It was an excellent date afternoon as Will and I went to Kings of the Dance: Opus 3. Of course it was excellent since it was full of hot guys doing stunning ballet. The fiver performers are among the best of the best: Guillaume Côté of the National Ballet of Canada, Marcelo Gomes of American Ballet Theatre, David Hallberg of American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet, Denis Matvienko of the Mariinsky Ballet and Ivan Vasiliev of the Mikhailovsky Ballet.
On the bill were the New York premiere of seven works, two of which were group numbers and the other five were solo pieces. Of special note was “KO’d,” a dance choreographed by Gomes to music written by Côté (Côté also played the piano for a portion of the performance).
The men will dance eight New York premieres created by Mauro Bigonzetti, Edward Clug, Patrick De Bana, Nacho Duato, Jorma Elo, Marco Goecke and Marcelo Gomes. The evening will also include a historic collaboration by two of the dancers: a work choreographed by Gomes to music by Côté.
The first act featured “Jazzy Five” with a more contemporary jazz score from the group Jazzy Dogs. It featured some very deliberate, powerful movements rather than the more typical graceful and fluid ballet moves. It was a fun, upbeat number and some of the hand/arm movements reminded me of voguing. The solos were all great, showcasing each performers strength and style. Two stand outs for me were “Kaburias” from Hallberg, which was flowing and gorgeous, and “Labyrinth of Solitude” from Vasiliev, which was chaotic and graceful at the same time. “KO’d” as the closing number was the perfect closing as it gave the guys one more chance to show off some incredible dance.
Here’s a look at what the program was like. This video features Guillaume Côté in a number he choreographed. This wasn’t in the show, but it gives you a good idea of what we saw today.
Our season tickets to ABT for the summer season at the Met start up in May and I am looking very forward to that.
