By Whitney Sorensen
The second weekend of Ballet West’s National Choreographic Festival in Salt Lake City owns the stage at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center with three short ballet pieces, performed by the Cincinnati Ballet, the Charlotte Ballet, and Ballet West. All three pieces come from female choreographers, and the two visiting ballet companies also have women as artistic directors. I gave my first cheers of the night as I read the program and saw Ballet West artistic director Adam Sklute’s commitment to highlighting the works of women in ballet. I still feel uninitiated in the ballet world, but this performance was a good way for me to appreciate the art form and recall the terminology I learned in my freshman Humanities 101 class.
The first piece performed is “Myoho” from the Cincinnati Ballet, led by artistic director Victoria Morgan. Choreographer Jennifer Archibald uses a group of five female and five male dancers in this modern piece that is also the only one to feature ballerinas on pointe. They grace a bare stage, changing groups frequently, with all the dancers showcasing their athleticism. What begins as male and female dancers as pairs eventually segregates into two lone male dancers onstage. They are later joined by another two men, also in a pair, and each pair seems to act out the process of struggling along and supporting each other.
Toward the end of the number, the women reenter the stage, and the sexes appear to face off at first, but they form brief pairs again and perform a few steps that resemble ballroom dance—the women on pointe during those steps.
Although I struggle with interpreting modern ballet and I wish there had been notes in the program to explain the aim of the piece, I can always appreciate the sheer skill required to be a professional dancer. Every muscle, joint, and tendon in their bodies obeys their command, and because they’re so focused, I know I owe them my full attention and I even slip into meditation.
The second piece performed is “To Clear” from the Charlotte Ballet, led by artistic director Hope Muir. Choreographer Robyn Mineko Williams creates a shadow box ballet show that to me felt representative of the struggle between nature and the industrialized world. The music contributed a lot to that feeling because the first third of the piece has music that I would describe as “industrial dissonance” that unsettled me. The middle third starts out calmer and is reminiscent of rain until the industrial noises return.
Four male dancers, two female dancers, and two shadow box operators participate onstage in this piece. The shadow boxes add drama to the already exaggerated movements of ballet, and at times I found myself watching the shadows instead of the dancers so I could appreciate the shapes made by their bodies as much as the muscle required to maneuver across the stage.
For the third piece, eight dancers from Ballet West (four female, four male) perform a world premiere number from choreographer Africa Guzman entitled “Sweet and Bitter.” This piece felt the most like traditional ballet to me, and I loved the use of the black curtains against the far stage wall. They open and close at various moments in the performance like the shutter on a camera lens, but for sustained periods.
“Sweet and Bitter” opens with a single female dancer and three male dancers onstage. Upon their exit, three male-and-female pairs enter, after which a fourth pair has the stage to themselves. The pas de deux between this fourth pair was another high point of the evening for me. The number then reverses, returning to the three pairs and finally ending with all dancers onstage at once for a grand finale.
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Ballet West’s National Choreographic Festival represents exactly what is good about arts in Utah, and this performance specifically is the perfect way to celebrate the many contributions of women to the arts.
Ballet West presents National Choreographic Festival, Part 2, featuring the Cincinnati Ballet and the Charlotte Ballet
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W Broadway, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
May 24-26 7:30 PM, Saturday Matinee 2:00 PM
Tickets: $15-49.50
Contact: 801-869-6920
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