BalletX fall series shines in three highly athletic, emotional premieres

Live for the moment.

Life starts here.

Don’t forget where you came from.

BalletX’s fall season offers many tips on life through two joyful, meaningful world premieres and a Philadelphia premiere.

The company looked its polished and sophisticated best when it opened Wednesday night at the Wilma Theater. All three pieces required full-body and emotional commitment, and the dancers handily took on the challenge.

Some dancers are so magnetic, it’s hard to look away from them. Newer company members Shawn Cusseaux is strong and versatile and Ashley Simpson is a great storyteller as well as dancer (both joined in 2020). And then there is Andrea Yorita, a powerhouse who has been with BalletX for 10 years.

Love Letter, choreographed by former BalletX dancer Caili Quan, was meant to premiere in 2020. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, BalletX was one of the first dance companies in the country to pivot to a digital season and their program included Love Letter, among other pieces. It is an homage to Quan’s native Guam, which she left as a teenager to study dance in the United States.

This time, the dancers are able to touch, lean on each other, partner. While a video of the Atlantic Ocean stood in for Quan’s beloved Pacific in the digital performance, Michael Korsch’s lighting turns the stage into the ocean, complemented by the blue and green resort wear costumes by Christine Darch. The music features Harry Belafonte and Micah Manaitai.

The dance is delightful as Quan shows the changing relationships, groups, and parties in her homeland.

The other world premiere, Darrell Grand Moultrie’s Sacred Impermanence, implores us to live for the moment. It centers around dancer Cusseaux, living life to the fullest and then waking up to changes, and adapting. Set to classical music by Prokofiev, Clara and Robert Schumann, and Bill Evans, it embodies the idea of dance being music in motion. Much of the score is piano music, and we can see every note come alive in the dancers’ movements.

Justin Peck created Become a Mountain for a senior class at Juilliard, a group of people who know each other very well, just like the small company of BalletX dancers. They act and react, creating lines that merge and break apart with the smallest of movements. It is a ballet in (intentionally somewhat clunky) sneakers set to music by Dan Deacon. Peck, who won a Tony Award for choreographing the Broadway revival of Carousel, is wonderful with geometric patterning. While ballet usually shies away from the athletics vs. artistry discussion, Peck, a former soccer player, takes it head on with fast, dynamic, precise steps.

The piece is reminiscent of Jerome Robbins’ ballet in sneakers, Opus Jazz, and indeed there are connections. Peck is resident choreographer at New York City Ballet, where Robbins spent most of his years. Peck choreographed Steven Spielberg’s revival of West Side Story, while Robbins took on the original. And both Become a Mountain and Opus Jazz have been adapted for short films filmed in New York City.

The program also includes a short documentary by BalletX resident filmmaker Elliot duBruyn, who takes us behind the scenes of the making of the pieces. BalletX took on dance-on-camera better than most in 2020 — taking us, up close, into various angles of the performances.

In the age of quick content and magical before-afters, it is even more magical to see what goes into the finished product.

The BalletX fall series runs through Sunday.Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., Phila., 215-225-5389 x250. $70. balletx.org.