For all these reasons, it was heartening to see support for Ballet22 growing with this, approximately its 10th program (the counting gets tricky what with a few touring performances and galas). The audience for “Momentum” seemed unconcerned about the recent departure of Ballet22 co-founder and star dancer Roberto Vega Ortiz, who left earlier this year to pursue other performance opportunities, or the absence of Carlos Hopuy, a National Ballet of Cuba-trained mainstay with similarly sterling turnout, foot-strength, and partnering finesse. Despite these losses, Ballet22 appeared to be moving forward with gathering speed.
Two star appearances especially helped. Boston Ballet second soloist Daniel R. Durrett danced the “Lullaby Solo” from William Forsythe’s “Blake Works III,” which was created on a female dancer, Tiler Peck. Durrett was fabulous in it, stretching into swift, high arabesques with an entrancingly pliant back, traversing the length of a barre with sweeping phrases and pausing with syncopated precision in retiré. Notably, the solo is not en pointe.
The other star of the night was Ashton Edwards, a corps member at Pacific Northwest Ballet, where they dance roles traditionally assigned to women. Edwards is petite and compact, which must help with speed, and has rock-solid pirouettes that especially impressed in the first Shade variation from the third act of “La Bayadére.” (This staging of the traditional Petipa choreography presented just the three Shades’ variations.) Edwards was also at the center of Eichinger’s new “Intimité,” to movements from two Chopin concerti that channeled the music’s lyricism into swift, spinning pods of group partnering that, in a few instances, needed a bit more rehearsing. The vocabulary seemed freshest when the two main couples paused, one dancer lying on the floor, the other balanced on pointe between the lover’s knees.
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