• October 25, 2019
• American Ballet Theatre
• The New Romantics
• New York, NY

Heading into the final weekend of their fall season at the David H. Koch Theater, American Ballet Theatre performs their The New Romantics program; it features a New York Premiere and a World Premiere that sandwich a new audience favorite. All three works demonstrate a youthful energy by this generation of dancers and choreographers, and it’s wonderful to see that the nation’s ballet company is giving opportunities and taking chances.

New American Romance

When the curtain rises, we are greeted by a tableau that at the same time feels familiar and foreign; it is reminiscent of Jules Perrot’s 19th century Pas de Quatre in formation and dress yet with a more contemporary indigo palette and design. Principal Dancer James Whiteside’s New American Romance, which is his first ballet created for the company (which had its premiere at the Vail Dance Festival earlier this summer), also hearkens another iconic romantic ballet, George Balanchine’s Serenade. The nod to this 20th century iconic work is evident in several instances of port de bras.

Organized into four movements featuring three relationships of varying temperament, the uniformity of the aforementioned indigo costumes is an aesthetically-pleasing thread that ties the piece together. It is a pleasant discovery of its effectiveness in representing an emotional span that ranges from sweet to humorous to tender; with billowing sleeves and romantic-style tutus, the eight dancers masterfully execute Whiteside’s very musical choreography. Devon Teuscher is especially stunning in the third movement. She is beautifully strong and sure while carrying a confident grace and femininity – a wonderful example for any budding ballet dancer.

As a related aside, at the end of the ballet I couldn’t help wondering why New American Romance replaced the scheduled Dream within a Dream (deferred) by Michelle Dorrance. The program was originally titled “Women’s Movement”, so this change resulted in a transformation of the essence of what was to be an appreciation of female choreographers.

Garden Blue

Choreographer Jessica Lang collaborated with designer Sarah Crowner to create a set for Garden Blue that makes the audience feel as if they have stepped into the surrealistic world of a miniature figure photograph. Sky blue serves as the backdrop for the huge wing-like wooden structures that occupy the stage (one airborne, the other two on the ground) flecked with pairs of dancers clad in vibrant magenta, red, and yellow-orange unitards. Perhaps they are little insects or buds of flowers that interweave their lovely dancing with repositioning of the sculptures to construct different playgrounds.

Brittany DeGrofft and Thomas Forster are a standout couple, their lines and movements synchronous and elegant. DeGrofft is the 2019 Jennifer Alexander Dancer, a title bestowed on a corps de ballet member that shows promising potential – her performance in Garden Blue shows how she is very much deserving.

A Time There Was

A silhouetted opening to Gemma Bond’s A Time There Was gradually comes to light to reveal a company in seemingly Venetian-influenced corsets posed in an industrial (grayscale lighting on a half drawn scrim framed by lanterns rigged on exposed horizontal lighting bars) setting. The cultural juxtaposition extends to the principal couple’s costume palette mimicking the colors of the Irish flag who are dancing to music of English heritage. These curious artistic choices create a bit of sensory confusion, but perhaps that is the intention?

Blaine Hoven‘s dancing is the highlight of the piece. As he also did in Garden Blue, Hoven embodies how emotions can guide how the body moves rather than cerebral direction as impetus. The result is an audience who is invested in the dancer, one that sits a little more erect in their seats because they are paying such close attention, one that doesn’t want to miss a beat.

ABT closes the fall season on Sunday, October 27 at 2:00pm with The New Romantics.

Featured Photo of American Ballet Theatre in Jessica Lang’s Garden Blue © Rosalie O’Connor