After a longish break caused in part by the problems of Vuodatus since last August, I'll try to write a little about the ballet performance yesterday at the Finnish National Opera named after the ballet by Jiří Kylián, Bella Figura.

The evening started with Balanchine's Four Temperaments, which had it's moments, although frankly: I was bored. After the first intermission the evening improved markedly with William Forsythe's In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated to the impressive gloomy, repetitive and noisy music by Thom Willems. The choreography had a, for me unexpected, similarity to Balanchine's language of movement and choreography. With a different music I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference in the early part, although then it did develop in a somewhat different direction. It was, however, very much all of a piece with the music. The connection to the preceding Four Temperaments was amusing, however. Last came Bella Figura, which was very different from both - one might almost say it was profound, in spite of the rather stupid things said in the programme about reality and appearances. But anyway, if you can say it with words, why bother with another form of expression?

As a whole, a very enjoyable evening.