an ensemble.”
Performances are scheduled for March 12-22 at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays at Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas. For more information, call 713-227-2787 or visit houstonballet.org. $25-$170.