American Ballet Theatre Review: Theatre, Ballet, and an American Icon
October 29, 2021 | David H. Koch Theater – New York City, NY
A little bit of the old and more of the new, American Ballet Theatre brings balance to their triple bill program. From the grief of an on-the-verge-spinster to the incomparable crooning of Tony Bennett, the program is solid. The evening gives bookends to an older piece, Pillar of Fire created in 1942, with two new pieces made just this year.
La Follia Variations had already premiered digitally and seen the stage in Costa Mesa for its official premiere, but the creation by Lauren Lovette finally graced a New York City stage and its appearance is oh, so welcome.
Lovette, a recently retired principal dancer from New York City Ballet, has a list of major choreographic numbers under her belt but this year may mark a tipping point for the young choreographer. The fact is, she just keeps getting better and La Follia Variations is proof.
The number opens on a vertical line down the center of stage, the lights brighten, and shadowed figures are revealed as Crayola-colored bursts of movement. Outfitted in costumes by Victor Glemaud, the women are each in different hued one-shouldered tutus (blue, purple, teal, and aqua) and the men are each in one-shouldered red unitards of different leg-lengths.
The colors are joyous on their own, but Lovette brings drama to each step and elevates the delight; a tendu gets a wiggle of the arms and upper body, a swivel step is accented with a ninety-degree elbow, hand daggered toward the floor.
Against the score from Francesco Geminiani, the ambiance is proud and bubbly.
Performed by eight corps de ballet dancers (four men and four women), there is no true lead of the piece. Lauren Bonfiglio and Abbey Marrison were particularly crisp and exciting in their execution and performance quality.
Lovette leans into asymmetry (not only in the one-shouldered costumes) so that when we do see a symmetrical moment, it shines. However, there were fleeting configurations that could have been more substantial; a dancer’s penché could have held on one second longer, a step needed four more counts, the solitary finger snap could have been accompanied by three more.
Although some moments were just shy of making an impression, the piece overall brought a brightness in sight, sound, and step.
Pillar of Fire takes us back to 1900 (set in the year the music by Arnold Schoenberg was composed).
Choreographed by Antony Tudor, it’s an almost nightmarish take on a love story. Bleak and dreary, the sets by Robert Perdziola bring us to a dark countryside with an unassuming house on stage left and a possibly unsavory house on the stage right. Prude characters pass across the stage at inopportune moments, snubbing their noses, while “Lovers-in-Innocence” and “Lovers-in-Experience” (wink, wink) pass in and out of town all while the main character, Hagar (danced by Devon Teuscher), is caught in the middle.
Troubled with thoughts of being a spinster like her older sister, she becomes jealous of her younger sister who easily flirts and receives affection from almost every man on stage. Unable to look the man she loves in the eye; she turns to “The Young Man from the House Opposite” and gives herself to him. After having #regrets, she runs into her crush again and he lovingly accepts her.
Tudor drew from the poem Schoenberg used as inspiration for the score, Verklärte Nacht or Transfigured Night. In the poem, a couple are walking in the woods together when she confesses she is pregnant with another man’s child, he embraces her and they walk away together:
“He puts an arm about her strong hips.
Their breath embraces in the air.
Two people walk on through the high, bright night.”
Although there is no pregnancy in the ballet, Tudor infuses themes and imagery from the poem. There are several moments in the choreography when a dancer will bring their thumb toward their face, fingers pressed together, palm flat to the audience, and sharply bring their hand down in two distinct increments. It is possible the steps mimic the poetry,
“Now life has taken its revenge
and I have met you, met you”.
Typically, a ballet with sets and costumes could be inundated with miming to communicate the story but Tudor is able to do so in a way that is masked in more abstract gestures.
Hagar, painfully shy and distraught, often places both hands low on one hip as if grabbing her side and doubling over in pain, a physical manifestation of her inner turmoil.
“Maiden Ladies Out Walking” (representing the town’s judgement) have fluttering, whispered conversations without a cupped hand to an ear or mouth. Instead, they use their bodies, facing in and out, each other and away, to mimic the idea of gossiping.
When “The Young Man from the House Opposite” (danced by James Whiteside) enters the stage, a deep string note hits the air, he makes an aggressive pelvic move, and the audience instantly knows he is going to be trouble. Being shown rather than explicitly told drives home a larger poetic theme.
Teuscher as Hagar is beautiful, not only stunning in her movements but excellent in her acting. She wears Hagar’s feelings as a coat of her very own, her sorrow filling the stage.
Playing opposite her as the love interest is newly promoted principal dancer Thomas Forster. He suits the role well; tall, handsome, and kind-looking, he seems just the person to embrace Hagar. Additionally, he has a good deal of difficult partnering which he completes with stability.
Seeing two new pieces before and after makes me wonder what Pillar might look like without the sets and costumes. It’s a bit tiring always seeing Harlots and other variations of “Lovers-in-Experience” in open-shouldered corsets, no tights, and loose hair. The stuffy dresses and jackets of the townspeople seem almost too obvious, and the sets eventually fly out or roll off, having essentially just been used as doorways.
But what remains if we forgo the decorations is a work of intricate movement and a harrowing love story.
ZigZag, choreographed by Jessica Lang, is a closer.
Set to eleven tracks of some of Tony Bennett’s biggest hits (it took Lang over a year to select them), the piece is a party.
Opening on a beautiful black and white, chevron zig zag backdrop, the audience is already clapping and letting out excited “woos” before the dancing has even started.
The giant zig zag background (inspired by Bennett’s comment, “when they zig, I zag”) is dramatic but the costumes, designed by Wes Gordon, bring their own heft to the piece.
The three lead women are outfitted in brightly colored, 50’s-style poodle skirt-length dresses, while the men are either in all black or white.
Complementing the three brighter dresses, the female corps are in iconic polka dot skirts reminiscent of classic Carolina Herrera. In a bit of spontaneous asymmetry, one female in the corps joins the men in an all-black pants number as well.
Leading the group were Isabella Boylston, Katherine Williams, Erica Lall, Aran Bell, Blaine Hoven, and Calvin Royal III.
All the dancers brought brilliance to the steps, whether it was a floppy hands shuffle across the stage or a triple turn. A standout among the group was Lall who danced each step with full value (I totally geeked out over her buoyant saute arabesque) and brought a just-right, cheeky performance quality.
The corps de ballet shines in Lang’s piece though, particularly in the number accompanied by the heavily drummed song Just One of Those Things. The dancers bound and swing across the stage, echoing the continuous drumbeats. Abbey Marrison even mimes drumming in a quick solo and in a circus-like feat, Courtney Lavine is swung in a circle, feet out, as three other dancers hurdle over her body (like a human Skip It for my Eighties babies).
The audience loved it (even more woos if you can believe it) but across the board, the corps de ballet jazzed up the entire number from start to finish. The piece ends with the dancers snapping their fingers right and left as the curtain closes and the music fades, the party continues.
Featured Photo for this American Ballet Theatre review of Devon Teuscher in Antony Tudor’s Pillar of Fire. Photo: Marty Sohl.
Fix the spelling of Schoenberg the first time you use his name please?
Great to read your review!