Classic French style is usually so understated, so chic, so less is more. It was curious then that the Paris Opera Ballet, in its first company tour to the United States since 2012, would bring with it a dance called “Red Carpet”— too often a place where imaginative fashion goes to die — and showy costumes by Chanel (not, alas, Coco). In place of tweed suits, there were sequins, at least at the start.
At the Paris Opera, contemporary repertory is an important part of the company’s output. One example is this full-length dance, performed in socks and choreographed by the Israel-born, London-based Hofesh Shechter, who also designed the set and composed the music. With an onstage quartet and 13 dancers, “Red Carpet” begins with the sight of a red velvet curtain that weighs heavily on the stage.
And it’s not the only one. As more curtains part the stage at New York City Center, a cluster of dancers stand beneath a chandelier — a reference to the one that hangs at the Palais Garnier in Paris — as a Middle Eastern melody plays.
The musicians, including the drummer Yaron Engler, Shechter’s musical collaborator, perform on a raised circular platform at the back of the stage. With a mix of cello, double bass and wind instruments, they deliver, at times, a throbbing, danceable beat. At other times, the sound descends into meditative droning.
The stage is shadowy as dancers group together and splinter off into duets, trios and quartets — undulating in unison or crouching or squirming — before finding their way back to the pack. The opening was forceful: The dancers rocked, swaying hypnotically as they wound an arm back and then stretched it forward to softly clap the other hand.
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The post Review: Paris Opera Ballet Unrolls a Lackluster ‘Red Carpet’ appeared first on New York Times.
