The purple curtains at IU’s Center for the Musical Arts reopened on Friday evening. Dancers jumped, twirled and swooped across the stage to the sound of violins and piano. For the first time in a year, applause rose from the MAC seats.
IU Jacobs School of Music’s fall ballet, “A Leap Forward,” premiered Friday. The ballet brought together four pieces of choreography in styles ranging from neoclassical to modern pas de deux.
“We always try to parallel the work we do with working in the professional dance world,” said Sarah Wroth, chair of Jacobs’ ballet department.
The first piece, titled “In Creases”, premiered in 2012 at New York City Ballet and was choreographed by Justin Peck. Dressed in white, the dancers moved in and out in clean lines, each one’s arms simultaneously creating a different formation. The piece was dynamic and energetic as the dancers responded to each other’s movements as if connected.
Wroth also mastered ballet for “In Creases,” meaning she rehearsed the piece. A former student of IU Ballet, she said she was inspired by how director Michael Breeden, who taught choreography for the Peck dancers, maintained a positive atmosphere in the studio.
“In the studio with ‘In Creases,’ I got to see so many dancers who needed encouragement pushed in such a beautiful way, and they just triumphed,” Wroth said. “Everyone who worked on this ballet grew up.”
She said the dancers had become more aware of the quality of their movements, transforming “In Creases” from a bold contemporary to the neoclassical piece it was meant to be.
The second piece, “Chaconne”, was originally choreographed by Sasha Janes, associate teacher at Jacobs, for Charlotte Ballet in North Carolina. Opening with a spotlight hitting the violinist at the side of the stage, the piece combined dramatic movement and almost violent physicality, with the dancers grabbing their arms to stop their motion and clapping their hands together. The dancers appearing to appear against a split curtain backdrop brought the eerie nature of the play to its climax.
IU senior Jack Grohmann starred in “Chaconne” and “In Creases.” During rehearsal for “Chaconne”, he said everyone learned parts of the piece, even after Janes performed it.
Grohmann’s role in “Chaconne” included a solo that turned into a duet. While everyone had about the same amount of time on stage in the play, he said his time was difficult due to the length.
“The solo in ‘Chaconne’ was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in terms of endurance, and it turned into a duet,” Grohmann said with a laugh. “After that, I was kind of dead backstage.”
The third piece was a pas de deux, which is a duet featuring a male and female dancer, titled “Für Alina”. Two dancers leaned on each other, mirrored each other’s movements and pushed each other down. The action and reaction of the two gave meaning to the space between the notes to create what the program calls “a passionate conversation about loss and longing.”
“Für Alina” ballet master Carla Körbes said the piece deals with the relationship between life and death, with one dancer acting like a ghost and the other like someone who can’t let go.
“I kept telling them – when you lose something, like a pet or someone you love – you always remember their structure, their smell,” Körbes said. “Ballet is about that, about tracing something that you can’t physically trace anymore.”
She said the rehearsals challenged the dancers because the music was so slow. They had to develop their emotional and artistic selves and couldn’t hide in the choreography, she said. The partnership and technical aspects were also difficult.
The final piece of the evening was a set of classical variations, ‘Donizetti Variations’, originally choreographed by George Balanchine in 1960. The piece was a celebration of the centenary of Italy’s unification. Dancers dressed in peasant-style costumes made the set of variations a light-hearted tribute.
The performers came together in different groups, from traditional duets to unequal combinations of men and women, to create an undeniably energetic and thrilling classic piece.
