Boston Ballet Review of Forsythe Elements (Digital)

[Cherilyn]

I watched Forsythe Elements and was disappointed that no complete ballets were shown; here's my review of the program. I'm guessing the rest of the digital season will be similar. What did everyone else think?

[Jeannette]

Thanks, TB. And that is precisely why I didn’t fork out $$$ for Boston.

 

Ever since they announced their digital season without details on exact programming, I’ve been emailing them and have received no answers. No details - no money. Buyer beware...unless one is a longtime fan of the company & simply wishes to make a donation. I’m not in that economic category.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Jeannette

[fromthebalcony]

I was disappointed that a whole ballet was not shown, as well. However, I did enjoy what they did show. I asked a few of the dancers and it seems that showing a full Forsythe ballet may have been a problem. He made it pretty clear in the interview that he chose what was going to be shown. Additionally, some of the future presentations will contain full works. I guess I didn’t think it was that expensive considering a whole household could watch each of the six programs for $30. 

[LACAD]

I gather that Forsythe is quite private about his works. I’ve struggled to find any professional recordings of his works other than One Flat Thing Reproduced and Love Songs, any full work of his I manage to find is usually recorded from the audience or a rip from an archival recording (and they’re normally removed shortly after). I also noticed that despite his works being in the repertory of most companies, it wasn’t anywhere to be seen during the digital seasons. 

 

I’m a student so $180 isn’t feasible. I’ve seen some other American companies like PNB (and I believe SFB) are allowing people to buy tickets for individual programmes or a full season ticket which works out at a discounted rate. It’s a shame since I’m a huge admirer of Forsythe and of Boston Ballet but the price was just inaccessible to me.  

[Jeannette]

I’ve asked Boston Ballet for a rundown of complete ballets in all shows of the 20/21 digital season, not just this initial Forsythe. Zero answers. Read the a literature; not a single full ballet is promised.

[alison]

On 23/11/2020 at 15:52, fromthebalcony said:

I guess I didn’t think it was that expensive considering a whole household could watch each of the six programs for $30. 

 

For clarification: $30 total, or $30 each programme?  This is one problem I have: it's fine if you have a large household which is interested in ballet, then it's great value, but if only one person's going to be watching then it's rather different.  $30 is rather more than I pay (paid?) for most live performances.

[fromthebalcony]

If you break it out, it’s $30 per program. That’s wonderful that you are able to pay less than that. My husband and I both enjoy the ballet,  and if my son is around, he enjoys it as well. I guess I have never paid less than $30 for a ballet ticket, so it’s ok for us. As for the rest of the programs, “The Gift” is a full work which will be shown with the second act of “The Nutcracker,” Jorma Elo’s “Plan to Be” and his new pas de deux will be shown in full, and Linning and Ossola will present full (albeit short) works in the Process & Progress program.