American Ballet Theatre: Innovation Past and Present

David H. Koch Theater, New York City
October 16, 2024

American Ballet Theatre opened its fall season with two world premieres. They could hardly have been more different, choreographically and musically. Best of the pair, and by some way the most interesting, was in-demand choreographer Kyle Abrahams’ Mercurial Son, his first commission for the company.

Abraham is known for using unconventional music, although calling Grischa Lichtenberger’s soundscape ‘music’ is probably stretching things a bit far. It would be fair to say that her mix of splintered buzzes, screeches, thuds and industrial chords that sound like they’ve been put through a mangle is not the sort of thing you would want to listen to in isolation. As an accompaniment for dance, and certainly for this dance, it works a treat, however.

Full of complex rhythms, Abrahams’ choreography is as unpredictable as the soundscape. Dancers often enter by simply walking on. But it’s always done with such purpose. Then, as they hit their mark, they explode into action, before they just as determinedly exit again.

The movement itself is a mix of precise classical positions with freer dance. Torsos in particular often move with a liquid, viscous quality. Among the three men, Andrew Robare stood out. One solo in particular was a blur of fast footwork and lightning fast turns.

Dan Scully’s lighting is often dark but focused, helping draw the eye to the movement. Some of Karen Young’s costumes are stunning, notably the short, tight black dresses worn by the super Sierra Armstrong and Ingrid Thoms, Catherine Hurlin’s fabulous burnished leotard and Cassandra Trenary’s unitard. Those for the men are another story. Their lightweight, floaty tops in particular have a hint of Puck about them, but do look like they’re pieces of left-over material thrown together, and do them few favours.

For the most part, Mercurial Son carries no obvious narrative or meaning, but there is a hint of it in the final few minutes that sees the gold-clad Jospeh Markey twitch, stutter and fall, before walking off in a slow-motion, weighed down manner as the curtain falls.

Mercurial Son has lots to see and lots to like, and is a ballet I suspect might reveal more with subsequent viewings.

The evening opened with Gemma Bond’s La Boutique, set on 26 dancers to Ottorino Respighi’s orchestration of Gioachino Rossini’s La Boutique Fantasque. Unlike Leonid Massine’s one-act ballet, Bond’s is plotless. But it is a shop window of steps; a tutu ballet that puts traditional technique at the forefront.

It opens with three couples led by Devon Teuscher and Aran Bell. It’s politely restrained and nicely unpretentious. Thereafter it’s high on intricate and ever-changing patterns as Bond packs the steps in. There are a lot of entrances and exits, but groups come and go with ease. The stage does sometimes feel crowded, although the ensemble only appears as a whole towards the end.

In terms of movement, Bond is big on épaulement but combines that with a repeated motif of a single straight arm circling at speed to finish overhead. There’s an odd looking juddering opening of arms from first position too.

Of the other lead couples, Skylar Brandt and Carlos Gonzalez were brighter, but only Sunmi Park and Cory Stearns hinted at much underlying the steps. Maybe it just needs time to bed in.

Surprisingly, Jean-Marc Puissant’s costumes do not entirely hit the mark. His black tutus, underlaid with white, look great, even against a dark floor, but the white bodices with colour geometric lines do clash with them and the background. Clifton Taylor’s high-saturation coloured lighting does not help. The men’s tops bear similar designs

A few doubts maybe, but La Boutique made for a fine opener. Easy on the eye and the ear, it has a showpiece feel and would be an equally good closing ballet. It will please many, but it doesn’t have the same excitement and interest of Abrahams’ creation.

Innovation Past and Present closes with a look back, and revisiting of Harald Lander’s 1948 ballet, Études. To music by Carl Czerny (adapted and Orchestrated by Knudåge Riisager), it’s a journey from classroom through Romanticism to classical virtuosity.

The opening scenes at the barre are ponderous and dull. But when it finally lets go, the ballet starts to move. The Romantic section may not excite but it at least pleases. Get past that though and it’s firework time as the dancers fly and leap across the stage.

Isaac Hernández may have looked a tad nervous but his allegro and batterie was top drawer. He’s an excellent partner too, allowing the sparkling Catherine Hurlin to show off to the full. Top marks here too for Ormsby Wilkins’ spirited conducting of the orchestra. Jake Roxander thrilled, dancing with great power and precision, although he didn’t quite nail those pirouette-double tours in the finale. They will come.