Rimsky-korsakov Piano Wind Quintet

which might indeed be the first piece of choreography set to this Russian master’s rare piece from 1876. “It’s like he made it for dancing,” William says. “The music is filled with life and humor and dark undertones. It’s moody, it’s playful: It lends itself to dance, plain and simple. It sounds like it was commissioned for a choreographer—it’s amazing in that respect.”

Recently we watched a rehearsal of the piece at the Ballet’s studios on Broadway—somewhat wistfully, as it was one of the last times the company would rehearse in the temporary space before moving into its permanent home at the Todd Bolender Center in the fall. With us was the Ballet’s resourceful music director Ramona Pansegrau, who watched the Rimsky-Korsakov score carefully as the dancers moved to a recorded version of the Quintet—marking the pages with notes that would later aid her in the live performance of the music. “I keep a list of things that people should choreograph,” says Ramona, who suggested the Quintet to William when he approached her about his new work. “Choreographers call me all the time.” On the dance floor, Alexander Peters and Laura Wolfe joined the company for a partial run-through of the third of the work’s three movements.

The title of Mercy of the Elements will be a highlight of the Ballet’s first season in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts) and liked the sound of. “I think it can be interpreted in any number of ways and I wouldn’t want to impinge on the viewers’ interpretive sensibility. It’s a title, I think it’s catchy. It’s not literal.” At the same time, he says, dance itself is obviously an “elemental” activity. “It’s a primary instinct. It’s fiery, it’s earthy, it’s like air, it’s like water. Dancing has all these elements.” And “mercy,” he says, “is such a lovely word.”