LINES ballet

A few years ago I was introduced to Alonzo King’s LINES ballet. I am not a ballet fan but when I saw the bodies in motion I was blown away.

Yesterday I attended his Migration and Scheherazade pieces, marvelous works of human form in motion. The Migration had couples who were in congress and in conflict, drawn to and repelled from, tethered and in tension. In one piece, two dancers were actually tied to a piece of rope as they danced. Toward the end of the piece, two dancers did a pas de deux—to gorgeous elegiac music. King calls his works “thought structures,” because they are created by manipulating energies in matter, through the laws that govern the shapes and movements. The shapes and movements, twisted and contorted and graceful, the dancers make are simply beautiful simply because they are human and inspiring. Watching them makes you feel happy to be alive.