Scheherazade & Angels in the Architecture

Story & Simplicity at the Milwaukee Ballet

I don't know how the Milwaukee Ballet picked such perfect foils for their two-part ballet this weekend, but they did. One is an ode to simplicity, the other a celebration of story and spectacle — both marvelous to behold. 

The evening started with Angels in the Architecture, danced to Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring." What an inspiring piece of music! The ballet, choreographed by Mark Godden, was inspired by the Shaker movement. While I don't know much about the Shakers, I know they enjoyed simple lives, devoted to their faith and communities. This certainly comes through in this mesmerizing ballet.

In Angels in the Architecture, the costumes are seemingly bare at a glance, yet they play an integral and transformative role in the choreography. I was lucky enough to see this ballet with my friend and former Bead Style coworker, Dana (of DSM Originals!), who happened to be a costume designer for the Milwaukee Ballet years ago. 

She observed to me how the women's flowing skirts were a feat of engineering, as they had to have enough fabric to whirl about, while also not tripping the dancers. And boy do these skirts whirl! Dana also noted the nude colors of the costumes — stark simplicity so that nothing could inhibit or distract from the gorgeous, precise forms the dancers took throughout the ballet. 

The lighting of Angels reminded me of early morning sunlight — barely there, but somehow still dramatic. Fun fact: The Lighting Designer, David Grill, has won three Prime Time Emmys — for both the Katy Perry and Beyonce Super Bowl half-time shows and the Salt Lake City opening ceremonies. That's some resume! 

The props were few and simple: brooms and Shaker-style chairs. Milwaukee Ballet shared a rather charming note about those chairs on Facebook (follow them!) last week — a quote from Thomas Merton, which said, "The peculiar grace of a Shaker chair is due to the fact that it was made by someone capable of believing that an angel might come and sit on it." How's that for inspiring? 

After intermission, it was time for Scheherazade — a story ballet based on One Thousand and One Nights (AKA Arabian Nights). Long story short, there's a king taking a new wife every night and killing her in the morning — until he meets Scheherazade. She tells the king stories each night — stories of Sinbad, Aladdin and the Genie, and the Flying Horse. Because he enjoys her stories so much, she survives from night to night and they even fall a little bit in love. 

When the king's evil advisor tells the him Scheherazade has been sleeping with one of the slaves, he goes insane and basically kills everyone, including the characters from Scheherazade's stories. Scheherazade is furious at what he's done and calls him out for being a murderous scumbag. At this point in the choreography, Scheherazade dances with such ferocity, all I could think was: Hell hath no fury like a woman whose man just slayed everyone in the kingdom. But the king sees the error of his ways, and the Genie grants his wish that all his evil doings be undone. Happily ever after, the end! 

If that sounds like a lot of story to get through in the 50-minute run time, it certainly is. Some of the stories-within-the-story come together better than others, and if I hadn't read the synopsis beforehand, I would have been totally lost. My favorite part has to be the Flying Horse — a story where a man flies to the moon and falls for a princess there, but the two have their hearts frozen by a wicked man. At this time, Scheherazade and her temperamental king actually step into the story world and work together to un-freeze the lovers' hearts. It's beautifully choreographed, and I just love the way the real world and story world bleed into each other. 

Scheherazade is all about the power of stories to save us and transform us. Before the show started, Artistic Director Michael Pink made a comment about how the ballet allows us to escape what's happening "out there" — something we could all use these days. This weekend, you can escape to both a simpler time and a time of fairytales come true. It's all happening at the Milwaukee Ballet. 

P.S. I obviously can't take credit for these professional pics, but I can thank the awesome pro who snapped them — thanks!