With typically no more than four programs a season other than “The Nutcracker” and audiences eager for the new, the Colorado Ballet took a risk this past weekend by repeating two works it presented in just the past three years.
But the gamble paid off artistically and at the box office. All three performances of “Triple Crown” were sold out, though it must be noted that Gates Concert Hall in the Newman Center for the Performing Arts has fewer than 1,000 seats compared with 2,268 in the company’s main home, the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.
Artistic director Gil Boggs chose two performances that deserved to be seen again — Clark Tippet’s “Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1” (1987) and Jessica Lang’s “From Foreign Lands and People” (2005), a company commission.
The first, an abstract, neo-classical work suffused with elegance and accented with tasteful contemporary touches, should become a permanent part of the company’s repertory.
Ensemble sections, smartly performed by the corps de ballet, balance sections showcasing four couples. Like last time, the purple-clad duo of Maria Mosina and Igor Vassine were the work’s highlight, performing with exquisite grace and poise.
Marring Saturday evening’s version was the unsteady, almost amateurish partnering of soloist Shunsuke Amma. At the end of one duet, he bent to lift his partner and just gave up — an embarrassing gaffe that dancers at this level simply cannot make.
Lang’s “From Foreign Lands,” a nonstop, ever-permutating work that makes use of five long, rectangular boxes, looked every bit as imaginative and skillfully composed the second time around.
Rounding out the program was the lone injection of novelty — the company’s first subscription-series presentation of Peter Anastos’ “Yes, Virginia, Another Piano Ballet” (1976), which drew boisterous cheers from the audience.
In this ballet send-up, everything that can go wrong does, with plenty of laughs along the way. The five strong dancers gamely handled the visual gags, especially Janelle Cooke, who shone all evening long.
Accompanist Hsing-ay Hsu showed both keyboard mastery and good comic sense as she got pulled into the action.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
