The story of The Firebird is fairly simple. Ivan (Herman Cornejo in the performance I saw) is searching for his lost love in a creepily enchanted forest. He happens upon a flock of mythical firebirds and chases one down (Misty Copeland) - she escapes but leaves behind a feather that will summon her when he is in trouble. He then finds a group of enchanted maidens, but cannot tell if his lady love (Skylar Brandt) is among them as they are all under a spell by the evil sorcerer Kaschei (Duncan Lyle). What follows is your classic battle between good and evil, and the Firebird comes to the rescue to help Ivan kill Kaschei, break the spell, and reunite with his love.
I don't know where to begin. I was so moved by this performance that I was rather appalled I had waited this long to see a ballet. While the orchestra (conducted by Charles Barker) were phenomenal, I will confess that I did not pay as much attention to the music as I expected because I was too captivated by the dancing. The grace and beauty of ballet is something I thought I understood, but it turns out watching Black Swan is insufficient to capture the power of a live performance. The choreography by Alexei Ratmansky was stunning. Combined with the costumes by Galina Solovyeva, you almost don't even need the summary of the story I provided above, because the dancers were able to capture every nuance of this tale perfectly through their movements and the feathers ruffling on their costumes. The fiery red of the Firebirds was in beautiful contrast to the green tutus sported by the pirouetting maidens, while the sorcerer's black and green swirly cape was in stark contrast to Ivan's innocent white suit.
The dancing maidens were both beautiful and funny - initially, as they are all under a spell and running around the stage following each other with exceedingly silly movements accompanied by a very amusing interlude in the music, you feel like chuckling. Skylar Brandt was magnificent as Ivan's lost love, capturing the silliness, and then moving into haunting loveliness when she meets Ivan and is drawn to him. When Duncan Lyle shows up on stage as the evil Kaschei, things take a dramatic turn, and as he controls the maidens with his invisible puppet strings, it is a sight to behold.
All of which brings me to Misty Copeland. The Firebird is her signature role, and having witnessed this performance, I have no doubts as to why. The costume was perfect, a red leotard with feathers on her head and back that let you watch her execute her dance with grace and precision, with just the right amount of fluttering feathers to make you fully believe she's about to take flight from the stage. The little hops and steps as she turns, the way she bobs her head, it was so bird-like, I was in utter awe. And of course, as she claimed the stage in jumps and pirouettes and all manner of other ballet moves that I lack the vocabulary to describe, I fully understood why she is a dancer who is celebrated across the world. There were moments when I genuinely wanted to weep and cheer, and when the entire performance was over, I felt stunned, like I had witnessed a miracle.
Following intermission, there was a very different ballet, Afterite, which had premiered on Monday. Years ago, when I was unemployed, I took an online course on classical music, and wrote my final paper on Igor Stravinsky. Part of that paper was about The Rite of Spring, a ballet that premiered in Paris in 1913 with choreography by the famed Vaslav Nijinsky, that incited a riot because it was so unexpected and unconventional and led to the composer and choreographer fleeing the theater. Well now, choreographer Wayne McGregor has created Afterite, a creepy and compelling ballet set to The Rite of Spring, with a dystopian story about the last colony of humankind. I'll confess, Candice and I (and the ladies sitting next to us) were a bit perplexed about what exactly the story was, but the choreography and music were exemplary and managed to creep us out. It was eerie, and frightening, and quite the turn from the fairytale of The Firebird, and this time, I paid attention to the music and found it utterly bewitching and bizarre when accompanied by the machinations on stage.
Firebird and Afterite are only playing at the Metropolitan Opera House through May 26. If you're in New York, I cannot urge you enough to buy a ticket and witness these thrilling ballets firsthand. But even if you don't live here, I cannot urge you enough to buy a ticket to see a ballet performance wherever you can find one. Perhaps, like me, you were laboring under the impression that this is a high-class inaccessible art form. However, it turns out, as long as you're a human being, you will find yourself transformed by the athletic grace, power, and beauty of these dancers, the ability of classical music to weave a story as it seeps into your bones, and for the choreography and costumes to come together in perfect harmony to tell a story that transcends language and time.
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