Today’s diversion – Architecture meets dance :: Calatrava at New York City Ballet

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava designed four new sets, including this one, for NYCB’s Architecture of Dance festival, under way through June 27.

The Washington Post’s culture critic Philip Kennicott notes some interesting aspects of the experience on Calatrava:

After opening night, Calatrava said something remarkable about his experience with the company. He enjoyed the collaboration, of course. But he was also deeply impressed by the old-fashioned narrative and symbolic aspects of ballet. In other words, he seemed to have engaged with the very things that many critics would say he has banished from his architectural work, which is consistently white, orderly and abstract. The world of ballet enticed him with things that are messy, ornamental, human and histrionic. When asked if this will affect his architecture, he said yes. That could be a radical change in direction for the architect.