Review: Ballet Idaho dazzles with ‘Mosaic,’ ‘Rubies’ - and ‘Pirates’ just for fun

Artistic director Peter Anastos’ program offered a little something for everyone at Ballet Idaho’s Valentine’s Day concert at the Morrison Center. The program also played Friday.

The opener was George Balanchine’s “Rubies,” from his ballet “Jewels.” The company gave a solid performance of this highly challenging masterwork, after only a few weeks with Balanchine Trust repetiteur Paul Boos.

Dancers Elizabeth Keller and Andrew Taft made a dynamic pair. Taft led the men’s sections with his signature flair and a growing maturity of performance. Keller captured the nuances of the role beautifully and commanded the stage in her solos.

But the energy felt low on Saturday. The corps was not as tight and precise as the piece required, and Jessica Sulikowski, though a talented dancer, did not have the power needed for the Tall Girl featured role.

“Rubies” is an important milestone for Ballet Idaho, as was Balanchine’s “Serenade,” in its mission to include American ballet masterworks in it repertoire.

For “This Mortal’s Mosaic,” the second piece on the program, dancer and choreographer Daniel Ojeda used nearly the entire company.

He created a “mosaic” of scenes from his and the dancers’ experiences, translating them into solos, duets, trios and group sections danced to Max Richter’s recomposition of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.”

Ojeda, 23, ditched the pointe shoes and went for a more grounded sense of movement that evolved from his loose opening narrative, which was filled with intriguing hints of what was to come.

The body of the ballet ranged from a touching duet for Phyllis Rothwell Affrunti and Megan Hearn; to a funny trio of Adrienne Kerr, Kathleen Martin and Sulikowski on a girls night out; to a tension-filled duet danced by Elizabeth Herrmann-Barreto and John Frazer.

It also featured breakout performances by dancers Madeline Bay, Justin Hughes and Graham Gobeille in a love triangle. Bay particularly showed herself to be a powerhouse of emotion and physicality.

One of the most impressive aspects of Ojeda’s work is that his movement felt native to the dancers’ bodies. That’s delightful to see with a company that doesn’t get many opportunities to perform contemporary work.

Some sections were a bit too long and there were spots that still needed more development, but as Ojeda’s second work for the company, it was an excellent effort.

The closing piece, “Pirates!” pitted a group of gal pirates in a dance-off with their male counterparts. Each comic solo or duet offered nods and clever winks to the traditional ballet forms, somewhat of a signature of Anastos’ work. As he said in his opening speech, “Always leave them laughing.”

Dana Oland: 377-6442, Twitter: @IDS_DanaOland

This story was originally published February 16, 2015 at 12:00 AM.