Patrick Green and Jill Schwartz in Ballet Quad Cities' CarmenAfter two years of Love Stories for its Valentine's Day production, Ballet Quad Cities changed things up this year by presenting Carmen, the story of a commanding woman who does what she pleases with men she fleetingly fancies. As with Love Stories, though, there was more than one piece performed this past weekend, with choreographer Margaret Huling's "Black Coffee" - a jaunty, jazzy number also featured in last year's Love Stories: Love on the Run - making up the first portion of the evening's entertainment.

Ballet Quad Cities' Love Stories: Love on the RunWhile bearing the same title as 2012's Valentine's Day-themed performance, Ballet Quad Cities' 2013 Love Stories: Love on the Run - held on February 16 - offered several new short pieces along with "Newsflash," one of my favorites from last year's presentation. And Saturday night's entertainment delivered a mixture of sensuality, flirtatiousness, and exquisite beauty, culminating in a romantic experience that left me doe-eyed with emotions linked to love.

Jake Lyon and Emily Kate Long in the Love Stories piece Prelude to EternityWhat first struck me during February 18's performance of Ballet Quad Cities' Love Stories: Love on the Run was the venue, as Augustana College's Wallenberg Hall provided exactly the spatial experience I wanted for this series of balletic vignettes. There's a grandness to the architecture, particularly the Tuscan pillars, that lends itself to the high-art air of ballet, but there's also an intimacy there that allowed the audience to be close to the dancers, who performed on a raised platform. I often lost myself in the beauty, passion, and emotion of the choreographed works because I was so near to the action, and not separated by a sea of seats in a formal theatrical setting.