A ballet evening in two parts.

Part 1, Ballader by Roy Assaf, was an intimate piece: a man and a woman and a pianist. It was as if we were watching a couple in their living room. I found it utterly boring. The straightforward story-telling choreographies that are half theatre, half dance, are not my thing.

It struck me after seeing this piece that I have similar preferences when it comes to dance and to books: plain realism does not interest me. Novels about quarrelling couples etc, or kids growing up in concrete apartment blocks – why would I want to read about it? Instead, give me something that I haven’t seen yet, cannot have seen yet.

But the music! I don’t go to concerts to listen to classical music, and I don’t know any of the names, the famous musicians, the conductors. So I had no idea who was playing; the name meant nothing to me. But listening to him play Brahms was wonderful. About half the time I sat with my eyes closed, ignoring the dance and focusing only on the piano music. (Afterwards I found out that it was Roland Pöntinen, one of Sweden’s foremost pianists.)

Part 2, Rite of Spring, was something completely different. So different that I wondered how this combination was arrived at. Who thought that this combination made sense, and why?

The music is wild and so was Johan Inger’s choreography. Wild and forceful, at times uncomfortable, dark and brutal. Never a dull moment. Add to this interesting but subtle costume design, and well-designed lighting that ranged from smoky to stark and made great use of shadows, and the sum of it all was a stunning performance.

Watch a trailer here.