Boston Ballet’s Version of Spring Fever is So Hot: Spring Experience

Boston Ballet’s Spring Experience opened last week and I can’t stop daydreaming about it. I have said before that the mixed bill programs are my favourite ones. I always fall head over heels in love with one piece in the program, but Spring Experience has me polyamorous because I can’t just pick one. The works are each so different and each tap into something deep inside me. I want to sit and hold each piece tight for a while falling for them equally and individually. Spring Experience has three very different works: two contemporary ballets from Jiří Kylián and one contemporary reimagined version of a classical ballet from 1898. Artistic director, Mikko Nissenen created his reimagined Raymonda in 2024.

Raymonda is a festive classical ballet that I really enjoy. The costumes remind me of the dolls I used to collect from different countries and regions dressed in the traditional outfits. There are many full corps de ballet pieces with high energy and choreography that makes you feel uplifted. I also love all the character dances. Character dance is something that most ballet dancers study and is in many of the classical ballets. It is a form of dance that takes root in traditional folk and national/regional dance forms.

Petit Mort is a fabulous work of movement, partnering, and simultaneously playful and dramatic use of props. Petit Mort translates literally to little death, but is also is a euphemism for an orgasm. Without being overly “in your face” sexual, Petit Mort is sensual and brimming with partnering that reflects physical connection and relationships. The swords are almost a corps de ballet in themselves. The long hard object that the male dancers partner with at the beginning of the piece is one that requires a lot of attention to detail and practice. As for the female partners, they dance with beautiful black dresses that move in such a way that have you tittering a little without turning the dance into a farce.

“…in the moment of pleasure (…) we are reminded of the fact that our lives are of a relatively short duration, and that death is never too far from us… it is always a Mort, which accompanies our lives, sometimes it is Petite, sometimes it is Grand, but it is the most faithful companion we have, from the dawn of our existence till the end.”
–Jiří Kylián

27’52”  by Jiří Kylián warps space in the most delicious way. Sound moves forward and backwards along with the bodies in space and the space itself curls at the edges, wrinkles, folds, and falls from the sky. The song is the length of the piece, which gets you thinking about time and space immediately. Of all three pieces this is the one I could watch again and again and it would feel new each time.  German composer Dirk Haubrich created the music specifically for this piece so all the elements of the work fit tightly and are viscerally intertwined.

Spring Experience is at the Boston Opera House through this weekend and then Boston Ballet will be back again the following week this time with a beloved version of Roméo et Juliette.

City Living Boston readers can buy discounted tickets for either show with code: CITYLIVING45.