Performance

Malandain Ballet Biarritz: “Les Saisons” by Thierry Malandain

Place

Byham Theater, Pittsburgh, PA, May 7, 2025

Words

Steve Sucato

Pattern and symmetry are the modus operandi of choreographer Thierry Malandain’s “Les Saisons” (2023), performed by his Malandain Ballet Biarritz contemporary ballet company to close out the Pittsburgh Dance Council’s 2024-2025 season.

Malandain’s “Les Saisons” is set to both Vivaldi’s famous composition and composer Giovanni Antonio Guido’s “The Four Seasons of the Year,” a relatively unknown work created around the same period. The ballet takes movements of each of the composer’s scores in seasonal order from Spring to Winter. 

For the sections danced to Vivaldi, Malandain’s choreography uses contemporary movement with some sections looking like sophisticated versions of playground games, with the dancers following one after another, hopping up and down, and slapping their hands and arms at their sides. Others appeared to emulate folk dances with daisy chains of dancers holding hands and interweaving lines of bodies. 

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