Instead of Radical Dance, We Get the Diffuse and the Decorative

Aprogram curated by pomo dance celebrity Sarah Michelson should have been more striking. Paige Martin's Consciousness-Related Effects in Random Physical Systems, for a can-do male cast of pros and athletic pedestrians, encompassed a patience-trying excursion for a man contemplating his few cherished worldly possessions, a communal free-for-all with an absurdist punchline, another overlong solo—though this time with some movement interest—for a melancholy guy working close to the ground, and a funny, raunchy group finale. It felt like a cabinet of (unrelated) curiosities. Caitlin Cook collaborated with her husband, Calder Martin, who was responsible for the projections that tattooed her shadow-veiled, nearly nude body in eTTa aTTa oTo. With him accompanying her live on electric guitar, she became the canvas for a phantasmagoria of jewels, butterflies, pinwheels, mysterious tunnels, and exploding starbursts. Negligible as dancing, the piece made swell eye candy.

Moving On, Boal Gives His New York Fans an Intimate View

Peter Boal, longtime New York City Ballet principal and a bastion of pure classical dancing, retires from the stage this season and heads west to become artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet. Appearing with his chamber company for perhaps its final season, he opened the program with a solo, Finding, created for him by Wendy Perron. Based on simple running with contemplative halts, it evoked the free-flowing energy, wonder, and hope of youth. Its implication that "the child is father to the man" served poignantly as both farewell and blessing. Boal's NYCB colleague Wendy Whelan shared the limelight. A duet for the pair by Edwaard Liang featured Whelan's eerie flexibility and air of fragility. A solo by Shen Wei anatomized her wiry strength. Victor Quijada provided the evening's novelty closer, a male trio combining ballet and break dance from which the infinitely gifted Sean Suozzi deserved to be liberated.