American Ballet Theatre just made ballet history and made ballet even more accessible to everyone.
While in the past few years, ABT has struggled with staying ahead of the curve of ballet innovation, ABT just blew everyone out of the water and jumped into the future of the art. Their fresh creativity via archived footage, rehearsal footage, and professionally recorded performances took us through the ranks of JKO to Principal Dancer in an all star-studded cast.
Supporters spanning Hollywood’s elite to the New York Yankees, and profiles of principal dancers past and present, created a way to make ballet feel right for everyone.
It is no secret that film and ballet haven’t always gone hand in hand, however, tonight demonstrated what happens when ballet is approached lovingly and broadly. By explaining ballet in-depth, conducting intimate interviews, and profiling new and thought-provoking choreography projects, the broadcast just put ABT ahead of any ballet company in the world by an entire generation.
This single broadcast might be the most influential and most meaningful dance work created in the last, well ever. It wasn’t a documentary or an individual performance; it was the reality of everyday people doing extraordinary things in the arts. It had the most beautiful campaigns and cinematography combined with real-life facetime and zoom footage, making it even more real and relatable. Most impressively it combined both Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie and the usual behind the scenes Executive Director Kara Medoff Barnett to the front of ABT.
Our Common Fate, a new collaborative work by Jessica Lang and Tony Bennet, was inspired by quarantine and led the continued parade of beauty and exceptional moments. Danced by Aran Bell and Catherine Hurlin (the next Gillian and Ethan) around Central Park, the ending with the dancers waving up at Bennet left us with some kind of feeling.
The other features ranging from the budding talent of Studio Company, to the love of ballet in the students of JKO, highlighted the bright future of ballet. The inclusion of the ABT orchestra playing the finale of the Brahams Haydn Variations together from home was mesmerizing and moving.
Of Love and Rage showcased the crew of ABT building the sets from start to finish on stage in Orange County to the rehearsing of Aran and Catherine (Caty). It highlighted the sheer manpower needed to put on one of ABT’s productions.
Members of the company, both male and female, performed the entrance of the swans from the second act of Swan Lake from their respective shelter at home locations.
Cynthia Erivo sang America the Beautiful with dancers dancing around the Kennedy Center, the emptiness of Lincoln Center and New York, and people dancing at home across the US filmed from the outside.
Instagram favorite, James Whiteside, one of the fundraising campaign’s curators, announced that ABT would be starting an online series over the next eight weeks and bring you inside the studios of ABT. This entire film and broadcast were to help raise funds for ABT’s Crisis Relief Fund. You can donate or bid on silent auction items here.
While this was a fundraising campaign, it was probably the most glamorous, well thought out, put together, edited, campaign the ballet world has seen in a while. And while ABT’s JKO school is still trying to figure out their digital summer program, we shall see if the school is able to create something as innovative as the company.