BalletX brings world premieres to Bryn Mawr this December

From performance to choreography

Most choreographers are former dancers, though not all dancers become choreographers, just as not all actors become directors. Denice, who danced at Ballets Jazz Montréal, followed this trajectory by transitioning to choreography when the time came to step away from performing. Denice was chosen from more than 80 applicants for BalletX’s choreographic fellowship program supporting emerging artists in developing new work.

This does not mean the focus is the final product; instead, “it’s about the process,” Denice told me. “You are paired with a mentor” whose feedback offers “an invaluable tool” in creative development. Guidance from Denice’s mentor, Jamar Roberts, helped him begin creating before arriving in Philadelphia.

Once Denice got here, he found the BalletX dancers impressive. “They have such a curiosity, a hunger, a dedication to their personal craft,” he told me. Denice is right. These qualities were apparent in Barbosa’s and Jackson’s performances during BalletX’s 20th Anniversary Retrospective just last month. Both dancers have been with the company for three seasons, and BalletX in Bryn Mawr will showcase their talents in dance-making.

Different paths to a dance

Barbosa created her first work for BalletX last year, but she began choreographing as a teen in ballet training. Meanwhile, Jackson entered a choreographic contest as a high school student, then created works on her peers at Juilliard. Last season, she and fellow dancer Peter Weil co-created a piece performed in Bryn Mawr.

Jackson’s new work began with a musical selection by Astor Piazzolla. “I’ve been sitting on this piece of music for over a decade,” Jackson told me, because it has the style and feel she wanted. When we spoke, BalletX was lining up a quintet to perform the music live in Bryn Mawr. Barbosa took a different approach, asking New York-based composer Stahv Danker to create music based on her choreography. The last section of the dance will be different for each performance, which is “a little scary but very exciting” for dancers, Barbosa said.

Denice took inspiration from rituals and ceremonies. In the Wake explores grief “as a ritualistic passage,” he told me. Denice wanted to convey how “it feels like the ceremony we carry inside our bodies.” Love, loss, sadness, and hope constitute rituals that we all go through, and In the Wake physicalizes these emotions so audiences can experience them together. With original music by Philip Daniel, the work reflects the “beautiful, chaotic, painful experience we share.”

A refreshing break

A work by Noelle Kayser that premiered earlier this year, Scales on the Wings of a Butterfly, completes the program for BalletX in Bryn Mawr. “Each choreographer has such a strong voice,” Barbosa said, and “all the music is really strong.” Seeing dances created by the dancers will be especially exciting. BalletX’s dedication to world premieres and knack for developing new choreographic voices will deliver a refreshing break from the same old stuff at the holidays.