In 1969, Arthur Mitchell, the first African American principal dancer in a major ballet company (the world-renowned New York City Ballet), and then-Ballet Master of the Dutch National Ballet Karel Shook formed Dance Theatre of Harlem, a Black ballet company. As fate would of course have it, the company made its debut at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 1970, at the invitation of Pillow founder and director Ted Shawn, who was celebrated for bringing both innovative and diverse dance from all over the world to the Berkshire hills. The company, which is performing in the Ted Shawn Theatre this week, also had its 50th anniversary celebration at the Pillow in 2019, so the Pillow connection remains strong.
Given the shocking historical paucity of Black professional ballet dancers in the world, Mitchell’s founding credo for his dancers was “You represent something larger than yourself.” The company comes to the Pillow this week under its new artistic director: former company principal dancer Robert L. Garland. The program the company is presenting at the Pillow is eclectic, and it is abundantly clear that Garland still wants the company to represent something larger than itself, in the most expansive and inclusive way possible.
Garland, who is also the company’s resident choreographer, opened the program with his 2022 work “Higher Ground,” set to the music of Stevie Wonder, and Wonder with collaborators. To this viewer, Garland, who is completely steeped in the history of ballet, of the company, and of his predecessors Mitchell and Virginia Johnson, seems to be trying to create some kind of new theatrical performance experience for ballet in this piece. There were many times during “Higher Ground” where one expected the ballet to turn this way or that, in conformity with well-settled dramatic and theatrical conventions for ballet pieces. Likewise with the movement vocabulary. One expected a movement motif or a figure to develop in a certain way, to then expand, or change, or conclude in a certain way, consistent with recognized balletic patterning. To his credit, Garland ultimately didn’t appear to succumb to any of these choreographic or theatrical customs. He held his own ground; perhaps his higher ground. Ultimately, for this viewer, Garland did not entirely succeed with this piece. One very much hopes he does in the future.
Robert Bandara’s new work “Take Me with You,” with music by Radiohead, followed “Higher Ground,” both literally and figuratively. The piece opened starkly, to the clapping of dancer Alexandra Hutchison, and the austere duet was well danced by Hutchison and Keenan English. Again, the work was curious and did not necessarily follow theatrical dance conventions. It ended abruptly and mysteriously, leaving one wanting more.
The company then performed George Balanchine’s well-known ballet “Allegro Brilliante,” set to music by Tchaikovsky. Balanchine described “Allegro Brilliante” as “everything I know about classical ballet in 13 minutes.” While that description is of course tongue-in-cheek, in a certain sense it is not far off the mark. “Allegro Brilliante” is a difficult piece to dance well; a dancer must be completely immersed in Balanchine’s technique, so that the difficult and speedy steps can be executed cleanly, securely, and with unbridled self-assurance. The performance of the piece last Thursday by the company was a little unsteady and sometimes uneven.
Nonetheless, inclusion of “Allegro Brilliante” in the program, while ambitious, made complete sense because of the clear connections that were present. In the first place, Balanchine, unquestionably a giant among 20th-century ballet choreographers and teachers and a co-founder of the New York City Ballet, represents a key component of the artistic pedigree from which Mitchell and Dance Theatre of Harlem descend.
Moreover, to this viewer, there were even more elementary artistic connections between “Allegro Brilliante” and Garland’s “Higher Ground.” As in “Higher Ground,” “Allegro Brilliante” pushes somewhat the theatrical and dramatic conventions of ballet. Within both pieces, ballet conventions for beginnings and endings, and entrances and exits, are stretched, as are conventional ballet movement principles. Thus, an artistic thread perhaps endures, wonderfully.
The program closed with William Forsythe’s “Blake Works IV (The Barre Project),” set to the wondrous music of James Blake. Forsythe’s movement in this piece is—as it often is in his pieces—energetic, athletic, musical, non-stop, and relentless. It was wholly within these dancers’ wheelhouse, and they performed it with go-for-broke power and presence, as well as subtlety and finesse. One does not regularly see those contrasting qualities onstage at the same time during a ballet performance, and it was all-consuming and exhilarating to watch.
Dance Theatre of Harlem performed at Jacob’s Pillow through Sunday, August 25, and closed the festival for 2024. One cannot help but wait with bated breath to see what Jacob’s Pillow will have for us in 2025.
