Ballet Project OC (BPOC) is the creative brainchild of sisters, Ally and Emily Helman. Alongside a dance streaming venture, Ballet Project TV, the duo launched BPOC in 2019 within a larger mission to “change the opportunity landscape for company artists, choreographers, free-lance artists, [and] pre-professional dancers.”
BPOC’s July 2 performance at the Irvine Barclay Theatre in Irvine, California was part of their multi-city tour which continues into August 2022. The tour features a cast of 20 dancers performing five original company works choreographed by Ally Helman (Former NYCB Artist and Founder of BPOC), Christina Ghiardi (Artist at Nevada Ballet Theatre and BPOC Resident Choreographer), Anthony Cannerella & Isabella Velasquez (Sacramento Ballet Artists and Choreography Team), and Mate Szentes (Principal Dancer – American Contemporary Ballet and Freelance Choreographer). Also included on the program was an excerpt of Balanchine’s “The Four Temperaments,” and a “new work by former New York City Ballet artist and Dean of Dance at The Colburn School, Silas Farley.
Ballet Project OC – Tribe Choreography by Ally Helman – Photo by Jack Hartin Photography
I have to be honest: BPOC’s July 2nd showing at the Irvine Barclay Theater failed to meet this company’s potential. The dissonance between this incredible roster of dancers and the absence of a presentational gestalt was disruptive—often taking me (and others) out of the experience I know these artists worked hard to create.
BPOC has assembled an unequivocally phenomenal cohort of dancers. But great dance works (and by extension, concerts) are made of more than just great dancers. They possess a psychology that weaves the presentation on stage together by an internal logic. And despite the beauty and evident acumen of BPOC’s dancers, this cohesion is where it fell short.
Though it seemed like multiple things missed the mark in the evening’s performance, there, in reality, was only one thing that expressed itself in various ways, like a leak in a house whose single source of water wreaks havoc in different parts of the house.
Ballet Project OC – Here to There Choreography by Ally Helman – (L-R) Mate Szentes, Rachel Hutsell – Photo by Jack Hartin Photography
This one thing: Why? Throughout the night, I found myself tripping again and again over unanswered why’s that had been left unaddressed in the choreography or production. Why is every dance placed center stage and facing front? Why did that dancer move to stage right? Why did the male dancer leave? Why was he even in this piece in the first place? My why questions were as granular as asking why are they touching?, and as overarching as asking why did they choose to substitute program notes with these rambling, much-too-long videos before every piece that borderline make the dance unnecessary to watch?
As a choreographer myself, I know the ease and peril of leaving these ‘why’ questions unanswered. When a dance maker leaves the why’s of their work unaddressed in the choreography or production, the seamlessness that allows viewers to relax into that immersive experience and get lost in the work never fully materializes. Instead, seams are exposed. Movement falls flat or fails to connect because the intentionality and spirit driving it is absent. Elements and choices seem disruptively random, pulling you out of the flow of the work as things that feel out of place interrupt your attention.
Ballet Project OC – Here to There Choreography by Ally Helman – (L-R) Rachel Hutsell, Mate Szentes – Photo by Jack Hartin Photography
Despite my dismay at tripping over all the unanswered why’s and struggling to truly connect with the work the way I’d hoped, this is absolutely a company to watch. There are great things happening here. I’ve already spoken to how beautiful the dancers are. However, two standouts were Cara Hansvick and Alberto Andrade, whose commitment to performance beyond well-executed steps foreshadows the kind of work and artistry that will make this company shine as brightly as it obviously should. The Helman sisters have built a great creative project and are making bold, solid moves to advance the company forward in its mission to expand opportunity for all seated at the dance making table.
The one thing that will be critical to BPOC’s ambition to bring high caliber dance works to Orange County is to make sure they are attending to detail at the level that produces high caliber work. For this, they must apply the same discipline we all had to for that one teacher who would not accept our paper if it had any mistakes in it. We had to proofread the paper, combing through to make sure the punctuation was correct; the sentences, paragraphs, and sections flowed together; and the ideas were complete and coherent. In choreography, this is done by answering the why’s of every entrance and exit, touch between dancers, facing, direction of focus, and bend and extension of the body.
Answered why’s create seamlessness, imbue movement with spirit and intention, and give elements and choices a purpose that gives way to the transcendent dance experience. I look forward to seeing BPOC as it finds its grounding more and more in this place and practice.
To learn more about Ballet Project OC and Ballet Project TV, please visit their website.
To find out more about the Irvine Barclay Theatre, please visit their website.
Written by Marlita Hill for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Ballet Project OC – “Rubric” – Choreography by Anthony Cannarella & Isabella Velasquez- Photo by Jack Hartin Photography
