Picture perfect!
Dinner and dance out the road
by Lily Olason
Modest Mussorgsky’s iconic Pictures at an Exhibition comes to life in an exquisitely original work by Northwest Ballet Theater. Presented on the performance stage of Il Caffe Rifugio, Pictures incorporates the beauty of ballet and the vitality of art into one unforgettable performance.
Head chef, owner, and proud dad of two ballerinas, Richard Balough, lends this unbelievable space (which skiers likely know as the former Carol’s Coffee Cup) and excellent cuisine to arts supporters from all over Western Washington. And that comes with some serious appreciation. Tucked alongside the scenic Mount Baker Highway, Il Caffe Rifugio offers a vibrantly Italian three-course meal under cover of the oak trees, served family-style and exceptionally well. Balough works wonders at this place, and the modest drive is long forgotten at first bite.
Serving as the culminating performance for NBT’s Summer Intensive student program, Pictures at an Exhibition is indeed an exhibition in and of itself. It celebrates a cerebral crossover in art, three disciplines melding and blurring together so fluidly into one lovely product that the theatergoer is lost in it almost immediately and without reserve. Artwork covers red paneling behind dancers floating and spinning, whirring and hovering from every which way and so very perfectly, encased in beautiful scenery provided by the surrounding treeline.
Movements first drafted in 1874 by a deeply devastated artist serve as the foundation for a performance that feels fresh, new, light, full of life and hard work. Hard work, as revealed to the audience by choreographer, Miye Bishop, that consisted of five hours a day for four weeks straight.
NBT artistic director and father of the Miye, John Bishop, opens the show as strict, mustachioed ballet instructor with his cohort of students, Ava Decker, Talia Sheinkoph, and Ella and Ivey Denham-Conroy. Though all four dancers may be of relatively young age, their prowess certainly doesn’t show it, a theme that runs true for the nearly twenty members of this gifted cast.
Panning back and forth between a gallery owner (MiSun Bishop) preparing her venue for an upcoming show and some wonderfully artistic feats by exceptionally well-versed dancers, this performance works its way through the famous Russian suite in an entirely original fashion. It all builds to a breathtaking finale of “The Great Gate of Kiev,” something no fan of such an iconic piece should miss.
Father-daughter duo Miye and John hit this performance out of the park, inarguably. Their passion for the arts and their passion for teaching and their passion for creativity is so very apparent in this lovely display. It’s new, it’s original and it’s so worth watching.
There is only one dinner/ballet performance left tonight at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are $75 per person or $120 per couple at the door. As the bumper sticker says, “Go East!”
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Link to Original Article: http://www.ennw.info/2013/08/10/picture-perfect/