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===== Monet Impressions =====

=== N&O Review April 16, 2011 ===

Published Sat, Apr 16, 2011 06:50 AM\\

Monet and dance blend beautifully\\

Dance and painting are separate arts, but they mingle beautifully in Carolina Ballet's "Monet Impressions." Premiered in 2007 in conjunction with the N.C. Museum of Art's Monet exhibition, the program's return Thursday night confirmed its status as one of the company's most creative offerings.

Carolina Ballet has presented many programs that join the works of stage, film and ballet choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett with those of company artistic director Robert Weiss, but none has been so thematically interwoven and thoughtfully balanced. Inspired by the works of the French Impressionist painter, the collaborators took different but complementary paths.

Taylor-Corbett chose a Monet painting depicting men and women having lunch outdoors to fashion her 40-minute piece "Picnic on the Grass." The group suggested a back story, so Taylor-Corbett assigned them relationships and romantic entanglements. The delightful result peeks into the lives of a married woman and her former flame; a couple about to be wed; a flirt and her suitors; and Monet himself, along with his wife, child and a secret admirer.

Underpinned with perky music by Poulenc, pleasingly dappled lighting by Ross Kolman and spiffy costumes by William Ivey Long, the piece bubbles along with constant interaction and astutely defined characters. Among the uniformly fine performances, special mention goes to Erica Sabatini, Nikolai Smirnov and Zalman Raffael, whose competitive flirtations joyfully expressed the thrill of young love.

Weiss used an assortment of Monet's works for the hourlong "The Gardens at Giverny." This grandly conceived piece opens with an artist envisioning his work, represented by six female dancers, one for each subsequent section evoking the spirit of a specific painting. Set to lush music by Debussy and Chausson, Weiss' depictions alternate between dreamy lyricism and electric eroticism, esthetically harmonized by Jeff A.R. Jones' painterly backdrops, Ross Kolman's subtly shifting lighting and David Heuvel's imaginative costuming, especially the men's full-length tunics representing water.

This piece was also filled with first-rate performances, including the impressive corps' ever-changing patterns. Gabor Kapin's supple solos as the artist were topped only by his achingly beautiful pas de deux with a glowing Lara O'Brien in "The Woman with a Parasol." As the artist's alter ego, Attila Bongar deftly partnered an ethereal Hong Yang in the "Clouds" section.

This deeply satisfying program is for fans of ballet and Monet alike.
music_theater@lycos.com

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