By Walter Rutledge
Unite, the Joyce Ballet Festival’s opening night performance was an eye-opening reveal of the face (or faces) of the future of ballet. The six-day, festival offers eight performances from Tuesday August 13 through Sunday August 18. Unite is an enlightening example of the growing and long overdue multicultural diversity and inclusiveness the artform so rightfully deserves.
Co- producer, choreographer, curator and performer Calvin Royal III presented a company where artistry abounds through diversity. This diversity extended beyond the culture/ethnicity of the cast and is also evident in the company’s repertoire, which included classical, neo classic and contemporary dance works.
The festival will present fifteen world premieres and new works by emerging dancemakers Duncan Lyle, Christopher Rudd, Victor Trevino, Aleisha Walker, James Whiteside, and Royal III. In addition to this contemporary dance gumbo, excerpts from dance masterworks by George Balanchine, Alonso King and Sir Kenneth MacMillian helped complete the program. In fairness to the choreographers and performers a more detailed critique of the complete season will follow shortly, but the following observation is too noteworthy to not discuss.
Ballet has been the last true bastion of segregation and discrimination in dance. Dance history is full of stories of opportunities denied, black ballet dancers leaving America to find employment and the still prevailing black body shaming undertones. Even an international dance competition for young dancers, which presents an annual showcase in Lincoln Center, consistently presents an appallingly paltry number of black dancers. The organization takes great pride in announcing how it scouted future stars from Bangkok, but somehow forgot to go to the Bronx.
The struggle has always been for mass acceptance and inclusion, but unfortunately it has been a tale of individuals breaking barriers. We still rejoice in the hard-fought success of an individual dancer breaking the color barrier and excelling in major companies. In the past those singular accomplishments were used as examples to dispel the blatant omission of minorities (especially blacks) from the art-form. These singular milestones are also usually followed by conversations embracing this newfound inclusiveness with that same hackneyed question, “Is there still the need for ballet companies that feature predominately black dancers?”
Well, the answer remains “hell yeah!” Unfortunately inclusion remains a slow process (still more of a pas de chat then a grand jete). The final full company bow encapsulated the real power of Unite. The stage reflected the new faces of ballet as a rich multicultural ensemble. Perhaps we are witnessing the beginnings of art and artists on a new UNITEd front.
Unite Bow 8/14/24
The opening night performance was SRO (standing room only), and we believe the season will continue to build a strong following. Don’t procrastinate! For program schedule information and to purchase tickets visit: https://www.joyce.org/performances/118/unite/ballet-festival.
Looking forward to more