Let the Dancers Speak

Ballet West’s Works from Within program gave company dancers a chance to speak. This year’s edition featured five works: Katlyn Addison’s “Andromeda,” Nicole Fannéy’s “Lingering Echoes,” Jazz Khai Bynum’s “With Feeling,” Vinicius Lima’s “Elis,” and Emily Adams’ “Mass Hysterical.”

Performance

Ballet West: Works from Within

Place

Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Salt Lake City, UT

Words

Sophie Bress

Ballet West in “Lingering Echoes” by Nicole Fannéy. Photograph by Ross Richey

The evening opened with Addison’s “Andromeda,” a ballet-based retelling of the classic Greek myth. Addison’s neoclassical movement style and corresponding command over shape and pattern was made transcendent paired with the choral vocals and bold, dramatic shifts in Jonathan Sanford’s score. The two artists are frequent collaborators, and their creative chemistry shows. This ballet had everything needed to market to both new audiences (a recognizable and easy-to-follow storyline, beautiful costumes, lights, and dramatics) and to ballet lovers (a beloved up-and-coming choreographer, plus roles designed for two budding Ballet West stars, Nicole Fannéy and Loren Walton). “Andromeda” could have successfully been included on a mainstage triple bill.

Ballet West in “Andromeda” by Katlyn Addison. Photograph by Ross Richey

After the first intermission, the evening continued with three shorter works in quick succession. The first, Fannéy’s “Lingering Echoes,” was a dark, sensual creation for four couples. Fannéy’s choice to use a blend of familiar music, including Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and Vivaldi’s Cum Dederit, was a bold one, but it paid off. Her acrobatic choreography, which expertly defied many traditional partnering tropes, highlighted the music’s innate excitement, making it shine anew. Bynum’s “With Feeling,” conversely, explored jazz music through classical ballet vocabulary. The piece was promising, and the joy of the dancers (guest artists from Utah Valley University’s Repertory Ballet Ensemble) was palpable. Andy Sefcik, notable for both his attack and panache and the fact that he, the only male dancer in the work, joined the women on pointe, shone particularly brightly. “With Feeling” started on a high note but began to recycle ideas and linger on themes about three quarters of the way through.

Ballet West in “Elis” by Vinicius Lima. Photograph by Ross Richey

Lima’s “Elis” was inspired by Brazilian singer Elis Regina and had the improvised feeling of friends at a party. Lima’s friendship and familiarity with his colleagues lent itself well to a compelling aptitude for playing to each dancer’s strengths—Addison, who took on a sassy, playful demeanor for her all-too-brief solo moment, was a particular highlight.

After a second intermission, the evening closed with Adams’ “Mass Hysterical,” a chilling and occult abstraction on the themes of isolation and groupthink. The music, created by composer Katy Jarzebowski, aided this feeling with its rhythmic bone-cracking sounds and deep, sonorous notes.

“Mass Hysterical” was at its most compelling when it was somewhat unknowable. As the dancers twisted and turned about the stage, my brain followed their pathways, trying to figure out what to make of the display before me. As soon as the meaning landed, an ending felt imminent, and the audience erupted in applause. But the piece continued with two additional sections, a slow duet for Hadriel Diniz and Victoria Vassos, followed by a solo for Diniz.

Admittedly, this critic grew antsy towards the end of the evening's third work, which may have hindered my enjoyment of the final two. There’s a reason the triple bill is so popular—five works on one program is a lot, particularly when those offerings are as wide-ranging as the ones presented in Works from Within. Each of the evening’s works showed merit, but the overall structure didn’t provide sufficient room for the ballets to breathe—nor for the audience to let the art settle in their hearts and minds.

Sophie Bress

Sophie Bress is an arts and culture journalist and dance critic. She regularly contributes to Dance Magazine and Fjord Review, and has also written for the New York Times, NPR, Observer, Pointe, and more.

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