Liam Scarlett created Viscera on Miami City Ballet in 2011, on the invitation of its then Artistic Director, Edward Villella, and it was first performed by The Royal Ballet the next year. Scarlett also designed the costumes for the ballet. This performance is from its first revival in 2015, which was also broadcast in cinemas.
This brilliantly inventive abstract ballet – with electrifying, fast choreography for the corps de ballet of 14 dancers and a haunting, contemplativepas de deux at its heart – is set to American composer Lowell Liebermann’s thrilling First Piano Concerto.
Set to Lowell Liebermann’s thrillingly dynamic first piano concerto, this exhilarating one-act ballet showcases Scarlett’s unique choreographic voice – athletic, sensual and emotionally charged. With its sculptural ensemble work and moments of heart-stopping intimacy, Viscera is a rarely seen classic from one of the 21st Century’s most gifted choreographers.
The word “viscera” means the soft internal organs or “guts.” There have been several extreme modern dance or performance groups that used “viscera” or “visceral” in their names to advise potential audiences of the controversial or shocking nature of their performances. But Liam Scarlett uses the term to suggest that his abstract dance piece deals with multiple and deep aspects of the art of modern dance. The 16 dancers he deploys see a lot of action in many combinations headed by what I’ll call a “leader” and featuring one star duet couple. Viscera reminds of Balanchine’s Jewels with the addition of some Wayne McGregor style hyper-extensions.
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