For some inexplicable reason, I just could not pay attention to Liam Scarlett’s Vespertine, which was at the top Atlanta Ballet’s program for last night, Love Fear Loss. I don’t know if it was the contrast of the lights in the ushers’ alcoves on either side of the stage or the constant sniffling of the gent sitting beside me, but from the first moment my mind wandered and would not settle down. I heard the music more than I saw the performance. I’ve seen it before and liked it very much and there was nothing in this performance of it that turned me off. The best I could do was to focus on whatever single dancer held my eye best, which is usually something I only do to entertain myself while waiting for a lousy performance to end. The only thought relevant to the piece that I cam away with was that the heavy use of top-lighting doesn’t look as good from the mezzanine: instead of outlining the form of the dancer, it kind of just draws attention to the tops of their body parts and away from the bits that are doing the most interesting work. Plus there’s lower contrast since the form is often seen against a pool of light on the floor rather than against an unlit backdrop.
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