Whims: 23rd Century Ballet

George Jackson

30 Mar 2022 — 1 min read

Farewell Celebration for Kevin McKenzie
American Ballet Theatre
Kennedy Center Opera House
March 29, 2022

Two things happened in Washington, at the Kennedy Center's Opera House on Tuesday evening, March 29. One was a farewell celebration for American Ballet Theatre' artistic director Kevin McKenzie. He has been in charge of the company for about 3 decades but will be retiring at the end of the current season. Who will succeed him has not yet been announced. The other event was an attempt by three choreographers chosen by McKenzie to define 23d Century ballet.

The farewell came off splendidly. McKenzie is somewhat of a local lad, having been trained and polished at the late Mary Day's ballet academy and company - The Washington Ballet - prior to his joining the Joffrey Ballet and then American Ballet Theatre as dancer and then directing ABT. Tuesday's program showed ABT to be in good form., but were the new works worthwhile? The three premiers had things in common. All were amalgams of ballet steps with pop dance moves, and to pop music. There were incidents but no real plots. The dancers were not full blown characters but not just figures in motion. They were "types" we have come to know from commercial entertainment. The opener, Ratmansky's "Bernstein in a Bubble," surprises with its short phrasing. It is brief, compact. The sharp phrasing is well crafted. By comparison, Alonzo King's "Single Eye" is tense and bulky to its music by Jason Moran. Whereas "ZigZag" , in Jessica Lang's choreography, is dominated by Derek McLane's and Tony Bennett's visuals and accompanied by Bennett's and Lady Gaga singing and some Bennett artwork. All three ballets seem like whims of mood.

Men Alone

"Birthday Offering", "Mercurial Son", "Ballet Imperial"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026, matinee

Perhaps coincidentally, the “Neoclassical Works” program with ballets from three very different choreographers (Sir Frederick Ashton, Kyle Abraham, and Balanchine) all featured glimpses of men alone on stage searching yearningly or restlessly for something. Ashton’s “Birthday Offering” (1956), a radiantly abstract celebration of classical ballet, had an anonymous cavalier looking longingly around the empty

Working Hard

"Petal", "Petite Mort", "Paquita"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 22, 2026

ABT’s optimistically named “Fresh Visions and Timeless Classics” program included ABT’s first performances of Helen Pickett’s “Petal”, originally choreographed in 2008 for the Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet, Jiří Kylián’s “Petite Mort”, first danced in 1991 by the Nederlands Dans Theater, and a revival of Natalia Makarova’s 1983 staging for ABT of the final act of Petipa’s “Paquita”

An Understated, Warm Goodbye

“The Four Temperaments,” “Each In Their Own Time,” “Once with you,” “Agon”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 18, 2026

It is rare for ballet stars to time a retirement well. Most often, it comes either too soon or when the peak of their creative form is meaningfully behind them. Adrian Danchig-Waring set his date a year ago. In 2024 a spinal infection nearly killed him, and he promised himself that if he

To Break a Heart

“Oscar”
The Australian Ballet
New York City Center
New York, NY
October 11, 2026 (matinee)

By the time the moon began to weep red tears, it was clear how much of himself Christopher Wheeldon had put into his “Oscar.” The 2024 work was danced by The Australian Ballet, which returned to New York for the first time in more than a decade thanks to its new Artistic Director, David Hallberg. Though the city saw it a mere five times, at

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Men Alone

Working Hard

An Understated, Warm Goodbye

To Break a Heart