The term “high lonesome” generally refers to high-pitched vocal harmony in bluegrass. Yet as the title of the Washington Ballet’s current program at Sidney Harman Hall, the words find new meaning: the harmonious ways in which music and movement come together to form something greater than their parts.
The performance takes its name from a piece by former Washington Ballet resident choreographer Trey McIntyre, well-known for combining classical training and utterly contemporary inspirations. Local audiences last saw this athletic autobiographical work in August, rendered by Mr. McIntyre’s own company at Wolf Trap.
As performed by the Washington Ballet, “High Lonesome” brings out a buoyant, playful side. Set to the genre-smashing, modern-day music of Beck, it introduces a young man (danced by Jonathan Jordan) who doesn’t quite fit with his family. They’re dressed in white; he in orange. Their movements are stiff, jerky and old-fashioned; his are fluid, gravity-testing and forward-moving.
This present-day piece is preceded by one from the vaults that has lost none of its elegance over the years: George Balanchine’s “The Four Temperaments,” which premiered in 1946 and is set to a score by Paul Hindemith. The ballet — loosely based on the medieval belief that a person is made up of four humors that determine temperament — is one of the choreographer’s earliest experimental works and features spare, rehearsal-type costuming.
Perhaps the four variations or humors within the piece are meant to be in balance, but on opening night, one emerged as the dominant force, “Third Variation: Phlegmatic,” featuring David Hallberg of American Ballet Theatre. He was poetry incarnate with his wonderful contrasts, his length and expansiveness quickly deteriorating into awkward, contorted poses.
The company rounds out its program with “Fives,” a gift from the late Choo-San Goh, the acclaimed choreographer and TWB’s former associate artistic director.
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WHAT: Washington Ballet in “High Lonesome”
WHEN: Today at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and tomorrow at 1 and 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Harman Center for the Arts, Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW
TICKETS: $27 to $80
PHONE: 202/547-1122
WEB SITE: www.washingtonballet.org
MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS
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