Emergence/ Four Seasons

I went to the last performance of the National Ballet, mainly in hope to find something redeeming in Kudelka's work, and to catch another breath of fresh dancerly air with Crystal Pite's creations.
The Four seasons was a predictable disappointment, and Emergence simply wonderful.
There is something wrong when a choreographer takes continuous on-the-nose approach to the music he works with, only to wait for the most compelling and dramatic part of the phrase to take a pose. That's what Kudelka does. He does this all the time. My other quibble is that this is a good group of dancers, accomplished, skilled. He takes a humble approach to their skill, modest to a fault. He doesn't challenge them, doesn't give them a chance to shine, to show off their virtuosity. If there's anything in classical ballet that dancers and audience love, is the skill of it. Without that, it's nothing but prancing around in tights and flawy costumes, posing in between, with a bit of heavy lifting for the boys. Who cares.
Of course, traditionalists love this. They don't have to think about anything at all while watching - it lulls them to a nice comfortable snooze, as the old man sitting besides me confessed he was going to do even before the show started. But he wasn't snoozing during Emergence. He was startled, and watched intently from the moment the first dancer started to twitch on the stage.
Crystal Pite gives a dancer something to chew on, as well as the audience. Something to think about, a mystery to discover and anticipate. A fleshy piece of work, this Emergence, a bit creepy, inspired by the life of insects and intersected with introspection into the life of a dance group, yet beautiful and graceful and challenging. At 45 minutes, it is a long dance, and I wished it was longer. Excellent costumes, careful use of the atmospheric music, flawless lighting design that highlights exactly the parts of the body she wants us to notice at any given time, while hiding what lurks in the shadows just enough for us to wonder what's there.