United States Varied, Gems: A Triptych by Benjamin Millepied: Dancers of L.A. Dance Undertaking. The Wallis Annenberg Heart for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills, 24.10.2025. (JRo)
Choreographed over a ten-year interval, Benjamin Millepied’s three-part ballet, Gems, was commissioned by Van Cleef & Arpels by their Dance Reflections program. George Balanchine, famously impressed by a 1966 go to to Van Cleef, created Jewels. Although each ballets are divided into three distinct sections, they’ve little else in frequent. The Balanchine is a homage to totally different types of ballet, every represented by emeralds, rubies or diamonds. Millepied’s focus merges visible artwork with choreography. In his phrases: ‘This triptych of latest ballets … attracts inspiration from the symbolic and emotional resonance of valuable stones’.
Although I used to be onerous pressed to discover a reference to valuable gems, his ballet was replete with emotional content material. All through the night, dancers reacted to at least one one other with a palpable need for human connection. That need was the driving drive behind their actions, from the best extension of an arm to essentially the most intricate footwork.
There was a lot pleasure available within the pairings of artwork and dance. For me, the shock of the night was how properly Barbara Kruger’s graphic use of textual content labored with the motion of our bodies in house. In Reflections, a large crimson backdrop featured daring white letters forming the phrase STAY. Your entire flooring, readily seen from anyplace in the home given the raked seating, was lined with crimson flooring printed with THINK OF ME, THINKING OF YOU. Dancers wearing muted browns and greys turned sculptural parts in a sea of crimson and white. Amazingly, the textual content didn’t distract from the dancers however appeared quite to focus on their each motion.
To contemplative music by David Lang, performed by pianist Yanfeng Bai, Daphne Fernberger and Noah Wang made a sublime pair, conjuring all method of interactions. At instances they appeared wracked with longing, pushed by their must be collectively. Their dancing exuded a mutual respect and tenderness because the a lot taller Wang lifted Fernberger straight into the air as if she have been a baby ready to be picked up by a guardian. The choreography maintained a fragile equilibrium between intimacy and freedom. At one second, Wang made a hoop together with his arms that Fernberger leaned her head by, after which opening his arms he enfolded her in an embrace. At one other, their our bodies, arching ahead, appeared to capsize like boats within the water.
Shu Kinouchi adopted them with a solo and confirmed off his command of traditional ballet as he turned a puckish character who jogged my memory of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet or the Bluebird of Sleeping Magnificence. There was an adversarial pas de deux for Courtney Conovan and Clay Koonar with angular shoulders and snapping arms, a duet for Fernberger and Conovan skewering ballroom dance and one for 2 males who ranged on the ground like elements of a caterpillar. Reflections succeeded fantastically and was maybe essentially the most absolutely imaginative coupling of visible artwork and dance.
In Hearts and Arrows, Philip Glass’s String Quartet No.3 was carried out by musicians from the Colburn Faculty. The propulsive rating and Liam Gillick’s array of lights on tall rigs behind the stage created an electrical environment. There was a fraught power to the piece as eight dancers in black and white with arms usually prolonged skyward appeared to be striving for one thing simply out of attain. There have been whispers of Irish and Scottish jigs within the footwork and a second when the flip of a hand was harking back to flamenco. One carry featured Fernberger together with her legs straight and her outstretched arms held to the aspect and parallel to the ground. This crucifix pose created dramatic pressure however maybe raised questions as to what Millepied’s intentions have been right here.
At forty minutes, On the Different Facet was the longest of the three items. Yanfeng Bai dealt with Glass’s brooding Etudes and the tender actions of Orphée Suite with sensitivity. The colourful backdrop by artist Mark Bradford resembled his collection of huge scale mixed-media work of summary maps of unnamed cities. Moods diverse from part to part, however the overwhelming sense was of a neighborhood with emotional and religious ties. Whether or not lyrical, balletic motion or angular fashionable dance, whether or not solos, pas de deux or ensemble dancing, there was a non secular high quality to the choreography. Dancers held poses with reverential stillness, lighting dimmed and out of the darkness numerous tableaux of eight dancers appeared in chiaroscuro. I considered Caravaggio’s biblical work or Jacque Louis David’s mythological topics. There have been mournful duets and solos however there was additionally the reduction of sudden bursts of playfulness with capering turns and hovering leaps.
In performing Gems, members of L.A. Dance Undertaking have been at their most harmonious. With spirit and method, they did justice to Millepied’s choreography, making a memorable night of dance.
Jane Rosenberg
Featured Picture: L.A. Dance Undertaking in On the Different Facet © Jade Ellis
Reflections
Choreography – Benjamin Millepied in collaboration with Julia Eichten, Charlie Hodges, Morgan Lugo, Nathan Makolandra, Amanda Wells
Visible idea – Barbara Kruger
Music – David Lang, This Was Written by Hand / Reminiscence Items (picks). Yanfeng Bai, pianist
Lighting – Masha Tsimring
Coronary heart & Arrows
Choreography – Benjamin Millepied
Visible idea – Liam Gillick
Costumes – Janie Taylor
Music – Philip Glass, String Quartet No.3, ‘Mishima’. Musicians from the Colburn Faculty
Lighting – Masha Tsimring
On the Different Facet
Choreography – Benjamin Millepied
Visible idea – Mark Bradford
Music – Philip Glass, Etudes No. 1, 2, 6, 16, 17, 18; ‘Lifeless Issues’ (organized by Nico Muhly); Orphée Suite Nos. 2 & 7 (transcribed for piano by Paul Barnes). Yanfeng Bai, pianist
Lighting – Masha Tsimring
Dancers: Lorrin Brubaker, Courtney Conovan, Daphne Fernberger, Tom Guibaus, Robert Hoffer, Shu Kinouchi, Clay Koonar, Audrey Sides, Hope Spears, Noah Wang
