LA Ballet at the Bowl

Who doesn’t love a little Gershwin on a hot, humid night in the Cahuenga Pass, i.e., the Hollywood Bowl? With the summer season of the Los Angeles Philharmonic drawing to a close, the nearly 7,000 in attendance at the 17,000 + venue that opened in 1922, got a dose of Gershwin and then some!

Indeed, in its first appearance on the legendary stage, where ghosts of Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and ballet dancer Maud Allen (mostly unknown today, she performed in 1926 during a production of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony), Los Angeles Ballet, in its Bowl debut, proved it could hold the stage with the ghosts of past legends.

Performance

Los Angeles Ballet: “Who Cares?” by George Balanchine and “Kauyumari” by Melissa Barak

Place

The Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, September 8, 2026

Words

Victoria Looseleaf

Taylor Hugens, Lilly Fife, and Paige Wilkey in “Kauyumari” by Melissa Barak with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Photograph by Cheryl Mann

Currently celebrating its twenty-first season and led by Melissa Barak, the troupe was accompanied by the Phil with a terrific Carlos Miguel Prieto leading the stellar ensemble in four works, only two of them, alas, dances. Opening with “Janitzio,” a symphonic poem written in 1933 by Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas, this six-minute programmatic romp was the perfect fit for maestro Prieto—also Mexican—who seems to have the rhythms and sounds of his native country in his blood.

No stranger to the Bowl or to conducting dance troupes, the Grammy Award-winning maestro led the Phil in 2024, when he accompanied the incomparable Ballet Folklórico de México. In this outing, the musician offered a bouncy, albeit truncated version of George Balanchine’s 1970 classic, “Who Cares?” with Hershy Kay’s jazzy orchestrations pared down to 21 minutes from Mr. B’s original 40.

But because the orchestra is onstage behind the dancers, making the Marley floor long and narrow, there was no corps to abet the three women and three men in their series of solos and duets that would normally up the dazzle factor. Still, opening with a sensual “The Man I Love,” Sarah-Ashley Chicola and Evan Gorbell were well-paired, the former offering fine entrance bourrées and her counterpart secure in his mostly effortless but glitzy lifts.

Principal clarinet Boris Allakhverdyan gave oomph to his solo lines, the recently upgraded acoustics a boon to this already iconic venue. With “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise,” Chloe Oronoz looked as if she were straining somewhat, while Kate Inoue and Marcos Ramirez made the most out of “Embraceable You,” moving sensuously to the luscious sounds of the OG Gershwin, their partnership near swoon-worthy.

Chloe Oronoz and John Deckle in “Who Cares?“ by George Balanchine with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Photograph by Cheryl Mann

And while the architecture of the movement may not have fully been there (here’s where a corps would have helped), Mr. B’s ode to big city romance never fails to blend Americana and Broadway glamour, all the while capturing the sophistication and sentiment in such hummable tunes as the über-percussiveness of “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” which gave Chicola a chance to shine, her sheer vivacity on display.

Oronoz and John Dekle rendered their duet in terms of pure classicism, albeit one rooted in ballet’s academic steps in the title number, their chemistry notable; and Inoue, a standout in “My One and Only,” was positively hummingbird-like in her solo, her fouettés equally captivating. Gorbell gave his all to “Liza,” his fine leaps and entrechats accentuated by the marvelous Alan Steinberger pulling out all the stops on piano. The full cast then ignited the glorious stage in the ebullient finale, “I Got Rhythm,” their percussive steps a cadenced fever dream.

While Karinska designed the work’s original costumes (bright jewel tones, soft pastels and evening-wear references), Chloée O’Hayon-Crosby modernized the garb with body-hugging bodices and short skirts, with the men in loose white shirts and black trousers, a neo-Fred Astaire look.

After intermission, Prieto led the band in Four Dance Episodes from Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo,” which was buoyant and great fun, but would have been even better had the dancers of LAB performed excerpts from Agnes de Mille’s 1942 cowboy-themed ballet. After all, this ode to the American West was said to have had 22 curtain calls at its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House and could have provided another calling card for our local ballet troupe.

Los Angeles Ballet in “Kauyumari” by Melissa Barak with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Photograph by Cheryl Mann

Prieto then served up José Pablo Moncayo’s 1941 classic, the nine-minute “Huapango.” Blending folkloric realism with instrumental artistry, this work served as a kind of amuse-bouche for Barak’s world premiere choreography, “Kauyumari.” Set to multi-Grammy Award winning Gabriela Ortiz’ work (composed in 2021 and commissioned by the LA Phil), the title means “Blue Deer,” and, according to the program notes, “represents a spiritual guide, one that is transformed through an extended pilgrimage aided by a hallucinogenic cactus called peyote.” One had no need for the actual drug that night, as Barak’s seven-minute dance, which featured the entire cast of twelve, served as its own kind of high.

With an offstage trumpet setting a mood of semi-sanctity, this guide through a Huichol melody was fiercely embodied in the dance. Whether entering leaping (think Yaqui Deer Dance) or featured in a static processional akin to “A Chorus Line”—but sans the confessions—the dancers packed a terpsichorean punch.

O’Hayon-Crosby’s brightly colored casual costumes—yellows, purples, reds; flowy dresses for the gals, sleeveless tank tops and pants for the guys—created a festive atmosphere, also helping to give the work a churning momentum that was contagious. Particularly sweet was the sight of two couples casually holding hands (Lilly Leech, Felipe Zapiola, Lilly Fife, Bryce Broedell), deploying unison demi-pliés, all the while adhering to the repetitious rhythms served up by the Phil.

A fiesty trio—Taylor Hugens, Fife and Paige Wilkey—all looking skyward, contributed to the orchestral bloom of brass, with the constantly roiling score lending itself well to the choreography. The sight of Hugens being lifted in quasi-aerodynamic fashion by Jacob Soltero, seemed otherworldly, the mystical aural journey imbuing the troupe with both passion and pizazz.

So, too, did three couples (Nick Sedano, Oronoz, Marco Biella, Hugens, Soltero and Wilkey) personified the metaphorical spice of the wind section, the men providing suitable anchors for their high-kicking gals.

Add Tyler Lambert-Perkins’ atmospheric lighting to the mix, and the Bowl was the place to be, with Los Angeles Ballet doing its city proud. Encore, please!

Victoria Looseleaf

Victoria Looseleaf is an award-winning, Los Angeles-based international arts journalist who covers music and dance festivals around the world. Among the many publications she has contributed to are the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Dance Magazine and KCET’s Artbound. In addition, she taught dance history at USC and Santa Monica College. Looseleaf’s novella-in-verse, Isn't It Rich? is available from Amazon, and and her latest book, Russ & Iggy’s Art Alphabet with illustrations by JT Steiny, was recently published by Red Sky Presents. Looseleaf can be reached through X, Facebook, Instagram and Linked In, as well as at her online arts magazine ArtNowLA.

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