American Repertory Ballet Elevate Review
March 30, 2024 | Kaye Playhouse – New York City, NY, USA
The triple bill program began as opera or ballet excerpts performed alongside full-lengths. As ballet modernized, the concept of short non-narrative pieces grouped together took hold and the tryptic formula emerged.
I am often on the hunt for the ideal triple bill format:
- Do you vary the volume of dancers in each piece?
- Should they all reflect the same theme?
- Or should their differences punctuate?
In American Repertory Ballet’s case, the works of Elevate nestled perfectly into their respective roles: the opener operates as the welcomer, the end piece is the profound closer, and the middle section is the third peg of the easel, pivotal for standing.
American Repertory Ballet Elevate Review
A bright opener to the evening, Meredith Rainey’s Intrare Forma which, according to Google, translates from Latin to “enter the form”, is a study of arrangement and symmetry. Even the format of the number is compartmentalized into neat segments: Opening, Trio, Quartet, Duet, Finale. And within those segments, the dancers form Rorschach-shaped symmetry, the midpoint being center stage.
Further emulating the shape theme, Janessa Cornwell Urwin’s playful androgynous costumes featured patchwork geometric patterns in pleasant pastels.
Not every neoclassical, non-narrative, geometric driven classical work is Balanchine inspired but I did thoroughly enjoy the almost “reverse Balanchine” B-plus position the dancers assumed: standing on one leg, they crossed the other leg in front rather than behind.
Along with mapped out formations, Rainey plays with levels through groundwork and elevated partnered lifts and finds texture in satisfying canons.
Although symmetry has the potential to be restrictive, Rainey frees the dancers with unexpected transitions.
In a bit of clever trickery, two dancers dramatically walk slowly toward each other while others enter and exit. If we are to assume the typical balletic pattern, we would be safe to bet this couple would dance the main pas de deux; however as soon as they meet, they reverse tracks and another, quickly formed couple takes their place as the central duet.
The refreshing lightness, subtle switch ups, and equilibrium of the piece made for a polished introduction.
Amy Seiwert’s Sight Line, which I have seen previously and was glad to have a chance to revisit, is the palate cleansing axis of the show.
Courting darkness and drama, Sight Line urges the seven dancers to a non-Newtonian level, serving both sinuous soft curves and sharp corners. Connecting and disconnecting through serpentine undulations, Seiwert builds liquidus transitions from group work to solos all with an underlying tension that burns like an ember.
Annie Johnson and Andrea Marini anchor the piece with a weighted pas de deux to open the work. Marini is strength and athleticism while Johnson has a magnetic, piercing stare akin to Medusa about to strike and her reflexes are perhaps just as fast.
Equally enamoring was Savannah Quiner in a dominating solo full of corkscrew turns and haunting clawed hands that framed her skull.
Sight Line’s darkness is echoed in Jason Flamos’ wonderfully shadowed lighting and Urwin’s unrestricting wardrobe – black mesh tops and wide-legged sweeping pants.
With the aid of haunting voices and aching strings from Maria T by the Balanescu Quartet, Seiwert provides a dreamy vision of physical texture and, if dance could whisper, I would imagine it to do so here… its secrets lost to a dark chamber.
Culminating in an eccentric and nostalgic closer, Ethan Stiefel’s Wood Work slots in as the punctuated closer.
As someone who grew up in the beautiful state of Virginia, I am not unfamiliar with the peacefulness of getting lost in a field for hours. The quietness of country air, the surprisingly stinging breezes, the earthy smell of unspoiled land are riches I enjoyed in my youth and was reminded of during Wood Work.
Music by the Danish String Quartet introduced the unique romance of fiddle strings, and coupled with sweet, peplum linen waistcoats in earth tones by Derek Nye Lockwood, I was further transported.
Full of slouchy shoulders, air-catching tour jetes, and weight-changing footwork reminiscent of square dances, Stiefel references country life without making a caricature.
Lily Krisko plays “The Showstopper” and seemed at the mercy of her suddenly sentient legs attempting to dance themselves off her body as her mind tried to keep up. Delightfully sanguine, Krisko’s sharp precision and playful grinning made for a satisfyingly perplexed character.
“The Gang of Sorrows”, a somber group number, featured Clara Pevel dancing contemplatively with a supportive group of girlfriends. They kneel downstage as Pevel forlornly grasps something long gone.
And Leandro Olcese approaches a long, increasingly physical, solo with an introspective, meditative calm. He begins the solo palms up and I could almost feel the last rays of sunlight from a long day warming his hands.
And then to counter, the large group work offered up wonderfully silly body shivers, folk-dance flexed heels, and flying jumps which induced smiles across the stage and auditorium seats.
Via QR code, I was able to read company artist Erika Reenstierna-Cates’ reflections on the triple bill’s undercurrent of community and how the artists found home returning to dance after Covid.
At the surface level, you could see this in the group work present in each piece and most clearly in Wood Work, but where it felt abundant was in the electrified air shared between the dancers.
Although Elevate took place at the Kaye Playhouse, about 40 miles from the company’s home theater in New Brunswick, the dancers looked like they found home in each other.
Featured Photo for this American Repertory Ballet Elevate review of the company in Meredith Rainey’s Intrare Forma. Photo by Rosalie O’Connor.
