Chicago Tribune: This season, it seems as though there is no challenge the Joffrey Ballet can’t meet. Last fall, “Orphee et Eurydice” marked the company’s first collaboration with the Lyric Opera. Stunning performances of Lola de Avila’s staging of “Giselle” came a few weeks later, with a full month of “Nutcracker” performances a few weeks after that. It’s as though artistic director Ashley Wheater has figured out that his team thrives when it refuses to get comfortable. And while the repertoire presented in Joffrey’s winter contemporary program is more in the wheelhouse of Chicago’s premier ballet company, “Modern Masters” is anything but safe.
2 comments:
How cool! I am so happy to hear about this ballet show, and really wish that I had the chance to see it in person! Growing up, I did a lot of ballet, and can really understand not only how difficult it can be to be a ballet dancer period, but also how difficult it can be to begin to cross ballet and modernity or ballet and other performance art forms. The work that the Joffrey Ballet Company is doing seems to really encompass ballet's launch into a more modern place in the world, and I think that a show that goes through the evolution of the dance form is a great way to do so. As the article says, "It’s as though artistic director Ashley Wheater has figured out that his team thrives when it refuses to get comfortable,". I think that this idea is true for any artist! It is important to feel at least a little uncomfortable with the materials that you are using, the people that you are working with, or the material that your art speaks to, because that is the only way to make sure your work doesn't get stuck in time. I hope to see a Joffrey show sometime soon and hope that everyone keeps in mind to keep making forward-looking art!
Combining traditional ballet and more modern ballet and dance is something that I think is so cool. Taking the skill and techniques that were originated by the original masters and combining them with the unique styles of modern maters like Graham is something that makes dancers and audiences realize the importance of the history of the art form. The most interesting this about this article was the piece that it talked about at the end, “Body of Your Dreams”. The pressure to fit into a certain body type in the dance world is very high. So to see a dance piece form an esteemed and very competitive and elite company like Joffrey, that discusses this issue that they face in their industry and in their company constantly is a good thing to see. I think it is important that we talk about these issues instead of brushing them under the rug and pretending like they don’t happen even though everyone knows that they are there.
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