In many ways contemporary ballet is a wide-open frontier, brimming with possibilities. But with so many options, the work it generates can tend toward the generic — even when there is an obvious concept at play. On Wednesday at the Joyce Theater, that was the case with the program by BalletX, a Philadelphia company dedicated to presenting new work. Yes, there are premieres, but do they push the form? Are they built to last? No and no.
BalletX, formed in 2005 and led by Christine Cox, brought three New York premieres to the Joyce with disparate premises. One explored the healing power of relationships; another was a celebration of queer culture; and the third was a look at the resilience of Japanese people after World War II. Instead of a well-rounded, complex dance experience, the choreography and the impetuses behind it just felt random.
In Jodie Gates’s “Beautiful Once” (2017), set to music by Ryan Lott, a community is built through relationships. It begins with a woman stepping into a small spotlight that grows to fill the stage. Duets take over as dancers leap and spin, curling from side to side and lifted into the air like skaters.
The idea — that relationships provide the fuel for survival — is clear enough, yet the work’s choreographic sameness wears thin. At least the dancers have material to display their technique and expansiveness, especially in their upper bodies. But the piece slides into sentimental territory when lyrics are heard: “Weren’t we beautiful once?”
The dancers, illuminated in a rectangle of light, line up and two by two they embrace, warmly, before retreating to the back. It’s like a conveyor belt of hugs. In the final second, after most of the dancers leave, one couple remains and — no surprise — falls into each other’s arms.
The program was arranged strangely. The centerpiece, “Macaroni” (2024) by Loughlan Prior, would have made more sense as a closer — not because it was a slam dunk, but because it featured a curtain call that felt like a party.
Prior, who is a choreographer in residence at the Royal New Zealand Ballet, focuses on macaronis, foppish figures in 18th-century Britain known for extreme fashion. They were referred to in the familiar song “Yankee Doodle”: “Yankee Doodle went to town/a-riding on a pony/stuck a feather in his cap/and called it macaroni.” Here, Prior wants to reclaim the macaroni as a part of queer history.
Feathers play a part in “Macaroni,” which features costumes in citron green. Dancers preen and prance in Emma Kingsbury’s designs: wig-like headpieces and unitards, which are embellished with black-and-white cartoon depictions of macaroni figures.
Claire Cowan’s jaunty score incorporates the “Yankee Doodle” song as well as text that the dancers lip sync with over-the-top flamboyance. As far as the movement is concerned, exaggeration is everything from flexed wrists to dainty relevé steps. In one moment, a badminton game erupts in which one dancer is the birdie — hopping from one player to the other. In another, a tea party occurs. Neither are all that amusing in “Macaroni,” which is more of a pageant than a dance.
The evening’s actual closer, “Heroes” (2019) by Takehiro Ueyama, was created in homage to Japanese people who helped rebuild the country after World War II. There is a hodgepodge of choreographic influences — perhaps Ohad Naharin’s chair dance set to “Echad Mi Yodea” and Nijinsky’s sacrificial virgin among them. As a former member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Ueyama doesn’t shy away from athleticism: His heroes are grounded and forthright, especially when they cross the stage as a forceful pack.
But “Heroes” begins somberly with a couple in red who circle each other while pressing their heads together, as a score by Kato Hideki (percussion) and Ana Milosavljevic (violin) is performed live. Gradually they become more physical as a swooping momentum overtakes them. That dissipates when they turn their attention to a pair of red blazers that hang behind them. They put the jackets on.
In the next movement, featuring John Adams’s “The Chairman Dances,” all the dancers wear those blazers, and head-to-toe red. Sitting in chairs, they thrash their arms; a frenzied woman fights for equilibrium as she kicks a knee, arches back and collapses forward. While walking along a row of chairs, now placed vertically, the dancers raise their arms like subway-riding straphangers. The work is intended to show how a generation contributed to the success of Japan, but the choreographic connection to that seems nebulous. “Heroes” — just like the program itself — is all over the map.
BalletX
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