BalletX Summer program at the Wilma (2nd review)

Choreographers can please a crowd in one of two ways: Give the audience something everyone can relate to, or seduce them with a work that's irresistible. The two world premieres in BalletX's recent Summer Series provided one of each.

Dancer Matthew Prescott took the first approach in his vibrant, accessible Journey of the Day, a series of scenes set to songs from Edgar Meyer's Appalachian Journey. The piece opened on Kevin Yee-Chan bathed in a blue light while seated at the stage's edge, and proceeded through snippets of daily life in a backwoods town. A brothers' rivalry pitted two dancers in lighthearted sparring; later, Tara Keating and Anitra Keegan playfully teased Laura Feig between them.

Soft, fluid balletic movements glided along the airy, soothing ambiance of the string trio, as Prescott teased the narrative threads of the bluegrass harmonies into the simple pleasures of a rural life. Throughout, his dancers communicated with an exchange of flirting and knowing glances— warm and emotive touches that only enhanced the piece's ability to reach outward and captivate.

Drew Billiau's lighting transitioned from dawn into day and dusk into night, and coupled with the tender hues of Reid Bartleme's costumes, the piece breathed with the enveloping magic of a fairy tale. It ended with Yee-Chan again alone on stage, but by journey's end, he had a much larger family to reflect back on his day with him.

Backstage at the carnival

Matthew Neenan's The Last Glass also let us peer inside an insulated world. But unlike the warm arms of Prescott's embrace, Neenan lured us inside with a series of bewitching vignettes.

Through eight movements, Neenan pulled back the curtain for a behind-the-scenes look at a troupe of vaudeville or carnival performers. Imagine DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth, tinged with the haunting aura of Tod Browning's Freaks.

Overly face-painted dancers bounded across the stage in Martha Chamberlain's costumes of gaudy Junior Prom dresses over ruffled laced boy-shorts. Men in suspenders and white T-shirts, looking drunk or drugged, lingered about with vapid expressions. Every movement appeared intentionally heightened with flamboyance to give a sense of peering into a fantasy world.

Throughout, Beirut's accordion grinder and tuba-driven music wafted into the crowd like an intoxicating vapor, lulling us into a hypnotic slumber so as to appreciate the bizarre, laconically intense world Neenan envisioned on stage. Revelries, rivalries and jealousies played out with a theatric flair, as if the dancers knew we were looking in on them and wanted to make sure we got our money's worth.

Enviable output

With these two new pieces, BalletX only added to the productive output of its first five years. Since 2005, the company has achieved an enviable feat: It has performed more than 40 pieces by its own choreographers (Christine Cox, Neenan, and now Prescott) as well as by artists across the U.S. and Europe. Many of these works— including Journey of the Day and The Last Glass— can serve as staples in an evolving repertoire. Taken as a whole, the compendium of the company's work illustrates the success of its creative mission: to redefine ballet and bring it into the new century.

Dance is defined by impermanence. After watching these two tremendous new works, I can only hope the company survives another five years so I can watch them again.♦


To read another review by Janet Anderson, click here.