Oberon's Grove: Rehearsal @ Ballet Next

Above: Michele Wiles and Jay Donn; photo by Dmitry Beyozkin

Wednesday February 4th, 2015 - Ballet Next are preparing for their upcoming performances at New York Live Arts and this afternoon, I went to the Ballet Hispanico studios with Dmitry Berzyokin to watch a rehearsal.

Under the artistic direction of former ABT principal ballerina Michele Wiles, Ballet Next's upcoming New York Live Arts season will offer three different world premieres - each set to Baroque or Baroque-inspired music, all of it to be played live. Baroque'd, as the programme is aptly named, will bring us:

Outswirl
Choreography: Peter Quanz
Music: Arcangelo Corelli

Ushuaia
Choreography: Michele Wiles
Music: Heinrich Biber

Something Sampled
Choreography: Jay Donn & Michele Wiles
Music: Chris Lancaster, electro-acoustic cellist

At today's rehearsal, we were given a preview of all of this and it was an exhilarating studio experience which I think Dmitry has captured very well:

Michelle Wiles, Peter Quanz. Peter's ballet is still "in progress" but what we saw of it today made a really good impression.

Amy Saunder

Landes Dixon

Landes Dixon, Gracie Huber

Landes Dixon, Tiffany Mangulabnan, Gracie Huber

Michele's Ushuaia, her choreographic debut, is a classically-oriented ballet work set to a vivid score by Heinrich Biber.

In the programme's longest work, Something Sampled, Michele collaborates choreographically with Flex dancer Jay Donn. This is one of the few truly successful fusions of ballet and contemporary dance that I have experienced. Michele and Jay have a spark-setting rapport, with Jay's playful prankster persona bringing out Michele's sense of fun. They get into some serious dance moves in their respective genres, and then find ways of pushing boundaries without sacrificing the integrity of their seemingly at-odds techniques.