Going for Optical Symmetry – LA Dance Project Brings All of Benjamin Millepied’s “Gems”

Australia hosted the world premiere. New York gets a look next Spring, and SoCal has the U.S. premiere next week as LA Dance Project brings Benjamin Millepied’s triptych Gems to Beverly Hills’ Wallis Center for the Performing Arts. Performances run October 23-25 (LA Dance Project – Gems). Comprised of three ballets that Millepied created over several years that have been presented separately, Gems presents the trio as originally intended in a single program acknowledging George Balanchine’s Jewels (1967) and Van Cleef & Arpels, the jeweler that inspired Balanchine and a major LADP sponsor.

 
Despite his career as a principal dancer with New York City Ballet, directing the Paris Opera Ballet, and establishing LA as the base for his LA Dance Project, to the general public, Millepied is known for his film choreography (Black Swan and the ‘sandwalk’ in Dune), and his marriage with Black Swan star Natalie Portman. Gems reinforces Millepied’s commitment to his choreography and LA Dance Project.

Gems returns to LA with strong reviews from Australia’s Brisbane Dance Festival and vivid descriptions of LADP’s dancers in the three ballets-Reflections, Hearts & Arrows, and On the Other Side. Despite their unanimous praise, reviewers were divided as to which of the three ballets was strongest.

The Guardian’s Dee Jefferson found that with the ballets presented in chronological order, it was “impossible not to read them as a progression through Millepied’s choreographic development – made more interesting by the fact the final work in the trilogy, 2016’s On the Other Side, got an overhaul ahead of its Brisbane showing.”

Jefferson favored the first work Reflections (2013) with music by David Lang and Barbara Kruger’s red-drenched backdrop and floor, elements referencing the  Rubies section of Balanchine’s Jewels. She found it “the most flawless of the evening’s works, a showcase for the dancers’ superb technique. The duets are masterclasses in silken independence. A solo by Shu Kinouchi is stunning, his supple control and springy athleticism drawing a huff of appreciation from the audience. The piece’s variegated movement keeps it constantly – delightfully – surprising, along with playful interactions that feel intuitive and off-the-cuff. The influence of Jerome Robbins, godfather of contemporary American ballet and Millepied’s mentor, shows. The blend of balletic lyricism and playful, jazzy movement often feels like a genuine interaction between people, witnessed by chance, rather than a deliberate choreography performed to the audience.”

The second ballet, Hearts & Arrows, with music by Philip Glass and inspired by the Diamonds section of Balanchine’s Jewels, was preferred by Caitlin Halmarick writing for Australian Dance:

“The curtain opened to a set of old theatre lights, embracing an industrial aesthetic. The choreography was reminiscent of a work that New York City Ballet might present, with bright energy that sparkled like a diamond. Short divertissements were divided by blackouts, each one increasing the sharpness of its movement until the legs and smother were flown out and the entire stage was revealed, a la In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, and formations took on the shape of an exquisitely cut diamond.”

Note: The title Heats & Arrows refers to a 1980’s Japanese developed diamond cut designed to maximize perfect optical symmetry.

The third ballet, On the Other Side, with Mark Bradford’s multi-colored splashed backdrop and more Philip Glass music, doesn’t directly reference Balanchine’s Emeralds ballet from Jewels, yet it was the one that found favor with The Scoop’s Sarah Skubala.

“Perhaps the longest work of the three, but my personal favourite overall. The choreography, featuring solos, duets and trios, was at its strongest here. None more so than in the show stopping duet between Robert Hoffer and Tom Muilbaud. Still a rarity in dance, the duet, featuring two male dancers, was beautifully executed. Technically outstanding, the pair drew us in with their sensuality and visually mesmerising movement.”

Taking a more inclusive view, Michelle Potter, writing for On Dancing, observed “The true highlight of Gems, however, was the exceptional dancing of all eight dancers throughout the three sections. There was quite a bit of ‘grounded’ work, which was something that Balanchine avoided but which is commonplace in contemporary dance. But what stood out was the way the bodies of all eight dancers were managed by Millepied in ways that did to a certain extent recall a Balanchine choreographic mode, but that had been manipulated in quite complex ways to create a new, contemporary look.”

Prior to the Brisbane performances, LADP hosted several rehearsals as Millepied polished his choreography and did some serious reworking of On the Other Side. 

Working with recorded music for the rehearsal, Millepied ran a section where a tight dancer cluster swept across LADP’s voluminous studio like waves, skimming and swirling, with couples intermittently revealed for a separate moment of dance then replaced as they exited by new couple who emerged from what would be the wings onstage. Each couple had distinct movements, a leitmotif reflecting different textures in the music, that were recalled periodically in later choreography.

After the initial run through, Millepied singled out sections for notes. During a  section where the group surrounds a single dancer, Millepied’s instructed the group to “dance with your eyes.” Repeating the section, the dancers’ unified focus followed the single dancer bringing with them the audience’s focus.

In giving notes, Millepied repeatedly attended to achieving seamless transitions as the group spit out the couples who established their movement identity then were absorbed back into the unified whole.

Speaking to the invited audience,  Millepied explained that he returned to On the Other Side because “The first version was not as light as the qualities I now hear in the music.”

Later, LADP’s associate director Sébastien Marcovici talked with dance writer Ann Haskins about the evolution of On the Other Side from an earlier, more balletic original in 2004. In that version, Marcovici danced with his wife Janie Taylor when they and Millepied were all principal dancers with New York City Ballet and the choreographer put together an off-season touring company.

“The first time Benjamin choreographed to those Philip Glass etudes was in 2004 and on ballet dancers. It was on pointe and was different. When he redid it for LA Dance Project in 2016, he kept some things–one of the duets and some other little parts–but he created much that was new,” Marcovici explained. “When we started thinking of putting this program together, he mostly talked about On the Other Side and how he wanted to revisit it. I think he also was listening to the music a little bit differently than he did that the first time that he choreographed it. He rechoreographed the opening; he took some dances out, and made new ones. He did remake it lighter, to what he feels is now, really now.”

While the three works were created and have been presented separately, from their inception Van Cleef and Arpels encouraged Millepied to create three works that would stand alone, but also be presented together, providing a contemporary reference and perspective on Balanchine’s Jewels . 

“With the reworking of On the Other Side, it seemed the right time to bring the three together in one great program and to acknowledge the support and impetus from Van Cleef and Arpels,” Marcovici said. “What Benjamin said when he first redid it in 2016 was it felt closer to his emotion at that time. So I feel this is also why he wanted to change or reshape some of the things to how he feels presently. It is choreographed with more emotion from Benjamin. Once again, the choreography speaks for itself. Everything is embedded. I tell dancers to do the choreography and let yourself just be inspired by it and the music. Obviously, the music is everything for Benjamin, and then we go from there.”

The dancers are Courtney Conovan, Daphne Fernberger, Robert Hoffer, Shu Kinouchi, Clay Koonar, Audrey Sides, Hope Spears, and Noah Wang.

LA Dance Project – Gems (Reflections, Hearts & Arrows, and On the Other Side) at The Wallis Center for the Performing Arts, 390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills; Thurs.-Sat., Oct. 23-25. 7:30 pm, $42.90-$108.90. LA Dance Project – Gems

Also at Perelman Performing Arts Center, 251 Fulton Street, New York, NY 10007; Sat., Feb. 21, 8 pm, Sun., Feb. 22, 3 pm, $54-$114. LA Dance Project in New York

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Featured image: LA Dance Project – Photo by Jade Ellis

Written by Ann Haskins for LA Dance Chronicle