Boldly, Audaciously American From its inception, American Ballet Theatre has nurtured new choreographers while celebrating the classics By Susan Reiter
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merican Ballet Theatre's (ABT) dancers have been frequent participants in the Vail Dance Festival's (VDF) programming during recent years. Many have had opportunities to expand in new directions, including Misty Copeland, James Whiteside, Calvin Royal III and Devon Teuscher; Isabella Boylston and Herman Cornejo have both taken a turn as Festival Artist-In-Residence. This year promises another exciting highlight: ABT makes its official debut at the Festival, in a program showcasing choreographers who have helped shape the company’s identity. Now in its 78th year, ABT proudly carries its illustrious history while maintaining its distinct identity to help move the art of ballet into a bright future. When Ballet Theatre—as it was initially named—was launched in 1940, those who believed in the possibility of establishing a truly American ballet company were visionary—and perhaps audacious. The founders, Lucia Chase—an indomitable figure who continued to lead the company for the next four decades—and Oliver Smith, planned to cultivate a repertory that combined great works of the past with important new choreography. Through the company's nearly eight decades of growth and change— and generations of stellar dancers who have left their marks on ballet history—that basic formula has held firm. ABT is closely associated with many of the 19th-century full-length classics, such as Giselle, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, as well as seminal 20th-century additions to the form, such as Kenneth Macmillan's Romeo and Juliet and Frederick Ashton's Cinderella. The company regularly performs this repertory throughout its extensive domestic and international tours each year, as well as for most of its annual eight-week New York season. But, from the start, ABT has nurtured significant and innovative choreographers, and the list of landmark ballets that had their premieres on an ABT program is extensive. Antony Tudor and Agnes de Mille were mainstays of the company during its initial decade, and beyond. Tudor's potent, psychologically probing ballets were strikingly new, even shocking at times. De Mille, whose beloved Rodeo became an ABT repertory staple, also melded potent theatricality and an inherently American optimism and warmth in many enduring ballets. Also making a name for himself during the 1940s was a young ABT dancer who longed to choreograph—Jerome Robbins. The company took
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a chance on him, and in 1944 he burst onto the scene with Fancy Free, a ballet that was not only distinctly American in its flavor and attitude, but that also captured a quintessential historical moment with its brilliantly conceived depiction of three wartime sailors on 24-hour leave in New York City. Composing the score was an equally talented and innovative young American—Leonard Bernstein. Their ballet became a huge hit that audiences couldn't get enough of, and it remains a beloved standard today, as evidenced by its performances at last year's Festival. It launched two titanic careers and frequent collaborations between the two, including the groundbreaking musical West Side Story. Both Robbins' and Bernstein's centennials are being celebrated worldwide throughout 2018. Fittingly, both of these seminal figures will be represented on ABT's July 29 program. The company will perform Alexei Ratmansky's 2016 Serenade After Plato's Symposium, one of this master choreographer's most profound and original works, set to and titled after Bernstein's vibrant 1954 score. Seven men form a community that moves through contemplation, fury, exhilaration and—with the appearance of a lone woman—the possibility of ideal romance. Robbins will be represented by his 1976 Other Dances, a virtuosic duet to Chopin piano selections that ranges through varied moods, from meditative to playful. Tiler Peck, the beloved VDF mainstay, will make a guest appearance. ABT will also be part of the Festival's opening night on July 28, performing a very different Ratmansky work, Souvenir d'un lieu cher, in which two elegant couples meet and intermingle to Tchaikovsky's deeply romantic music. Ratmansky, who has become one of the world's leading and most indemand ballet choreographers, signed on as ABT's Artist-In-Residence in 2009. Busy as he is, Ratmansky always makes time to create new works there, and the range of his ballets is astonishing. Vail audiences will be fortunate to experience this sampling of his seemingly unlimited inspiration.
Devon Teuscher, American Ballet Theatre principal dancer. Photo by Camila Falquez.