The Nice Pals Assembly Home, Newport, RI.
July 19, 2025.
It’s that point of yr once more; by way of the Newport Dance Competition, hosted by Newport Modern Ballet, dance took over a nook of Newport for an extended weekend, that includes works from far-flung artists. It’s an opportunity for views and stylings from all over the world to grace the folks of this small however mighty state: collaboration, connection, creativity abounding.
Artists from New English Ballet Theatre (London, UK) traveled the farthest this yr, but these from everywhere in the northeast in addition to New York Metropolis additionally introduced their contributions. The atmospheres and approaches of the works, as a complete, have been simply as wide-ranging. As at all times, what a deal with to soak up a wealthy smorgasbord of dance on a wonderful summer time night time!
Stars and Stripes, choreographed by Lisa Bibeau and danced by college students of the Academy of Newport Modern Ballet, kicked off the present. The coed dancers oozed with poise and sweetness, performing with commendable maturity (their musicality, particularly, fairly refined). The traditional ballet rating (from John Philip Sousa) was one in all pure patriotic spirit, apropos not lengthy after the 4th of July.
Kathryn Posin’s Triple Sextet, carried out by East Coast Modern Ballet, had vibrancy leaping off the stage from the primary observe. Ebullient motion met the identical high quality within the rating, to not point out the brilliant costumes in a rainbow of colours (by A. Christina Giannini). Zippy leaps had knees excessive and to the facet, toes assembly within the air. Hips punctuating and expressive arms added sass and character, jazzy aptitude coloring up to date ballet styling. It was like a buzzing meadow on a vivid spring day, bursting with life.
The wealthy and considerate Raíces Vivas (Residing Roots), choreographed by Anniela Huidobro Castro and danced by Newport Modern Ballet, opened softly. The motion was earthy, grounded, stable – qualities that remained at the same time as pace and visceral vitality escalated, a slowly constructing storm. Deep pliés, knees bent by way of quick footwork, dancers sharing weight as they softened towards the stage — but, dancers’ hearts additionally lifted in resonating hope.
Motion eased as all within the ensemble gathered to envelop one in all them in gestures of presence and care; cycles within the lifetime of a neighborhood generally embrace slowing down and specializing in one who wants it. Quickly, we heard voiceover of individuals talking on ancestry, household, artwork and relaxation — one other slowing down and specializing in what issues most.
Daniela Cardim’s sensuous and evocative pas de deux Baroque Encounters got here subsequent, danced by Emily Pohl (New English Ballet Theatre) and Gregory Tyndall (Newport Modern Ballet). Their traces expanded by way of chill-inducing violin chords, creating an attractive and mysterious magnetism — the attracting and repelling of the dance inside intimate connection. With alluring thriller, this work made that dance extremely visceral.
Tom Gold Dance’s quartet Le Voyage, choreographed by Tom Gold, provided one thing each soothing and delightfully distinctive. The environment once more shifted, now into one thing each elegant and playful. That dance of intimate connection right here got here with coy, pleasure and plain enjoyable. Classical motion vocabulary and the French rating (from numerous artists, together with Michel Legrand) introduced a basis of refinement. Peppy, jazzy infusions into footwork in addition to zany patterns and coloring in costuming (from Gold) introduced only a sprint of quirky. All of it got here collectively into a fascinating mix.
Jenna Lee’s Summer time Storm – Excerpt from the 4 Seasons, danced by Louis DeFelice and Clara Jorgens (New English Ballet Theatre), was an interesting storm certainly. The pas de deux companions lengthened by way of the notes in a manner that met the drama of the rating, the enduring Vivaldi work (right here recomposed by Max Richter). They appeared fantastically attuned as companions, sharing a deep kinetic understanding. I mused on what a big ensemble may convey to the rating’s epic scale. Lee commendably constructed the work in its present idea, and the dancers carried out it simply as a lot so.
Crushed – danced by Amelia Bednar, Jenna Torgeson and Gregory Tyndall of Newport Modern Ballet – introduced us again to the enjoyable, joyful and delightfully quirky. Emily Baker, former Newport Modern Ballet dancer, choreographed the work – great to see her now creating work for the corporate.
It provided a feast of recent explorations — in rating (from Pinc Louds), house and kinetic chance. The comedian, the weighty, the moments with touches of pressure have been all there for the having fun with. Certainly, the work explored a lot, but nothing felt rushed or “shoehorned”, included for the sake of it. With the dancers’ sincere theatricality, it did really feel like a slice of life within the relating of those three personas — a fairly pleasant one certainly.
Subsequent was East Coast Modern Ballet’s reflective and lyrical The House Between, choreographed by Alejandro Ulloa. The lifted and ethereal motion, fairly balletic in high quality, met the delicate piano rating. I obtained the sensation of trying up at a transparent blue sky, the dancers shifting like wispy clouds – wispy, but however holding their very own solidity.
Various groupings felt like completely different clumps of clouds — maybe floating by, maybe which we would see as we shift our focus throughout the huge sky. The fluid and cohesive really feel of motion and efficiency enhanced that calming impact on me. They are saying that individuals will keep in mind the way you make them really feel. I’d argue the identical is true of artwork, and in that sense this work was immensely profitable.
Newport Modern Ballet’s enigmatic and memorable Planet Different, choreographed by Danielle Genest, closed the present. The thriller slowly constructed, a solo of considerably stressed looking shifting into a big ensemble. They moved independently, then related right into a clump — organisms of self and neighborhood. A tableau instilled a way of pause, of thoughtfulness, of a second for merely being. The vitality rose once more for that motion and vitality of looking, even slight agitation.
The skirt frames and distinctive patterning in shirts (costumes by Deanna Gerde) helped to create a way of one other world, one other time, one other universe – doubtlessly? The precise nature of the work’s context felt to not be identified – but, its pulsing depth, the visceral vitality resonating off the stage, the freshness of its shapes and motion pathways…all of that I very a lot knew, and really a lot savored.
The work ended with the entire ensemble leaping and falling to upstage, lights flashing off; the life and spirit of this “Planet Different” would proceed. So long as this pageant continues, it will likely be a window into dynamic live performance dance taking place everywhere in the world: views, stylings and qualities as diversified because the artists who current them. I’ll preserve peering in – till subsequent yr!
By Kathryn Boland of Dance Informa.
