Yin Yue is artistic director of YY Dance Company and internationally recognized for her versatile style. Born and raised in Shanghai and trained in Chinese classical and folk dance and classical ballet at Shanghai Dance School, she has established a signature style of dance technique called FOCO, which is a union of contemporary dance and folklore dance of Mongolia and Tibet. Her world premieres for Philadelphia Ballet, A Trace of Inevitability, was an overwhelmingly powerful piece.
Deep knees, legs so intricately entwined that my notes called them “pretzel legs,” and martial poses blended with contemporary movement that did gave it an exciting edge. Costume designer Christine Darch's loose pants cuffed snug at the ankle in shades of oranges and reds well-suited the complex, often combative, movement. Michel Banabila's Dragonfly II, composed for the piece, suited the early part of the dance as well, with hints of temple bells drifting through it. But the music built with such intensity and speed and volume that it overwhelmed much of the dancing in the piece's second half. The choreography could not rise to the challenge of that insistent wave of sound, but seemed to follow a completely different, slower piece of music that we in the audience could not hear.