Metro had track work on the downtown section of the Orange Line, St. Patrick's Day celebrants, and war protestors, so I got off at Farragut North and walked two blocks to the Farragut West station for my trip home today. When is Metro going to build a connection between these two stations?

My conscience would have had me stay with the anti-war crew, but my pragmatic side tells me that there isn't anything that can be done to prevent the carnage at this point.

posted: 5:45:22 PM  

International Ballet Festival, Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater, Washington

Miami City Ballet brought a fine performance of Balanchine's sharp-edged The Four Temperaments, set on Paul Hindemith's piano and string orchestra theme and variations piece. One of his black and white ballets, it's more about showing the bones of the dance, an MRI of the dance, than about a dance itself. Jeremy Cox dances a wonderful solo in the "Melancholic" section: with his swoopy backbends, he is the embodiment of a swoon. Michelle Merrell shows speed in "Choleric," but there's something about her line that I don't like.

Adam Cooper and members of the English National Ballet brought Sea of Troubles, by Sir Kenneth Macmillan. A one-act springing from the story of Hamlet, it's a confusing, overreaching piece that, at its worst, plays like a Reduced Shakespeare Company bit. Confusing, because there are two dancers for Gertrude, and two dancers for King Hamlet, Claudius, Laertes, and Polonius. Though there are some nice bits for Ophelia.

Finally, the Kirov Ballet gamely packed 18 sylphs on the Ike's stage for the "Kingdom of the Shades" section of Petipa's La Bayadère without benefit of the customary ramps. Their arabesques were not rock steady, to my taste.

posted: 5:39:35 PM