Philadelphia Ballet premieres Angel Corella’s ‘Boléro’ in the director’s new choreographer era

Following a run of artistic director Angel Corella’s Swan Lake earlier this month, Philadelphia Ballet returned to the Academy of Music Thursday night for another black-and-white program.

This one was called Boléro, highlighting Corella’s world premiere. But it was a program of all made-for-Philadelphia Ballet works, including a new Stanton Welch ballet and a piece company dancer Russell Ducker made in 2021 for virtual viewing during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The works were partly chosen to celebrate Corella’s 10 years directing the company. Welch, Corella explained earlier in the season, was one of the first choreographers to choose him for a cherished role in a ballet called Clear. Ducker is Corella’s husband. And Boléro is Corella’s own work.

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Welch’s Water Dances opened the evening. Performed in flowing white costumes by Holly Hynes, it is set to piano music by Michael Nyman, performed in the pit by Yen Yu Chen and Martha Koeneman. Audience members who showed up early were treated to an extra concert, as the pianists warmed up before the show.

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The work was performed primarily by the principal dancers (including So Jung Shin, who was promoted so recently that the program still had her as a first soloist). The movement flows with the costumes — perhaps like through water — although the wide-legged pants made some transitions between flat and pointe look clunky.

Zecheng Liang’s high-flying solo was exhilarating, but it was the complicated duets performed with seemingly little effort that were the most impressive.

Ducker’s Dance Card was a black-and-white piece, a ballroom ballet performed in black dresses and suits with tails. Set to Philadelphia composer (and Pulitzer Prize winner) Jennifer Higdon’s “Dance Card for String Orchestra,” it was stylish and energetic. The bits I could see, that is. The black costumes against a dark backdrop did not offer enough contrast to comfortably view the movement. Photos from 2021 show much clearer lighting in the video production.

The evening closed with Corella’s Boléro, a piece in Corella’s recently discovered choreographer era. Previously, he explained in the fall, he reworked some ballets, wanting to alter some of the full lengths as he preferred. But starting in 2023 with Carmen, Corella created ballets from the ground up and realized he was a choreographer. Boléro is a Spanish dance, and while making Carmen, the Spaniard said Boléro kept popping up in his playlists, perhaps subtly nudging him to take it on.

Maurice Ravel’s Boléro is a notoriously difficult piece of music to choreograph, loaded with sensuality, emotion, and expectations. Corella’s work, danced in strappy black leotards with a lot of skin showing, was mostly about power and dance prowess.

It builds not with emotion but in numbers and movement, starting with a solo and ending with the stage nearly vibrating with dancers. The building happens slower than the music demands, and some of the more technically challenging sections (especially with smaller numbers of dancers) were not clean enough Thursday night.

The best sections, however, were the most simple ones, with contrasting arm movements and clean lines.

It was a dramatic way to punctuate Corella’s choreography era and a fun way to close out a program. It is not the Boléro to end all Boléros, but it would be great to see again in future seasons.

Philadelphia Ballet in “Boléro,” “Water Dances,” and “Dance Card.” 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. $25-$255.25. 215-893-1999 or ensembleartsphilly.org