{"id":10067,"date":"2013-03-15T13:07:06","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T17:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=10067"},"modified":"2013-03-31T22:24:02","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T02:24:02","slug":"paz-de-la-jolla-a-trip-to-the-ballet-not-to-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=10067","title":{"rendered":"Paz de la Jolla: A trip to the ballet, not to California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: This review marks the continuation of a series dedicated to showcasing the best student writing from the Dance History course I teach at The Juilliard School.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Cleo Person<\/p>\n

As a Southern California native, I eagerly awaited New York City Ballet\u2019s February performance of Justin Peck\u2019s new work Paz de la Jolla<\/em>. Seated in the former New York State Theater, I was hoping for a mini trip home, minus the hassle and airfare. Even though Reid Bartelme\u2019s costuming (bathing suits and shorts) and Peck\u2019s ocean imagery did create some sense of a warmer California climate, not much else about the piece captured the laid-back, costal village atmosphere of La Jolla.<\/p>\n

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The finale of Paz de la Jolla \u00a9 Paul Kolnik.<\/p><\/div>\n

Peck, a twenty-five year old City Ballet corps member, is not a complete novice in the art of choreography. La Jolla<\/em> is his fourth work for City Ballet, following his most recent critical success, Year of the Rabbit<\/em>. But La Jolla, <\/em>set\u00a0to Bohuslav Martinu’s Sinfonietta la<\/em> Jolla,<\/em> didn\u2019t win me over. Peck\u2019s choreography rarely conjures any sense of La Jolla as an actual place. The ballet seems to be in the service of displaying the dancers\u2019 high level of technical ability, and Peck\u2019s choreographic proficiency. He skillfully arranges his 18 dancers in geometric formations and patterns through an array of steps that feature the classical ballet lexicon. It\u2019s a charming, impressive display. However the confounding part about La Jolla<\/em> is what it actually evokes: the urgent, frenetic pace of New York.<\/p>\n

Though the ballet is mainly abstract, there are a few loose plot points, which enable the leads to stand out as characters. Tyler Peck, clad in a striking blue bathing suit, not only shows off her technical prowess, but also plays a girl with a delightful sense of spark and fun. Sterling Hyltin and Amar Ramasar, who portray lovebirds on the beach, contribute hints of maturity. It is not, however, the kind of maturity seen in La Jolla, where most of the population is retirees.<\/p>\n

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Sterling Hyltin and Amar Ramasar in Paz de la Jolla. \u00a9 Paul Kolnik. <\/p><\/div>\n

Peck\u2019s need to display movement virtuosity overshadows any feeling or story he could have conveyed. For example, the dancers of the corps<\/em> act more as design vehicles than real people, and the relationship between the in-love couple is more generic than illuminating or enchanting. Because of Peck\u2019s focus on wowing with steps and speed, even the small allusions to narrative get muddled. At one point, Hyltin runs into the waves, created by the massing of the corps,<\/em> and Ramasar follows her. It becomes unclear as to whether they are playing in the water, drowning, or dreaming the whole thing up. When the waves subside, the couple lays motionless as other dancers, who previously represented waves, fail to revive them. Seconds later, Hyltin and Ramasar get up and dance joyfully (and absurdly) away.<\/p>\n

The most ingenious part of la Jolla<\/em> is Peck\u2019s depiction of waves, created by a group of dancers wearing shimmery blue tops and dancing on the upstage diagonal in swelling and receding patterns. Peck doesn\u2019t revert to clich\u00e9 arm waving or other overused water images. Instead, he has female dancers lie prone with their legs in the air while the men form complicated patterns of interlacing circles behind them. He choreographs other women to then weave under the men\u2019s arms. This ensemble-created fluidity is mesmerizing. Other sections, however, don\u2019t flow together quite as smoothly. There are multiple occasions when the dancers arrive into formation and then stand still, waiting for the next musical cue to launch them into the next movement phrase.<\/p>\n

Peck\u2019s ballet occurred in the middle of the evening\u2019s program, following Alexei Ratmansky\u2019s spatially stunning Concerto DSCH<\/em>, and preceding Jerome Robbins\u2019 groovy N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz<\/em>. After seeing all three pieces, it became clear that Peck did a nice job showing off the dancers\u2019 strengths. While Robbin\u2019s Opus Jazz<\/em> is a brilliantly created, timeless piece of fun that can, if danced well, be a masterpiece, many of the girls looked like they missed their pointe shoes and appeared uncomfortable moving their bodies outside of the ballet lexicon. While not very evocative of a true Southern Californian way of life, Paz de la Jolla<\/em> was at least danced with great enthusiasm by Peck\u2019s fellow dancers.<\/p>\n

Cleo Person<\/em> is a first year Dance Division student at The Juilliard School. <\/em><\/p>\n


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