Ballet's candy-colored 'Beaux' plays with imagery

One might think that "Beaux" is the kind of piece that should not be taken too seriously. And yet, underlying the frolicsome cascades of sideways split jumps, and lofty sautes that bound across the space with the head thrown back, Mark Morris' eighth creation for San Francisco Ballet, which premiered Tuesday at the War Memorial Opera House, asks for a deeper examination of personal premises.

Set to neoclassical works for harpsichord by 20th century Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu- conducted on opening night by Martin West - the candy-colored camouflaged piece feels larky, even goofy. Yet, the air between the guys dancing - an egalitarian mix of principals, soloists, corps members and one apprentice working together mainly in triads - is one of gentility and collegiality.

Dappled with Isaac Mizrahi's neon piebald patterns, against a similar large-scale backdrop devised also by Mizrahi, the nine men - Sean Bennett, Jaime Garcia Castilla, Diego Cruz, Ruben Martin Cintas, Vito Mazzeo, Pascal Molat, Gennadi Nedvigin, Jeremy Rucker and Benjamin Stewart - cavort companionably, occasionally evoking thoughts of a band of colorful fauns gamboling in a cartoonish forest. The men of "Beaux" are playful, curious, innocent. So why does it seem, at first glance, so unmanly?

Ballet's candy-colored 'Beaux' plays with imagery