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MUSIC Road trip report A weekend at WinterWonderGrass B8 WHATrsquoS HAPPENING B2

weekendAge-old questions

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet stages lsquoBeautiful Decayrsquo

5263 Owl Creek Road Snowmass Village CO 81615 | 970923-3181 | andersonranchorg

POP-UPDINNERTUESDAY MARCH 3

6PMRSVP required

With guest chefDavidWang fromKing ampCook$75 per person includes wine

RSVP at 970924-5056 or rsvpandersonranchorg

theater

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet will perform the evening-length ballet ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo on Friday and Saturday at the Aspen District TheatreSHAREN BRADFORDCOURTESY PHOTO

Dancing cradle to grave

ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo was a creative breakthrough for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and a high-water mark of the year when it made its local debut last sum-mer Running for three performances in July

and August it marked the first evening-length contempo-rary ballet ever produced by the company

A poignant meditation on mortality and a celebration of aged bodies rarely seen in ballet the piece features a

multi-generational cast and returns for a two nights on Friday and Saturday mark-ing the highlight of a relatively quiet local winter dance season (this weekend is the

Aspen Santa Fersquos only run of performances here besides its ldquoNutcrackerrdquo run in December)

ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo is the 10th ballet that choreographer Nicolo Fonte has staged with the company mdash including eight original creations mdash over the past 20 years His aes-thetic has helped define Aspen Santa Fe as it rose to inter-national prominence while the company also has pushed Fonte to make some of the definitive works of his globally acclaimed career

ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo debuted in 2013 at BalletX in Phila-delphia It is a two-act exploration of the cycle of life the inevitability of aging and timersquos whittling away of youth Produced here with original set design by Tony Award winner Mimi Lien it calls for two older dancers mdash in this production they are longtime Aspen dance instructor Hil-ary Cartwright and Oregon dancer Gregg Bielemier both in their 70s mdash to perform alongside the younger company cast providing contrast between the youthful vigor of pro-fessional dancers in their prime and a pair decades older

Andrew TraversThe Aspen Times

lsquoBEAUTIFUL DECAYrsquo B6Aspen Santa Fe Ballet will perform the evening-length ballet ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo on Friday and Saturday at the Aspen District Theatre

SHAREN BRADFORDCOURTESY PHOTO

The Aspen Times | Friday February 28 2020 | B5

Watching the ballet with audiences Fonte has found that as soon as the older dancers enter all eyes focus on them

ldquoThere is something beautiful in expe-riencing 40 years of experience onstage where physical prowess morphs into some-thing else and becomes much more of an emotional reflective way of movingrdquo Fonte said

Fonte prepared his cast physically as well as emotionally for ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo push-ing dancers to communicate the depths of the work

ldquoWhen I say lsquoDo itrsquo I mean do it on a cellular levelrdquo he told the cast at June re-hearsal in the Aspen Santa Fe studio ldquoSo that every cell in your body is committed to that one moment and the next moment and the one after that Thatrsquos a long gruel-ing processrdquo

He gave the dancers a rarely heard re-hearsal prompt in the studio last week Itrsquos OK to cry

ldquoAt the end it has that impact yoursquore going to want to bawlrdquo he told the dancers while they ran through the powerhouse finale ldquoIn rehearsal I need you to start to feel thatrdquo

The result for the audience is a gut-level connection Viewers can see themselves in the performers young and old

ldquoYoursquore not going to see yourself in them hoisting their legs in the air and doing the incredible things they can dordquo Fonte explained between rehearsals last summer ldquoBut you might be able to transfer your emotions to them mdash you might be able to recognize yoursquove felt that or experienced that Thatrsquos super important Otherwise itrsquos just some kind of aerobic exercise that might be impressive but itrsquos an empty gesturerdquo

Fontersquos original inspiration for the con-cept was inspired by a 3-D photo exhibition in Portland Oregon which brought view-ers inside of nearly dead flowers

ldquoIt touched me in my corerdquo Fonte said ldquoSomething about it was so powerful and the element of 3-D you were inside the flower petals These decaying flowers re-tained so much of their flower-ness It was this undeniable identity screaming at me lsquoI was once a flowerrsquo My heart was racing And thatrsquos really where the idea came fromrdquo

Working regularly with Aspen Santa Fe

Ballet over the past two decades Fonte de-scribes artistic director Tom Mossbrucker as a collaborator whose ideas in the studio have helped shape Fontersquos work He point-ed to his 2003 Aspen Santa Fe creation ldquoLeft Unsaidrdquo mdash his fourth piece for Aspen mdash as a breakthrough in his creative life Itrsquos gone on to become one of his most success-ful works performed by seven companies since its Aspen premiere Fonte recalled how he knew he would set it to Bach violin music but how he created the work with-out music in rehearsals

ldquoI created almost the entire piece in silence before I put the music onrdquo he said ldquoOf course it was running in my head the whole time but not in the dancersrsquo heads So we were creating true human interac-tion that wasnrsquot dictated by the musicrdquo

That deeply felt humanity has become a driving force in his work since then The supportive environment here and the bond between Fonte the company leadership and its dancers let him take that creative leap

ldquoI think it had to do with the fact that I was here and I trusted them and they trusted merdquo he said ldquoI was forced to figure something out in that creation process It was kismet It had to happen here based on the repetition of creations that I was making for themrdquo

Back when he premiered ldquoBeautiful De-cayrdquo in Philadelphia Fonte sent a video to his frequent collaborators here at Aspen Santa Fe Ballet When Aspen Santa Fe directors Tom Mossbrucker and Jean-Philippe Malaty decided they wanted to bring a full-length ballet to the local stage Fontersquos work was an ideal fit

ldquoI feel honored and touched that they trust me and that they believe in the workrdquo Fonte said ldquoI think it has relevance every-where but I thought it would have real relevance here where there is a substantial segment of the community that is getting up there and wersquore living in this ageist societyrdquo

atraversaspentimescom

IF YOU GO hellipWhat ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo presented by Aspen Santa Fe BalletWhere Aspen District TheatreWhen Friday and Saturday 730 pmHow much $36 to $94Tickets Wheeler Opera House box office aspenshowtixcom

lsquoBEAUTIFUL DECAYrsquoFrom page B5

G Love and lsquoJuicersquo heads to Belly Up

When G Love approached his friend and musical colleague Kebrsquo Morsquo about produc-ing the album that became ldquoThe Juicerdquo one of his goals was very straight-forward and ambitious

ldquoThe intention here is to win a contempo-rary blues Grammyrdquo Love said in a late-De-cember phone interview before the tour that will bring G Love amp Special Sauce to Belly Up Aspen on Sunday ldquoSo then whatrsquos my path to it So then I said well I know Kebrsquo Morsquo Kebrsquo Morsquo wins a Grammy every time with a record of stuff He knows how to do thisrdquo

Love (real name Garrett Dutton) had good reasons for wanting to try some-thing new in his approach to writing

and recording His previous two albums ldquoLove Saves the Dayrdquo (2015) and ldquoSugarrdquo (2014) found Love and his band Special Sauce plugging in going for a more rock-ing blend of blues folk rock and hip-hop and getting what they thought were great results in the process But the albums espe-cially ldquoLove Saves the Dayrdquo didnrsquot connect commercially

Alan SculleySpecial to The Aspen Times

IF YOU GO hellipWho G Love amp Special SauceWhere Belly Up AspenWhen Sunday 8 pmHow much $35 to $85Tickets Belly Up box office bellyupaspencom

music

G LOVE B7

ASPEN 0401 CASTLE CREEK RD | BASALT 1450 EAST VALLEY RD 9705441431 | ORTHOASPENORG

ORTHOASPEN HSS AND YOUThe Valleyrsquos top orthopedic specialists at OrthoAspen are working together with Hospital for Special Surgery colleagues at the top of their field to provide the highest quality musculoskeletal care for our community

BETTERMOVING

TOGETHER

Aspen Valley Land Trust Saving the best to last

Like this viewSo do we

B6 | Friday February 28 2020 | The Aspen Times

theater

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet will perform the evening-length ballet ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo on Friday and Saturday at the Aspen District TheatreSHAREN BRADFORDCOURTESY PHOTO

Dancing cradle to grave

ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo was a creative breakthrough for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and a high-water mark of the year when it made its local debut last sum-mer Running for three performances in July

and August it marked the first evening-length contempo-rary ballet ever produced by the company

A poignant meditation on mortality and a celebration of aged bodies rarely seen in ballet the piece features a

multi-generational cast and returns for a two nights on Friday and Saturday mark-ing the highlight of a relatively quiet local winter dance season (this weekend is the

Aspen Santa Fersquos only run of performances here besides its ldquoNutcrackerrdquo run in December)

ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo is the 10th ballet that choreographer Nicolo Fonte has staged with the company mdash including eight original creations mdash over the past 20 years His aes-thetic has helped define Aspen Santa Fe as it rose to inter-national prominence while the company also has pushed Fonte to make some of the definitive works of his globally acclaimed career

ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo debuted in 2013 at BalletX in Phila-delphia It is a two-act exploration of the cycle of life the inevitability of aging and timersquos whittling away of youth Produced here with original set design by Tony Award winner Mimi Lien it calls for two older dancers mdash in this production they are longtime Aspen dance instructor Hil-ary Cartwright and Oregon dancer Gregg Bielemier both in their 70s mdash to perform alongside the younger company cast providing contrast between the youthful vigor of pro-fessional dancers in their prime and a pair decades older

Andrew TraversThe Aspen Times

lsquoBEAUTIFUL DECAYrsquo B6Aspen Santa Fe Ballet will perform the evening-length ballet ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo on Friday and Saturday at the Aspen District Theatre

SHAREN BRADFORDCOURTESY PHOTO

The Aspen Times | Friday February 28 2020 | B5

Watching the ballet with audiences Fonte has found that as soon as the older dancers enter all eyes focus on them

ldquoThere is something beautiful in expe-riencing 40 years of experience onstage where physical prowess morphs into some-thing else and becomes much more of an emotional reflective way of movingrdquo Fonte said

Fonte prepared his cast physically as well as emotionally for ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo push-ing dancers to communicate the depths of the work

ldquoWhen I say lsquoDo itrsquo I mean do it on a cellular levelrdquo he told the cast at June re-hearsal in the Aspen Santa Fe studio ldquoSo that every cell in your body is committed to that one moment and the next moment and the one after that Thatrsquos a long gruel-ing processrdquo

He gave the dancers a rarely heard re-hearsal prompt in the studio last week Itrsquos OK to cry

ldquoAt the end it has that impact yoursquore going to want to bawlrdquo he told the dancers while they ran through the powerhouse finale ldquoIn rehearsal I need you to start to feel thatrdquo

The result for the audience is a gut-level connection Viewers can see themselves in the performers young and old

ldquoYoursquore not going to see yourself in them hoisting their legs in the air and doing the incredible things they can dordquo Fonte explained between rehearsals last summer ldquoBut you might be able to transfer your emotions to them mdash you might be able to recognize yoursquove felt that or experienced that Thatrsquos super important Otherwise itrsquos just some kind of aerobic exercise that might be impressive but itrsquos an empty gesturerdquo

Fontersquos original inspiration for the con-cept was inspired by a 3-D photo exhibition in Portland Oregon which brought view-ers inside of nearly dead flowers

ldquoIt touched me in my corerdquo Fonte said ldquoSomething about it was so powerful and the element of 3-D you were inside the flower petals These decaying flowers re-tained so much of their flower-ness It was this undeniable identity screaming at me lsquoI was once a flowerrsquo My heart was racing And thatrsquos really where the idea came fromrdquo

Working regularly with Aspen Santa Fe

Ballet over the past two decades Fonte de-scribes artistic director Tom Mossbrucker as a collaborator whose ideas in the studio have helped shape Fontersquos work He point-ed to his 2003 Aspen Santa Fe creation ldquoLeft Unsaidrdquo mdash his fourth piece for Aspen mdash as a breakthrough in his creative life Itrsquos gone on to become one of his most success-ful works performed by seven companies since its Aspen premiere Fonte recalled how he knew he would set it to Bach violin music but how he created the work with-out music in rehearsals

ldquoI created almost the entire piece in silence before I put the music onrdquo he said ldquoOf course it was running in my head the whole time but not in the dancersrsquo heads So we were creating true human interac-tion that wasnrsquot dictated by the musicrdquo

That deeply felt humanity has become a driving force in his work since then The supportive environment here and the bond between Fonte the company leadership and its dancers let him take that creative leap

ldquoI think it had to do with the fact that I was here and I trusted them and they trusted merdquo he said ldquoI was forced to figure something out in that creation process It was kismet It had to happen here based on the repetition of creations that I was making for themrdquo

Back when he premiered ldquoBeautiful De-cayrdquo in Philadelphia Fonte sent a video to his frequent collaborators here at Aspen Santa Fe Ballet When Aspen Santa Fe directors Tom Mossbrucker and Jean-Philippe Malaty decided they wanted to bring a full-length ballet to the local stage Fontersquos work was an ideal fit

ldquoI feel honored and touched that they trust me and that they believe in the workrdquo Fonte said ldquoI think it has relevance every-where but I thought it would have real relevance here where there is a substantial segment of the community that is getting up there and wersquore living in this ageist societyrdquo

atraversaspentimescom

IF YOU GO hellipWhat ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo presented by Aspen Santa Fe BalletWhere Aspen District TheatreWhen Friday and Saturday 730 pmHow much $36 to $94Tickets Wheeler Opera House box office aspenshowtixcom

lsquoBEAUTIFUL DECAYrsquoFrom page B5

G Love and lsquoJuicersquo heads to Belly Up

When G Love approached his friend and musical colleague Kebrsquo Morsquo about produc-ing the album that became ldquoThe Juicerdquo one of his goals was very straight-forward and ambitious

ldquoThe intention here is to win a contempo-rary blues Grammyrdquo Love said in a late-De-cember phone interview before the tour that will bring G Love amp Special Sauce to Belly Up Aspen on Sunday ldquoSo then whatrsquos my path to it So then I said well I know Kebrsquo Morsquo Kebrsquo Morsquo wins a Grammy every time with a record of stuff He knows how to do thisrdquo

Love (real name Garrett Dutton) had good reasons for wanting to try some-thing new in his approach to writing

and recording His previous two albums ldquoLove Saves the Dayrdquo (2015) and ldquoSugarrdquo (2014) found Love and his band Special Sauce plugging in going for a more rock-ing blend of blues folk rock and hip-hop and getting what they thought were great results in the process But the albums espe-cially ldquoLove Saves the Dayrdquo didnrsquot connect commercially

Alan SculleySpecial to The Aspen Times

IF YOU GO hellipWho G Love amp Special SauceWhere Belly Up AspenWhen Sunday 8 pmHow much $35 to $85Tickets Belly Up box office bellyupaspencom

music

G LOVE B7

ASPEN 0401 CASTLE CREEK RD | BASALT 1450 EAST VALLEY RD 9705441431 | ORTHOASPENORG

ORTHOASPEN HSS AND YOUThe Valleyrsquos top orthopedic specialists at OrthoAspen are working together with Hospital for Special Surgery colleagues at the top of their field to provide the highest quality musculoskeletal care for our community

BETTERMOVING

TOGETHER

Aspen Valley Land Trust Saving the best to last

Like this viewSo do we

B6 | Friday February 28 2020 | The Aspen Times

Watching the ballet with audiences Fonte has found that as soon as the older dancers enter all eyes focus on them

ldquoThere is something beautiful in expe-riencing 40 years of experience onstage where physical prowess morphs into some-thing else and becomes much more of an emotional reflective way of movingrdquo Fonte said

Fonte prepared his cast physically as well as emotionally for ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo push-ing dancers to communicate the depths of the work

ldquoWhen I say lsquoDo itrsquo I mean do it on a cellular levelrdquo he told the cast at June re-hearsal in the Aspen Santa Fe studio ldquoSo that every cell in your body is committed to that one moment and the next moment and the one after that Thatrsquos a long gruel-ing processrdquo

He gave the dancers a rarely heard re-hearsal prompt in the studio last week Itrsquos OK to cry

ldquoAt the end it has that impact yoursquore going to want to bawlrdquo he told the dancers while they ran through the powerhouse finale ldquoIn rehearsal I need you to start to feel thatrdquo

The result for the audience is a gut-level connection Viewers can see themselves in the performers young and old

ldquoYoursquore not going to see yourself in them hoisting their legs in the air and doing the incredible things they can dordquo Fonte explained between rehearsals last summer ldquoBut you might be able to transfer your emotions to them mdash you might be able to recognize yoursquove felt that or experienced that Thatrsquos super important Otherwise itrsquos just some kind of aerobic exercise that might be impressive but itrsquos an empty gesturerdquo

Fontersquos original inspiration for the con-cept was inspired by a 3-D photo exhibition in Portland Oregon which brought view-ers inside of nearly dead flowers

ldquoIt touched me in my corerdquo Fonte said ldquoSomething about it was so powerful and the element of 3-D you were inside the flower petals These decaying flowers re-tained so much of their flower-ness It was this undeniable identity screaming at me lsquoI was once a flowerrsquo My heart was racing And thatrsquos really where the idea came fromrdquo

Working regularly with Aspen Santa Fe

Ballet over the past two decades Fonte de-scribes artistic director Tom Mossbrucker as a collaborator whose ideas in the studio have helped shape Fontersquos work He point-ed to his 2003 Aspen Santa Fe creation ldquoLeft Unsaidrdquo mdash his fourth piece for Aspen mdash as a breakthrough in his creative life Itrsquos gone on to become one of his most success-ful works performed by seven companies since its Aspen premiere Fonte recalled how he knew he would set it to Bach violin music but how he created the work with-out music in rehearsals

ldquoI created almost the entire piece in silence before I put the music onrdquo he said ldquoOf course it was running in my head the whole time but not in the dancersrsquo heads So we were creating true human interac-tion that wasnrsquot dictated by the musicrdquo

That deeply felt humanity has become a driving force in his work since then The supportive environment here and the bond between Fonte the company leadership and its dancers let him take that creative leap

ldquoI think it had to do with the fact that I was here and I trusted them and they trusted merdquo he said ldquoI was forced to figure something out in that creation process It was kismet It had to happen here based on the repetition of creations that I was making for themrdquo

Back when he premiered ldquoBeautiful De-cayrdquo in Philadelphia Fonte sent a video to his frequent collaborators here at Aspen Santa Fe Ballet When Aspen Santa Fe directors Tom Mossbrucker and Jean-Philippe Malaty decided they wanted to bring a full-length ballet to the local stage Fontersquos work was an ideal fit

ldquoI feel honored and touched that they trust me and that they believe in the workrdquo Fonte said ldquoI think it has relevance every-where but I thought it would have real relevance here where there is a substantial segment of the community that is getting up there and wersquore living in this ageist societyrdquo

atraversaspentimescom

IF YOU GO hellipWhat ldquoBeautiful Decayrdquo presented by Aspen Santa Fe BalletWhere Aspen District TheatreWhen Friday and Saturday 730 pmHow much $36 to $94Tickets Wheeler Opera House box office aspenshowtixcom

lsquoBEAUTIFUL DECAYrsquoFrom page B5

G Love and lsquoJuicersquo heads to Belly Up

When G Love approached his friend and musical colleague Kebrsquo Morsquo about produc-ing the album that became ldquoThe Juicerdquo one of his goals was very straight-forward and ambitious

ldquoThe intention here is to win a contempo-rary blues Grammyrdquo Love said in a late-De-cember phone interview before the tour that will bring G Love amp Special Sauce to Belly Up Aspen on Sunday ldquoSo then whatrsquos my path to it So then I said well I know Kebrsquo Morsquo Kebrsquo Morsquo wins a Grammy every time with a record of stuff He knows how to do thisrdquo

Love (real name Garrett Dutton) had good reasons for wanting to try some-thing new in his approach to writing

and recording His previous two albums ldquoLove Saves the Dayrdquo (2015) and ldquoSugarrdquo (2014) found Love and his band Special Sauce plugging in going for a more rock-ing blend of blues folk rock and hip-hop and getting what they thought were great results in the process But the albums espe-cially ldquoLove Saves the Dayrdquo didnrsquot connect commercially

Alan SculleySpecial to The Aspen Times

IF YOU GO hellipWho G Love amp Special SauceWhere Belly Up AspenWhen Sunday 8 pmHow much $35 to $85Tickets Belly Up box office bellyupaspencom

music

G LOVE B7

ASPEN 0401 CASTLE CREEK RD | BASALT 1450 EAST VALLEY RD 9705441431 | ORTHOASPENORG

ORTHOASPEN HSS AND YOUThe Valleyrsquos top orthopedic specialists at OrthoAspen are working together with Hospital for Special Surgery colleagues at the top of their field to provide the highest quality musculoskeletal care for our community

BETTERMOVING

TOGETHER

Aspen Valley Land Trust Saving the best to last

Like this viewSo do we

B6 | Friday February 28 2020 | The Aspen Times