FANFARE LX – A pas de deux that is powerful with commanding drive and elegance! It is danced in this video by two principal dancers from the Stuttgart ballet in Berlin, Evan McKie and Anna Osadcenko. The piece was choreographed by the resident choreographer of the Stuttgart ballet, Douglas Lee and the music is by Michael Nyman.
Douglas Lee was a dancer and resident choreographer with the Stuttgart ballet in Berlin from 1996 to 2011 when he left to further his choreographic career with other major companies.
Evan McKie is a Canadian born dancer who received his initial training with Canada’s National Ballet School. He went on to study at the Kirov Academy in Russia and completed his trainining at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart. Berlin. Afterwards he entered the company and has since danced around the world. He is the first Canadian dancer to have been invited as a guest star to dance with the Paris Opera.
He is seen here with Anna Osadcenko who is from Kazakhstan where she received her training. She went onto the John Cranko School and then worked her way up through the company becoming a principal dancer in 2008.
This pas de deux is not new movement, but I was taken by not only the virtuosic extremes the dancers execute but also by a striking elegant sensibility that is heightened by the bluish lighting on the stage surrounding by blackness against the dancers royal red body suits.
The movement is based in ballet vernacular stretched and formed in abstracted extremes to and beyond the limits. Their bodies are beautifully strong with gorgeous lines, which undulate, thrust and weave in and out of sculptured structures. They bend and flex into hyper extended lines and shapes creating a sense of bold “bigness”; a prescience buoyed by the big sound in the musical fanfare.
It is fun to watch!
Enjoy this duet danced by these two powerhouse dancers! And SHARE it on!
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