Look / Don’t Touch
Atlanta Ballet

The Atlanta Ballet put a load of work into a contemporary ballet evening that may not have been a Swan Lake but did mesmerize the audience. The performances at thawed Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center was a new treat arranged by their artistic director Gennadi Nedvigin.

The opening number, Sandpaper Ballet, brought most of the company on stage in some great costumes by Isaac Mizrahi. The ballerinas and danseurs were all dressed the same and the music was all by Leroy Anderson. If you don’t know his name, you certainly recall hearing the Boston Pops, or other orchestras, playing the quirky numbers like The Typewriter or The Syncopated Clock. The music under the baton of Johnathan McPhee was spot-on.

The second number, AON (All or Nothing), was a world premiere of a work by Lucas Vidal and choreographed by Yury Yanowsky. And, the performance closed with Alexander Ekman’s production of Cacti, which they first staged in 2015. The music may ave been by Franz Schubert, but he surely would never had imagined it with their working model. It was a real treat.

Next up will be a special treat for the kids, when they bring Beauty and the Beast to the stage at the Sandy Springs Art Center on April 13 and 14. It is a one hour production and there is more info at AtlantaBallet.com