More from Cape Town, South Africa
1/18/08 Last night's contemporary round truly showed off the international nature of the South African International Ballet Competition. The previous two days of classical solos had highlighted the ways details of classical technique varied from country to country. That was interesting in itself, however the range of contemporary work was more telling. With no clear definition of what constitutes "contemporary" the work presented were all over the place. Some looked fresh from the 1950s while others had a postmodern flavor. The range was distracting—after all, as judges, we were charged with looking at the dancers, not the dance. Today we are back to the classical semi-finals after which we have to narrow the field to up to five juniors and five seniors. I'm enjoying getting to know these young performers through their dancing. While there are some standouts, all of the dancers are putting their all into presenting themselves well.
