Cincinnati Ballet
Procter & Gamble Hall at the Aronoff Center for the Arts
Pittsburgh, PA
May 21, 2022, afternoon and evening
Bold Moves Festival
Program 1: Petal, Nine Sinatra Songs, Minus 16
Program 2: Children of the Passage (Dayton Contemporary Dance Company), Our Story (world premiere), Bolero
Steve Sucato for CriticalDance.org
For her last production as Cincinnati Ballet’s Artistic Director, Victoria Morgan programmed a mix of tried-and-true repertory favorites along with a new ballet by company dancer David Morse and appearances by guest dance companies AXIS and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. The Bold Moves Festival, May 12-22, 2022, was a fitting send-off to her 25-year tenure there that was full of its own bold moves. She leaves behind an impressive legacy that includes rescuing the company from financial straits and then growing it in size and stature, being an early champion of women choreographers, and being a main force behind the construction of the company’s new 31-million-dollar Margaret and Michael Valentine Center for Dance. She will be succeeded by new company Artistic Director Jodie Gates this August.
Comprised of two distinct programs running concurrently over two weeks, Program 1 of the Bold Moves Festival on May 21 at 2 p.m. began with choreographer Helen Pickett’s “Petal.” Created in 2008 for Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet, the contemporary ballet was inspired in part by the vivid pastel colors of gerbera daisies that were reflected on floor-to-ceiling curtains framing three sides of the stage. Vibrant yellow first lit up the stage, matching the yellow leotard costumes of the cast’s four women. Its four men were shirtless and in teal-colored tights.
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