Ballet West’s inaugural Works from Within program proved to be an excellent showcase for highlighting the choreographic strengths of five of the company’s dancers. While the program featured worthy pieces by two dancers who already have carved out solid niches as choreographers, the three newcomers delighted the audience with choreography that produced some of the evening’s most emotional and joyful moments.
Up first was Katlyn Addison’s Andromeda, which offered audiences a generous sample of a potential evening-length story ballet, which was accompanied by outstanding performances from her colleagues. Addison, who has choreographed professionally for five years, is ambitious in this latest creation, which included an original score composed by Jonathan Sanford and pre-recorded in Los Angeles. Andromeda is a smart choice for a story ballet. While many immediately recognize Perseus as one of Greek mythology’s greatest heroes, Andromeda has often been relegated to the background, for various reasons including those that have suggested ethnic erasure, particularly in the portrayals of the goddess in European art and literature.
Andromeda’s story carries many nuances in creative possibilities for a full-length ballet that is steeped in classical traditions but nevertheless amplifies themes which restore her true identity markers of beauty and her Ethiopian origins. Representation in ballet in the 21st century moves the hierarchical lens off the status quo, which Addison does with Andromeda. This is notable in Andromeda’s relationship with her parents King Cetus and Queen Cassiopeia as well as her interaction with Perseus. Its contemporary relevance and elucidation matter. ”Since beauty has always been a high commodity, it could not have been afforded to a deliberately oppressed class,” Patricia Yaker Ekall, a writer and freelance journalist based in London, explained. “Not to mention that the visual of a white man rescuing a chained up black woman would have been too much of a trigger and perhaps an inconvenient catalyst for the change that eventually ensued.” In Andromeda, Addison gives us a glimpse of her artistic vision that resonates with 21st century ballet’s objective to produce genuine and historically accurate representation.
Photo Credit: Ross Richey.
Lingering Echoes followed, an absolutely lovely choreographic debut for Nicole Fannéy. One could readily see how recent Ballet West productions featuring works by internationally known choreographers such as Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe and Christopher Wheeldon have made their imprint on dancers who are seeking to formulate their choreographic voice and articulate their language in creating movement. Fannéy’s triptych magnificently played up the emotional imagery one might associate with echoes and shadows that framed the dancers and their partners. Likewise, she demonstrated impressive skills in setting movement that paired beautifully with the mood and color of the music she selected: Poema, a piece arranged for cello and organ by Finnish composer Erkki Salmenhaara, the first section of Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and the gorgeous rocking-like siciliana which concludes Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus, RV 608. Fannéy’s vision in Lingering Echoes was elegant, visceral and memorable.
With jazz music by Duke Ellington and contemporary composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel, Jazz Khai Bynum quickly switched up things in With Feeling, which featured seven dancers from Utah Valley University’s Repertory Ballet Ensemble. It was light, groovy and hopping, with excellent performances. Reiterating a point made frequently in The Utah Review, as dance wears the empress crown of performing arts in Utah, the level of quality at all levels of ballet and dance plays fully to their relative strengths and expectations. It is experiences like Bynum’s choreographic debut that opens good opportunities for Ballet West to feature periodic guest performances from Utah-based ballet and dance ensembles, professional groups as well as those in university and college programs.
Just as impressive as Fannéy’s choreographic debut, Vinicius Lima’s Elis was cool and sultry in a flattering tribute to the artistry of the late singer Elis Regina and to Bossa Nova music masters Pixinguinha, Gilberto Gil and Antonio Carlos Jobim. A native of Brazil, Lima translated his love of this music into choreography that captured the subtle swinging character and allusive poetic magic of Regina’s interpretations of these songs. The piece brimmed with playfully seductive movements and bravo to the dancers who dug into the off-center rhythms and clearly were enjoying themselves. The chill-out aesthetic in Lima’s piece was refreshing to see on the ballet stage. The movement epitomized bossa nova’s complex paradoxes of fragile but agile character, sexy but straightforwardly serious vibes — all smartly packaged without allowing sugary sentimentality to seep into the choreographic fabric that expressed pure joy and love of the artist’s homeland.
Rounding out the program was Emily Adams’ Mass Hysterical, a zeitgeist contemplation of the highs and lows, the comedies and horrors of social behavior in the moment. Adams, who has the most extensive choreographic portfolio of the five featured in Works from Within, collaborated with film and ballet composer Katy Jarzebowski, who has been a Sundance Institute Fellow, to provide the accompanying music.
The dancers played well to a palette of considerations: how after a long period of social distancing during the pandemic, it seems still a bit awkward and uncomfortable to engage socially; the differences in how we present ourselves online and offline; how events can trigger anger even in seemingly close-knit groups that fan the tensions of turning against one another especially when they feel it necessary to call out character flaws and shortcomings. It was about as thoroughly credible a contemporary commentary on our social behavior landscape could be rendered in ballet movement.
Works from Within completed Ballet West’s 61st season. For information and season subscriptions for the upcoming season, see the Ballet West website.