Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY.
March 14, 2026.
A story as previous as time, that of unrequited love, with some fashionable twists took the stage (and far of the opposite house) on the Park Avenue Armory in March, in a retelling of Romeo and Juliet by Benjamin Millepied and the L.A. Dance Challenge. Audiences entered into the grand drill corridor to a naked stage, save for one purple sofa in its middle. That, and a large video display screen suspended above the stage. On this manufacturing, the stay filming component performs as a lot of a task because the dancing on the stage.
It’s a spacious telling of the story. There have been vast liberties with story and characters. The leads, Romeo and Juliet, is perhaps danced by two girls, two males, or a lady and a person on any given evening. In the best way that love is limitless, Millepied unbinds the standard gender pairing on some nights. On the eve of my attendance, we noticed two males because the leads – identifiable by every standing subsequent to their names (Romeo or Juliet) scribbled in chalk on the wall previous to their first entrance. For me, the gender didn’t affect the ability of the story. That stated, together with a number of the different components of the present, the characters all through grew to become complicated on occasion. As this manufacturing was removed from a literal interpretation of the play, sure characters (each characters’ mother and father) have been totally absent and others grew to become absorbed within the ensemble. With out the bedrock of warring households, the tragedy of forbidden love between two of their youngest members is diminished. Definitely, the story can endure some simplification, however there’s a specific agony negotiating one’s household and one’s love, and that we didn’t see.
Visually, it’s stark. Except for the sofa, the one set items are lengthy, fluorescent mild tubes the dancers use to create numerous buildings, boundaries and components. Nonetheless, this can be a cinematic work as effectively, and the stay capturing takes the viewers everywhere in the Armory, which is something however stark, and deeply ornate. The juxtaposition is odd within the sense that the motion onstage feels fashionable, however the filmed parts present a extra particular time (based mostly on the structure of the late 1800s, when the Armory was accomplished). A part of this course of makes use of the concept the placement is its personal character. This manufacturing, carried out in a number of locations globally, inherently produces a distinct a sense every time, given the completely different architectural qualities.
In accordance with Millepied, integrating the movie work a lot into the proscenium expertise permits the viewers to have a extra intimate view of the dancers – in actual fact, the digicam work is completed by a former New York Metropolis Ballet dancer who seen the duty very like being a associate in a ballet. Mixing movie and dance is an attention-grabbing process. Having a more in-depth and extra private expertise on account of the filming feels uncooked and visceral, virtually like being within the rehearsal room or onstage with the dancers. It gives worth to viewers members who could by no means encounter dance in that method. It may also be troublesome visually to volley from the filmed parts to the stage parts. I’ve felt this in previous performances that employed an analogous method. It’s cool, however it’s additionally like being tossed between two worlds. In comparison with the massive display screen, when the dancers have been onstage, they appeared tiny. However their affect felt extra actual and extra current on the precise stage with out the barrier of digitized illustration.
However we have been all right here for the dancing, and it was pleasant. It was a bit extra standard than I anticipated, however distinctive in its execution. When dancers possess such excessive stage technical expertise and expression, the model takes a backseat. Given the boldness within the design of the present, seeing extra typical choreography felt mildly misaligned, however by itself, pleasurable to observe.
Quite a bit occurred over the course of the efficiency, a lot of it juxtaposition. I loved the expertise of witnessing an previous and effectively advised story from a brand new perspective, even when that effort pulled me out of the brand new world created by Millepied on occasion. I like multi-media approaches to stay efficiency, even when it takes my mind a while to regulate, and I appreciated being whisked by the depths of an previous and grand constructing, even when the footage may have been shot anyplace, at any time. Artwork needs to be difficult, each for individuals who create it and people who devour it. I left with a lot to consider, each in what was introduced and my response to it. In the end (and all the time), I drastically worth something that forces my thoughts to rethink its patterns and expectations, and for that, this manufacturing delivered in some ways.
By Emily Sarkissian of Dance Informa.
