Interview: Lead Ballerina Tyler Donatelli Gives Us a Sneak Peek of Houston Ballet's Daring and Exciting DIVERGENCE Triple Bill

This past weekend and next weekend, Houston Ballet is presenting Divergence. Divergence is a triple bill program that includes Justin Peck’s second world premiere with Houston Ballet, Under the Folding Sky. This piece is inspired by the James Turrell Twilight Epiphany Skyspace at Rice University (the set design is even created by Rice alum Karl Jensen) and set to Philip Glass's opera "The Photographer". Also included in the program are two other works returning to the stage: Aszure Barton’s Angular Momentum and the namesake of the program, Stanton Welch's Divergence. Knowing the talent of the dancers with Houston Ballet and learning about the unique visions for each of these pieces, I have no doubt that Divergence will be an intriguing and moving performance.

As a sneak peek at the production, I had the chance to speak with Tyler Donatelli-- one of the leads for each piece within the Divergence triple bill-- and hearing about the program certainly excited me about what they were preparing! Through my conversation with Donatelli, I learned about what connected her to the Houston Ballet, how excited she was about the world premiere of Justin Peck’s Under the Folding Sky, and the cool technical effects that we can look forward to in this amazing program. 

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To start us off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? What is your history with dance and the Houston Ballet?

I am from Southern California, and I started dancing at the age of 3, like a lot of young ballerinas. Then, I just continued with it. I got a scholarship to go to Houston Ballet for the summer intensive, and then from there, I continued my relationship with them by going on a short-term stay. Then, I worked my way up into the company!

Do you have a favorite role and/or show that you have performed with the Houston Ballet?

Oh, gosh… that question is so hard! Well, my first full-length principal role was definitely a memorable one; it was Swanhilde in Coppelia. However, I also love Stanton’s Nutcracker. I have been Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy, and it is fun to come back every year and grow your performance more and more each year based on the previous year.

From my understanding, you are a lead ballerina for all three dances occurring in the Divergence triple bill. Can you tell us a bit about each dance, its vision/story, and your role within it? You can start with Angular Motion, then talk to us about Under the Folding Sky, and end with Divergence?

Angular Motion is a contemporary piece where we will all be in flat shoes. It’s a mix of women and men, and the piece has a feeling like we're a bit in outer space. We play with the idea of aliens and traveling to the moon. So, we are doing a lot of movement that is not traditional in contemporary dance or ballet. Everything is intricate and fast, and we utilize a lot of small movements that are really difficult to execute. Overall, I think the whole theme of the piece really comes across in the movement and the music. No one is defined as a character anything, but I am within the ensemble group the whole time, and I have a few moments of pas de deux, quartets, and quintets with women; the piece is just a big mix with the company!

Under the Folding Sky is the world premiere we have been working on with Justin Peck for a few weeks. It is an abstract piece set to Philip Glass music. There are the themes of repetition and then change over time. The piece actually starts with just me on stage, and then over time, we develop, divide, and create bigger movements. It starts very slow, and then it picks up speed. It gets more complicated as it goes, and it is going to be a real spectacle to see.  Justin has described the piece as a "single organism developing and multiplying into bigger and better organisms”. We have a great art installation on the stage while we are dancing, and it will also be changing over time. We are really putting hard work into this piece, and I'm really excited about it.

Divergence is a Houston Ballet classic; it is by our director Stanton Welch, and while it was created in 1994, I must say that it has really kept up with the times. It’s very modern and very edgy. We have had to really work hard and be in great shape to do these moves; the piece is very demanding, but it's really exciting. Think ballet technique to 150%! It has a more classical side to it in this realm of pieces. All of them are pretty abstract, though, so anyone can interpret their own stories out of each piece.

What is your favorite part of the show and/or what is your favorite role to play in this series of dances?

I'm really looking forward to Under the Folding Sky. I just feel like we've put a lot of intentional work into it, and I'm just really excited to perform something where I feel really true to myself.

Under the Folding Sky is a world premiere occurring at Houston Ballet. How has it been developing this piece? How is it working with Golden Globe-winning Justin Peck?

I think from day one, I could tell that Justin had a clear vision of what he wanted to depict. You can tell that he is really mathematical, and he can just step back and see patterns happening. You can just watch him watching us, deciding what needs to be tweaked. It was a collaborative process, but he gave us lots of great visuals, steps, and choreography to help bring out the best in us. It was a little bit of a back-and-forth in the studio. He would ask, “Can you do this?” and then I would do something, and he'd be like, “OK, I like that, but tweak this arm.” He worked with us, and we also worked with each other.

How big of a cast does this production have?

The cast size is really large. We have 30+ dancers on stage for Divergence and Angular Motion, and then we have 24 dancers for Under the Folding Sky. Each piece is a big ensemble piece, and I think it really shows the strength of our unity as a company.

What does a typical day of rehearsal look like for you for this production, which is a unique triple bill versus a full-length ballet production?

I must say that it has been very difficult because they're all such demanding pieces, but we usually have class in the morning, and then we've been rehearsing each piece for two hours. Switching between them can be difficult and exhausting, but I think that we are in the best shape that we have been in a really long time. During breaks, we are all going on our phones, watching the video, and listening to the music of the next piece to try and remember everything. Stamina training has increased for all of us; you can catch us in the gym, running on the treadmill at lunch or before class. Then, when we go home, we listen to the show's music more to make sure we're all together. We also keep up our maintenance just to keep our bodies healthy, like icing and all that good stuff.

What is it like performing three dances in a row that are completely different styles? Is there joy to this?

I think mixed reps are some of the most challenging shows you can do because you have to really transform in the intermission to the next mood of the piece. In Divergence, we're going to be classical and exerting a lot of energy, so that's great to start off with. Then, we have to change our minds, change our costumes, and take a second to think about how we are then in outer space in Angular Motion. We have to be more contemporary, so we do exercises that ground ourselves. Then, for Justin’s piece, we have to prepare ourselves to keep going, but the piece itself does look better when we are tired since we need to really melt into the movement. Each intermission really helps us transform to the needs of the next piece.

Is the order of the dances set intentionally with design difficulty or mood transitions?

I'm not 100% sure that the directors do the order on purpose, but I do think that they have the intention of putting our classical movement first, then maybe switching to a different mood (like in outer space), and then coming back to a somewhat similar mood that is also a finale. It has changed multiple times, so I think they are testing what would be best in rehearsals. Currently, the order is Divergence, Angular Motion, and then Under the Folding Sky, but it could change!

Are there any technical spectacles or design elements in this production that we can look forward to? For example, I see some fun, funky costumes in the show pictures on the Houston Ballet website.

The costumes and the lighting…really everything is fun! Divergence has these tutus that are insanely heavy, but they look so cool; they look like ribbon candy, but they're black. I'm not really sure what the materials are for those tutus, but they are so cool and one of the most intricate tutus I've ever seen. All of the women have different costumes in Divergence, so you’ll see a variety! In Angular Momentum, the women have these unitards, and the three men have these cool body suits that look like aliens. They have big shoulder pads, and they are golden and sparkly. Plus, there is a cage in the back that we come out of. Then, Justin’s piece has the art installation!

Additionally, the lighting throughout each piece is pretty spectacular. Divergence has red lighting in the background, and the red and black themes basically run throughout the piece to make an intense, driving feel along with the choreography.

I've actually never danced in a different color lighting before, but in Angular Momentum, there's a section with the women where the whole stage is a pink-red color, and I’ve never felt that sensation on stage. Everyone looks so pink and red. Then, in Justin’s piece, when the piece starts, there's a very bright light, and there is blackness around me, and then as we move, the light transforms with all of us and just gets brighter and bigger.

Is there anything else you would like to share about the Divergence triple bill?

This whole program has conditioned all of us dancers to be really mindful of each other and really supportive of each other. While it's also difficult and demanding, we're all finding closer relationships with each other because we have to work much harder together to make everything look in unison. These counts are complicated, and for some pieces, we are constantly talking with each other on the side. I really enjoy all of the hard work we are putting into these pieces together.

To finish us off here, when and where can we see this production?

You can see this production at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas starting on Thursday, May 25th, and then we'll do a Thursday show, a Saturday show, and a Sunday show. Then, the next weekend, we'll do a Friday show, a Saturday show, and a Sunday show.  The evening performances are 7:30 pm and the matinee shows are at 2:00 PM!

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If you are looking for a dance program like no other, look no further! This program is certainly going to be a fun one. You can buy your tickets here!

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