To move is to hope - to count on getting somewhere; achieving something; communicating, maybe with grace and flair. No wonder the word "spring," the name of a hopeful season, can also be a dance-evoking verb. The tensions and conflicts of our times have seen fallout in the arts, but there is still much dance to look forward to, locally and around the country. Dance on. Hope on.
A gala is a gala. It's there to celebrate, not to challenge. So, it's to the credit of Ballet Icons, the organisation behind the annual Ballet Icons Gala, which marked its 20th anniversary at the Coliseum on Sunday, that, side by side with gala staples such as Le Corsaire and Diana and Actaeon, it makes a point of programming new and less familiar works.
Tony-winner Peck has a known affinity for A Chorus Line, which may explain why Partita feels like his personal version of that Broadway classic. Indeed, the eight dancers in the piece are all in contemporary dancewear and white sneakers. It opens with the dancers moving into place as disembodied voices recite steps. One half-expects someone to sing "God, I hope I get it."