Just in time for Mother’s Day, the Atlanta Ballet closed its 2012-2013 season with “Love Stories,” a mixed-repertory program of four works on the Cobb Energy Center stage that each addressed an aspect of love.  But be forewarned:  these were not all happily-ever-after romances.  Love can have tragic consequences.

Guest choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s “Requiem for a Rose” is set to what may be Schubert’s most romantic string adagio.  Ochoa has envisioned love as a flowing bouquet of twelve red roses. The movement of the bouquet was anchored by The Rose, portraying the beat of a heart, and beautifully danced by fellowship dancer and evening highlight Kelsey Ebersold.  While the dozen roses were traditional and elegant, The Rose was in-your-face and modern, with every body part (including her hair) choreographed with impeccable attention to detail—but without sacrificing one iota of the excitement and energy brought to the stage by this emerging young dancer.