Fandango Furiouso

Choreography by Kirk Peterson
Music by Bernard Hermann
Costumes by Jen McGrew
Lighting by Alex Nichols

World Premiere October 13, 2000  by American Repertory Ballet

The works of Kirk Peterson, currently ballet Master at American Ballet Theatre, are not unfamiliar to regular audience goers at ARB.  His ballet The Eyes That Gently Touch, choreographed to the luscious and tender music of Phillip Glass, is a staple in our Repertoire.  Fandango Furiouso is a different beast completely.  The music comes from the film score for Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest.  Based on the driving rhythms of the fandango, even in its gentlest moments the music never loses sight of its relentless, ferocious nature.  The dance is no different: it grants us elusive visions of an idealized romance, peppered by the realities of strife and a recurring sense of conflict.  Though it climaxes in a Hollywood-like resolution, the road is not an easy one.  Six couples come together in situations which repeatedly place the women at odds with the men - two of these couples have tempestuous duets in which the men can't seem to do anything right.  It is only a third couple in which a loving and tender acceptance of one another seems possible.  A fast-paced finale brings it all together, reprising elements from earlier and uniting the loving couple once again at the center of the action.

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