The evening was as expected for Plushenko (ie he was superb) and Ice Theatre (ie they were pretentious)
So, snark alert! I present the following review for your edification.
Ice Theatre fancies themselves to be serious arteestes; they cannot do anything just to be entertaining. You need to read the program notes to figure out what they are up to, and even then I'm usually going "huh?"
1- The evening started with a bizarre combination of 3 ladies doing school figures with a voiceover of one of the ladies reading a deep, meaningful poem called "Serpentine Loop" This consisted mostly of random phrases such as "Time transcends the body", nobody paid much attention. I tried not to laugh.
2- 8 junior ladies performed a syncro-like routine to some tinkly music, which was fairly enjoyable. The program notes didn't specify the music or the hidden meaning, so I guess they were just meant to be crowd pleasing. They were.
3- Rhapsody in Blue. This was lively and fun, with some great lifts and spins. It got wild applause from the audience, which seemed a bit odd - I mean, they were good, but it's not like anyone performed the iron lotus or anything. There were no program notes with an explanation so I made up my own: The blue costumes represented the skaters in the grip of manic depression, but when they took their meds they broke free and gained balance and calm and nifty footwork.
4- Plushenko. Excellent! There to entertain us and not strain our brains.
5-Arctic Memory. Valerie Levine, skating to ominous-sounding music and dressed in a weird getup with huge wings; I had neglected to look at the title of the piece and thought she was supposed to be a creature in flight, probably a vulture. I was wrong, it was a commentary on climate change and was choreographed on a mission in the Arctic. I don't know why she needed to flap her arms in the Arctic and not her own living room, but I'm not a choreographer, so what do I know?
6-Malevolent landscape. Honestly, at this point reading the notes only increased my hilarity; they state: "The performer personifies the malevolence in our current ecological landscape"
Er, if you say so.
This was choreographed by Gary Beacom, would he really do a piece about malevolence??? I bet it was supposed to be a comedy routine and Ice Theatre just made it deep and significant.
Patrick O'Hearn, dressed as a cat burglar in a black unitard and an eye mask, did a fun routine with some really creative spins. I didn't see anything malevolent about it. Huh.
7- 11/11. Lots of tick-tocking like clocks, which are a common element for these guys. The notes state: "With the past and future trying to get our attention, we tend to forget the present"
What Ice Theatre should forget is trying to be profound and serious, and give us some upbeat numbers that are just meant to entertain. I have no clue what the 11/11 meant: November 11th? Eleven minutes past 11?
Hidden meaning aside, this was enjoyable and wouldn't have looked out of place at a Cirque du Soleil show.
8-In Passing. I loved this. Joel Dear and Christian Erwin did a pas de deux of sorts to Adele's "When we Were Young"
But the meaning couldn't just be "two guys meet and are attracted to each other", oh no, that would be too obvious. Instead, one man restored another man's memory about an unresolved relationship.
9- Plushenko. Wow!
10- Requiem. Skaated by Jessica Huot (in white) and Conor Wagar (in black). No notes. So they could have been an angel and a devil, Yin and Yang, or possibly it was meant to be a statement about the geopolitical situation in Tibet.
11- Tango Images. Tango music, and according to the program, was merely supposed to represent the passion of the dance, but I knew better. It was really "Giselle" set in Argentina, the ladies were meant to be wilis and wanted to make the 2 men dance to death. It started off ok but dragged on too long, I applauded madly when it was over.
All in all, aside from the bonus of seeing Plushenko, a typical, nicely skated, hilarity-provoking performance.
that's all you need to know...
