BalletX presents the fifth annual Festival at the Highmark Mann

The seasons in dance

This year, BalletX is one of four organizations highlighted in the Mann’s America250 celebration, so Vivaldi seemed a strange choice. But Cox said that the inspiration arose out of discussion with the Mann’s president and chief executive officer, Catherine M. Cahill. “She had three projects that looked to the past, and she wanted to look to the future. I didn’t want to get into some robotic future, the future being AI and bots. We discussed the idea that the future really is about Earth. It’s about our relationship with Earth, Mother. That got me really inspired.”

Cox said that she loves Vivaldi—"It is brilliant, genius. I’ve loved it for decades.” But in the way that she was inspired by nature, she wanted new and original music inspired by Vivaldi’s seasons. So we won’t be hearing the iconic early 18th century concerti. Rather, Cox commissioned Baltimore electronic music composer Dan Deacon to create and perform a score with its roots in the past but with a sound for today.

Then Cox commissioned four choreographers to create the new ballet: “The Seasons are all so different, they are like unique voices,” she said, so she called on four unique choreographic voices to represent them. Fresh from creating a new work on the Paris National Opera is UK-based Morgann Runacre-Temple with “Summer,” her first creation with a company in the US. Regular audiences will recognize Penny Saunders creating Fall, Jamar Roberts doing Winter, and Trey McIntyre bringing us back to Spring.

Those choreographers have very different styles, so I wasn’t sure how that could work as one cohesive piece. Cox agreed that originally, the team thought they needed a choreographic through-line: that it had to make sense. “And then I was like, No, it doesn’t. Nature is not predictable! Nature doesn’t make sense!”

That gave the choreographers the freedom to explore their own ideas about nature and the seasons, but something has to tie the work together or it’s just a program with four separate pieces. That’s where the music comes in: “the through-line is the composer. He is responsible for the arc of the evening. The through line is the set and costume designer [Emma Kingsbury], the lighting designer [Christopher Ash].” So the three anchor designers hold the piece together with the music and the scenery, mountains and oceans created with light.

For Cox, the Festival is about building a community of dance that crosses race and culture and economic divides, so before the main show, the audience is invited to bring a picnic and head to the Crescendo Stage for community performances that range from Bollywoodtech (yes, that’s a thing!) to ballet, from a diverse group of ten (five each night) local dance schools and teams. The community dance closes with the audience on its feet for the One Dance, One Philly flashmob. (You can learn the steps here.)

Featured image: BalletX takes to the stage in West Fairmount Park for its fifth annual Festival at the Highmark Mann. (Photo by Gabriel Bienczycki, BalletX.)

Image description: A dancer in a gold leotard in mid movement against a black and gray gradient backdrop