THE DEATH OF THE STORY-BALLET TRADITION?
The modern-day move away from the great tradition of story ballets continues. In the S,F, Ballet program (No. 2) that opened Feb. 13, the inviting options to go the story route, even in an American classic, were crushed in favor of modern-day abstractions. Abstract ballets are indeed appealing—but do they embody the only story worth telling in ballets created today? “The Chairman Dances—Quartet for Two,” based on John Adams music actually written for an opera, veered off into another direction,…