reviewvancouver: Ballet BC

The opening program for Ballet BC’s 2016/17 season is a raving success which will resonate at the box office. A collaboration with resident choreographer Cayetano Soto and Ballet BC, Program 1 melds dance technique, lighting, sound and costume into a comprehensive, thought provoking whole.

The signature style of Cayetano Soto is most evident in the first three pieces of Program 1. Pared down costumes that enable light to highlight the movement of the dancers, stark sets further enhance the disciplined angle of the dancer’s limbs, music that either contrasts with the costumes as in Beginning After or hauntingly accents the mood of the piece as in Fugaz and Sortijas.

The style of Cayetano Soto’s creations are breathtaking to view. The disciplined structure of each component that goes into the making of a piece brings a purity to the final result. He has likened his choreography to architecture, stating: “the more complicated it gets, the more beautiful it becomes.” It seems that the simplicity Soto creates with the discipline in his lighting and costumes acts to highlight the complicated movements in the choreography’s structure. The impact is powerful.

The fourth offering of the evening, Schachmatt is a lighthearted departure from the first three pieces. It is a clever, uplifting dollup of fun with incredibly complicated hand and body movements that showcase the skill, technique and range that the dancers at Ballet BC possess.

The inspiration behind Soto’s creations deal with truth, memory, relationships, fate, reason and feeling. Whether one realizes that or not after viewing Program 1 it will not detract from the impact of his work. Program 1 leaves a deep impression - it resonates with heartfelt emotion.