Guest Article: CREATIVE FORCES-A Vibrant, Energetic Season Opener for NJ Ballet

We welcome this guest review by Elizabeth Blosfield. She is the deputy editor of a national trade magazine covering the financial services industry and a creative writer, with work published in UP Magazine, Thought Catalog, Reapparition Journal, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. Having studied ballet since she was three years old, Elizabeth is also a ballet instructor and the creator and host of The Adult Ballet Studio, a People's Choice Podcast Awards nominated podcast featuring interviews with adults who have returned to ballet or discovered it later in life as well as anyone working to make ballet inclusive for all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.

New Jersey Ballet opened its 2024/2025 season on Friday, November 8, with "Creative Forces" at Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) in Morristown, New Jersey.

The program featured three works from choreographers Jerome Robbins, Justin Peck, and Lauren Lovette. New Jersey Ballet Artistic Director Maria Kowroski, who is a former principal dancer with New York City Ballet, said this marks an important step forward for the company in bringing contemporary and classical works to regional audiences who may be experiencing them for the first time.

“I think it's important to bring a little bit of old, a little bit of new, and to keep people excited about ballet because I think our art form needs all the support that we can get,” she said. “I really want to make sure that anyone who comes to the ballet will leave feeling something from one of the pieces.”

The night began with Peck’s Murder Ballades. Peck is currently New York City Ballet’s resident choreographer and is known for bringing modern themes to classical ballet with his choreography, providing audiences with new approaches to ballet storytelling. He also recently conceived, directed and choreographed the 2024 Tony award-winning Broadway production of Illinoise.

Set to a score by Bryce Dessner and originally commissioned by the L.A. Dance Project for a world premiere in 2013, Murder Ballades pushed the boundaries of narrative ballet with its playful and innovative movement and costuming. Featuring a cast of dancers wearing sneakers and socks, this 20-minute work alternated between jubilant and somber tones. Despite its dark title, it left the audience with a sense of joy. The choreography was set against a vibrant backdrop by artist Sterling Ruby that echoed the complex emotions of the piece. Kowroski said that although NJB has performed this work before, it will remain in the company’s repertoire for the remainder of the year for audiences to enjoy.

“I wanted [our dancers] to experience his style, and it's a sneaker ballet, so they had to learn how to move like that,” she said. “I think that it was challenging at first, but just to kind of see the company embrace this new style has been really wonderful. I'm excited for the audience to see them really take it on.”

Juxtaposed with Peck’s more contemporary work was Robbins’ classical piece, In the Night. Robbins served as a choreographer and director for both stage and screen and as New York City Ballet’s associate artistic director for several decades, creating numerous ballets for the company. Set to Chopin’s Nocturnes, In the Night was the only piece of the evening performed to live accompaniment, featuring a piano on stage played by Barry Spatz.

“I knew In the Night was something I always wanted to do, because it's a beautiful ballet,” Kowroski said. “It's live music, which was very, very important to me. I wish we had live music all the time. I want to incorporate it into more and more of our performances.”

(Maria Kowroski, photo by John Emerson)

The piece was an exploration of three romantic relationships and their individual moments of connection, heartbreak, and passion. With lighting and a simple stage design that depicted the last light of dusk, the couples wove through the drama and sweetness of three distinctly different love stories. This work holds special meaning for Kowroski, as she has experienced it both as a dancer during her time with New York City Ballet and now as an artistic director bringing it to the stage in New Jersey.

“I fortunately performed it quite a number of times and got to really dive into it and dance with many different people as well, and I wanted these dancers to experience that,” she said. “To be on the other side of it now - it’s very strange. Yesterday, we had our tech rehearsal, and I'm watching it, and I had so many memories. It just came flooding back to me, you know, the people that were on stage with me and how special it was. I'm just so happy that these dancers get to experience that because it is a very special piece…those are moments you just don't forget on stage as a performer.”

The evening’s program concluded with Lovette’s thought-provoking and energizing work, Not Our Fate. A former principal dancer with New York City Ballet, Lovette originally choreographed Not Our Fate for NYCB’s 2017 Fashion Gala. It was a poignant ensemble piece in which dancers were costumed in black and white Oscar de la Renta and Monse. The piece’s music - Prospero’s Book by Michael Lyman - accompanied the powerful emotional and sometimes frenetic energy of the choreography, which explored themes of individuality and identity. The dancers’ struggles to find their own place within the group and to pursue moments of connection amidst a sense of uncertainty was felt in their movements as Lovette used ballet to address these modern social challenges.

“Lauren Lovette's piece - we’ve done it a number of times with the company, and she has come out to help and kind of change it and mold it to our dancers,” Kowroski said. “The last time we performed it, she said, ‘You know, Maria, this is your ballet now. This is your company's ballet.’ Every time we've done it, I've seen the dancers grow and push themselves into a whole other level of artistry, so I thought it would be exciting to book in that at the end of the program for the audience to see.”

New Jersey Ballet will also be performing Creative Forces at Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, on Saturday, November 16 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The program will feature Robbins’ In the Night, Peck’s Murder Ballades, and Peter Martins’ Hallelujah Junction.

The company has a busy season ahead with many ballets returning to its repertoire, including works such as Swan Lake Act II and Serenade, alongside new programs such as Legacy & Vision, featuring Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs and a world premiere by former New York City Ballet principal dancer Harrison Ball.

“We have a very exciting spring season after we do our Nutcracker, and I think it’s a good time for New Jersey Ballet,” Kowroski said. “I hope people can come out and support us and attend as many performances as possible because the dancers are working hard.”

To learn more about the New Jersey Ballet Company and their upcoming season, please visit HERE.

Photo Credit: Lead Production Photo by Vam Productions 
 

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