Ballet as an art form in constant development over centuries will be in focus with Woetzel and Watts examining key moments from the first dances en pointe, to story ballets, to the first plotless works. The story will continue as they rehearse “swerves” made by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins in America, as the founding choreographers of NYCB. This will include Balanchine’s Apollo, which Woetzel describes as a “distillation of what ballet could be.” Balanchine’s move towards essentialism at the age of 24 as a response to Stravinsky’s pure score set the foundation for a lifetime of leading dance through abstraction. “He doesn’t know where he’s going to take us,” says Watts, “but he’s completely changing the art form.” Such imaginative openness and curiosity of the times is a quality that defines many of dance’s changemakers. Robbins had the ability to harness the zeitgeist of the 1960s by creating dances about community during a time of cultural revolution. His Dances at a Gathering changed the structure of ballet, where instead of a single lead couple, there were multiple couples, dancing together as equals. “When I saw Dances,” recalls Watts, “when they stood and looked at us in the audience, and we looked at them… that was a swerve. He and Balanchine were tearing down the artifice and performative elements” that had characterized ballet until then. This removal of the artifice while responding to cultural and artistic movements was also a marker of American modern choreographers. Artist-in-Residence Sara Mearns will perform pieces by Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham, which were made during waves of feminism. Both choreographers took women out of pointe shoes, with Duncan following intuitive movement while Graham created a powerful technique still practiced today. The evening will celebrate the 60th year anniversary of the first Cunningham “Event” – a specific “experience of dance” given in non-traditional spaces. Former Cunningham dancer Melissa Toogood will guide the audience through the abstract expressionist world of his formalist dances. The evening will also explore Twyla Tharp’s crossover work and specific movement vernacular, which uniquely combined ballet and modern vocabulary. This movement synthesis, in addition to her diverse musical choices from classical to popular, influenced both fields of dance simultaneously. Other uniquely American dance forms will be explored in their artistic and cultural contexts. Michelle Dorrance, the award-winning tap dancer and choreographer, will take the audience through the layered history of tap dance. Lil Buck, the Memphis Jookin’ innovator, will dive into urban street dance and its co-creation with hip-hop music. Denys Drozdyuk and Antonina Skobina will lead the understanding of formalized ballroom dance from European balls to today. The Festival’s Scholar-in-Residence, Kayla Mak, will bring her perspective on the contemporary dance styles she trains in as a student at the Juilliard School. “The power of furthering people’s interest and helping them understand is a win-win situation,” says Watts. Mutual learning occurs throughout the Festival and especially during the UpClose evening, “in the room where it happens,” says Woetzel. “It is a chance to see world-class dancers at work,” he says, “pushing themselves, trying things that may or may not succeed, all the while getting insight into the history of the works themselves.”
Heather Watts rehearses Tiler Peck in Theme and Variations. Choreography by George Balanchine. © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo by Christopher Duggan.
Lauren Lovette, Unity Phelan, and James Whiteside rehearse Serenade. Choreography by George Balanchine. © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo by Christopher Duggan.
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