Philly Fringe 2024: Chris Davis presents The 40-Year-Old Ballerino

Davis, the Philly-based creator/performer of The Presented, One-Man Apocalypse Now, and many others, has toured his work internationally. Now, he tells the story of how he replaced his “bad” addictions with an unexpected “good” one: ballet. He emerged from a haze of weed and Modern Family marathons to follow his now-ex girlfriend, a dancer, into the studio, and something stuck: he now needs ballet class the way he used to need other more frowned-upon fixes.

Today, he practices at Amy Novinksi Ballet Studio in South Philly’s BOK Building, which provides Ballerino’s setting: light-gray Marley floor between a wall of mirrors on one side and sixth-floor windows showing the sparkling nighttime city on the other.

Good feet, hard work

It turned out Davis has good ballet feet, with that perfect angled arch. In wry, deadpan style, he considers the end of his relationship and the raw mix of fantasy and real-life re-entanglement that ensued. He deftly weaves in compelling and often funny stories from his artistic life, wrapped around a notable performance of Coppélia. The monologue loses its narrative momentum toward the end of the show, but Davis’s earnest vulnerability never flags.

This performance strikes a winning contrast with the professional ballet realm, which usually finds sumptuously costumed dancers looking as if they were born into their ballet slippers—from the audience, all easy long-limbed grace and cool perfection. Watching the perspiration pour off of Davis in his white leggings and tee is a reminder of how difficult ballet really is, and it’s a tribute to the essential, often-unseen process behind any meaningful art form.

An accomplished advanced beginner

Director MK Tuomanen, a longtime collaborator, helps Davis fully inhabit the stark and roomy studio, pulling us with him as he retreats meditatively into the space and back again. Portable lights in the corners add subtle, effective color and mood, and Davis manages the music himself with a laptop on the windowsill (and a Say Anything boombox befitting a 90s kid).

Davis sticks with “advanced beginner” movements that seem simple, mostly a serene choreography of barre exercises that punctuate his stories with countless stretches, port de bras, and pliés (though I suspect he’s more adept and flexible than he lets on here). Layered with Davis’s monologue, these repetitive movements do not bore the audience. Their quiet effort and habitual precision elevate these memoirs and remind us that just like dancers, good storytellers will never find and keep an audience without breaking a sweat—and committing to years of unglamorous practice.

One-Man Nutcracker will be back this December at the Drake, but you should get your tickets to The 40-Year-Old Ballerino now. The first two performances of this Fringe run were sold out, and on Saturday night, last-minute ticket-buyers in their sock feet lined the Marley when chairs ran out.