Boston Ballet's ‘Mirrors'

"Mirrors" features four works by four choreographers, and two are world premieres

Boston Ballet is finishing its 2015-2016 season with two very different shows: The classical "Swan Lake" and the contemporary "Mirrors."

"Mirrors" features four works by four choreographers, and two are world premieres.

Choreographer Yuri Yanowsky, once a principal dancer with the Boston Ballet, uses innovative women's corsets to change the way two dancers can move together.

"Usually in partnering... you don't have that much rotation. But when you have a handle, you almost can do like a 360," Yanowsky explained. "We made three different prototypes. The first one, the handles broke really easy. So I was like, oh my God, my director is going to fire me."

Quite the opposite. The resulting choreography is spellbinding.

"Yuri's piece is really raw, and it's very simple," said principal dancer Misa Kuranaga. "He's trying to explain human society nowadays."

The finale of "Mirrors" is a ballet by Karole Armitage, a world renowned choreographer who is often referred to as the "Punk Ballerina."

"Karole's piece is a really out-of-the-box experience," Kuranaga said.

Boston Ballet's artistic director gave Armitage a specific challenge: To incorporate the music of Miles Davis. So, she chose "BItches Brew."

"It's this weird coming together of psychedelic electric music with the cool jazz refinement. It almost has two worlds colliding," said Armitage.

That duel of extremes is also evident in the costumes.

"I have a great costume designer, Peter Speliopoulos. He's a fashion designer by real life. This is his moonlighting job. He's been creative director for Donna Karan collections for years, and he just has an extraordinary imagination," Armitage said.

Imagination is what both Armitage and Yanowsky hope their ballets inspire, allowing the audience to come to their own conclusions, a truly contemporary concept.

There are still tickets available for both ballets. "Swan Lake" runs through May 26, and "Mirrors" through May 28. The dancers take the stage at the Boston Opera House. For more information, head to the Boston Ballet's website.

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