Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/256534
music and the choreography. The gray uni- tards of the male dancers and the soft gray chiffon skirts of the women (costumes by Bill Fenner) added a visual softness to the sculp- tural architectural choreography. Danielle Brown and Ricardo Graziano were the lead couple, but this was primarily a work about groups of people. The dramatic open- ing scene with men in silhouette crouching as if ready to fire their guns, hiding as if in a foxhole and then falling as if killed, defined the ballet's theme and purpose. Throughout Lux Aeterna, the entire cast of 23 dancers moved in unison and then broke apart in twos and threes, came together in small groups and regrouped — all in a slow deliberate way that exemplified the emotional choral music. There were lifts that mutated into poses and stopped time for a moment in counterpoint to the constantly shifting spatial patterns that covered every inch of the small stage. At times, when the women hovered over the bod- ies of the men, I wondered were they angels, nurses or lovers. In the final section, light flooded the scene as if the sun had emerged. The choreogra- phy of the earlier sections was repeated, but there was a different group dynamic, as if the turns and leaps and poses no longer reflected feelings of grief and fear but now expressed feelings of hope. Will Tuckett debuted his Lux Aeterna during this latest Sarasota Ballet program. Contributed photo Sarasota News Leader February 7, 2014 Page 98