Almost every dance by Jorma Elo opens with men rushing from the wings and erupting in big, climactic leaps. Awake Only begins with a boy (the sober Liam Lurker) commanding adults like Sendak's Max, taking the buoyant and mischievous Jeffrey Cirio by the hand, and tickling his knees into motion. Then the men arrive, and the jetes commence as per usual.Awake Only slathers Bach themes with fidgeting. Sabi Varga partners Lia Cirio (in soft slippers), a sextet of women in pointe shoes appear, Kathleen Breen Combes (also on pointe) dances an "are you a dream" duet with Jeffrey, walking herself into his arms. The formidable Combes manages to give Elo's oddities a romantic subtext. The women's hot pink costumes by Charles Heightchew vibrate against the saturated pastels of John Cuff's lighting, but Elo mistakes fussiness for invention.
Rooster, Christopher Bruce's date-night Rolling Stones ballet gets a muzaky reprise. The knee-knocking, neck-poking strut is suitably Mick by way of the barnyard, and Whitney Jensen is liquid self-absorption in "Ruby Tuesday" while John Lam hits it out of the park with his amped-up liberty. William Forsythe's The Second Detail is a marvel of resolve, contrapuntal fireworks made of extreme ballet technique. Lorna Feijoo's solo wrapped in crumpled paper reads as West Africa by way of the Bauhaus.
BOSTON BALLET FALL PROGRAM ::Opera House, 539 Washington St, Boston :: Through November 4 :: $29-$137 :: 617.695.6955 or bostonballet.org
Related:
Photos: Boston Ballet's Fancy Free, Photos: Boston Ballet's Nutcracker at the Opera House, 2009: The year in dance, More 
- Photos: Boston Ballet's Fancy Free
Boston Ballet performs "Fancy Free" at the Opera House on May 10-20, 2012.
- Photos: Boston Ballet's Nutcracker at the Opera House
Boston Ballet stages The Nutcracker at the Opera House through December 30, 2012.
- 2009: The year in dance
You could say there were two tremendous forces that propelled dance into the world of modern culture: the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev and the choreography of Merce Cunningham.
- Reality riffs
When Jerome Robbins's New York Export: Opus Jazz boogied onto the scene in 1958 then took Europe by storm. Created for Ballets: U.S.A., a company of ballet, modern, and jazz dancers that Robbins had put together for a government-sponsored cultural exchange tour, Opus Jazz was a kind of spinoff from the 1957 hit musical West Side Story , which Robbins directed and choreographed.
- Happy returns
George Balanchine didn’t go in for productions of the old classic ballets.
- Photos: Boston Ballet presents Black & White (2010)
Boston Ballet's reprise of Jiří Kylián’s Black & White
- Theme and variations
George Balanchine was famous for “non-story” ballets, but when you put three of his works — the usual number to fill up an evening — together, you always get some kind of narrative.
- Exploring the range of the body's possibilities with STREB
Midway through last Wednesday night's performance of "Raw" by the dance company STREB, Cassandre Joseph stood frozen atop a metal scaffolding extending nearly the full height of the Merrill Auditorium stage.
- Review: Boston Ballet's La Bayadère
The Ballet's opening-night performance confirmed that La Bayadère should visit the Hub more often.
- Photos: The Slutcracker 2010
The Slutcracker: A Burlesque takes its sexy Nutcracker makeover to the Somerville Theatre through December 24, 2010.
- Festival Ballet's emotional, sensual Carmen
Although the gypsy girl Carmen is most familiar from the 1875 opera of that name by Georges Bizet, local audiences have also become acquainted with the Carmen performed by Festival Ballet, which was commissioned by them and first appreciated in the 2003-04 season.
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