BalletX presents it 2024 Fall Series with Marguerite Donlon, Matthew Neenan, and Takehiro Ueyama

The opening-night performance was dedicated to Judith Jamison, a legendary American dancer who died on November 9, 2024. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Jamison is best known for her work with Alvin Ailey: she danced with his company for 15 years, then served as its artistic director from 1989 to 2011. Jamison’s powerful, expressive work paved the way for other artists to take creative risks that foster more expansive views of dance.

Mapping Out a Sky

BalletX’s 2024 Fall Series does just that, with three distinct pieces highlighting the company’s growth.

Matthew Neenan’s Mapping Out a Sky makes good use of the larger space and additional dancers. The work features two casts of dancers and live accompaniment by Grant Loehnig. At the Wilma, musicians joined dancers onstage, but Loehnig and the piano have their own dedicated space at Suzanne Roberts. A pre-performance film explains how Mapping Out a Sky, created and performed during the pandemic, was reworked for 2024.

Set to instrumental versions of songs by Stephen Sondheim, the dance combines arresting images with vibrant movement. Dancers’ bodies form unusual shapes and tableaus, such as a peacock-like fanning of arms in the opening scene. Ashley Simpson’s elegant grace defies gravity. Itzkan Barbosa, Jared Kelly, and Eileen Kim’s jazzy, playful movement matches a shift in the music in the final section. Costumes by Christine Darch support the visual appeal of Neenan’s choreography. The work lacks an emotional center, though.

Heroes

Takehiro Ueyama’s Heroes is more emotive, drawing inspiration from the Japanese citizens who rebuilt their country after World War II. It is more abstract than this description suggests, with movement and gesture portraying images or feelings instead of a narrative. Bookended by images of suffering and then resolve, Heroes is interesting but difficult to grasp. A jarring shift from classical to contemporary music contributes to this effect.

Nevertheless, the performers shine. Two dancers emerge from the shadows in a mesmerizing opening sequence. (Christopher Ham and Michael Korsch designed the lighting.) Others join them for a repeated phrase that uses chairs to add levels and layer the kinetics. Heroes incorporates the chairs in other ways, as when Barbosa runs across a line of seats and dives into the air, with Mathis Joubert catching her body just in time. Costumes by Eugenia P. Stallings and Julie Watson are incorporated into the movement and used as props.

Big Wig

Props also feature in Marguerite Donlon’s Big Wig, a world premiere. The title refers to the wigs worn in Irish dancing for decades. The program notes explain that “the lively footwork of Irish dance met the stillness of a restricted upper body—an effect accentuated by the bold, curly wigs.” In the pre-performance film, Donlon poignantly described Ireland as “a mixture of humor and deep sadness.”

Creative movement and styling, including Silke Fischer’s costumes, deliver the humor. Big Wig begins with female performers in matching wigs dancing en pointe to Irish music. The wigs get sillier as dancers flick the fake hair, toss it aside, and wear it as shoulder pads and tails. The final section, set to industrial music, pares down to suggest a new generation with barely-there costumes and sexy, energetic movement. But Big Wig’s sadness is hard to pinpoint, making the wigs and other props more gimmicky than meaningful.

An exciting future

A lot is new at BalletX this season, but the quality and range of the dancing remain consistent and strong. The company also seems unified, with good partnering between returning dancers and newcomers, who all shine bright. Their talents combine with the choreographers’ unique visions to deliver striking images and scenes. The 2024 Fall Series is exciting and beautiful to behold, but it does not tap into the emotional depth the dancers possess—and excel in. Meanwhile, BalletX’s commitment to world-premiere choreography—an admirable choice that contributes to innovation—yields disjointed programs like this one, as I have pointed out. The company has outgrown this grab-bag approach, and it’s time for more cohesive programming. BalletX has beauty and heart to spare and an exciting future ahead.

At top: BalletX company members behind Francesca Forcella in Matthew Neenan’s Mapping Out a Sky, part of the 2024 Fall Series. (Photo by Christopher Duggan.)