United States Various, Gems: A Triptych by Benjamin Millepied: Dancers of L.A. Dance Project. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills, 24.10.2025. (JRo)
Choreographed over a ten-year period, Benjamin Millepied’s three-part ballet, Gems, was commissioned by Van Cleef & Arpels through their Dance Reflections program. George Balanchine, famously inspired by a 1966 visit to Van Cleef, created Jewels. Though both ballets are divided into three distinct sections, they have little else in common. The Balanchine is a homage to different forms of ballet, each represented by emeralds, rubies or diamonds. Millepied’s focus merges visual art with choreography. In his words: ‘This triptych of contemporary ballets … draws inspiration from the symbolic and emotional resonance of precious stones’.
Though I was hard pressed to find a reference to precious gems, his ballet was replete with emotional content. Throughout the evening, dancers reacted to one another with a palpable desire for human connection. That desire was the driving force behind their movements, from the simplest extension of an arm to the most intricate footwork.
There was much pleasure to be had in the pairings of art and dance. For me, the surprise of the evening was how well Barbara Kruger’s graphic use of text worked with the movement of bodies in space. In Reflections, a massive red backdrop featured bold white letters forming the word STAY. The entire floor, readily visible from anywhere in the house given the raked seating, was covered with red flooring printed with THINK OF ME, THINKING OF YOU. Dancers dressed in muted browns and greys became sculptural elements in a sea of red and white. Amazingly, the text didn’t distract from the dancers but seemed rather to highlight their every movement.
To contemplative music by David Lang, played by pianist Yanfeng Bai, Daphne Fernberger and Noah Wang made an elegant pair, conjuring all manner of interactions. At times they seemed wracked with longing, driven by their need to be together. Their dancing exuded a mutual respect and tenderness as the much taller Wang lifted Fernberger straight into the air as if she were a child waiting to be picked up by a parent. The choreography maintained a delicate equilibrium between intimacy and freedom. At one moment, Wang made a hoop with his arms that Fernberger leaned her head through, and then opening his arms he enfolded her in an embrace. At another, their bodies, arching forward, seemed to capsize like boats in the water.
Shu Kinouchi followed them with a solo and showed off his command of classic ballet as he became a puckish character who reminded me of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet or the Bluebird of Sleeping Beauty. There was an adversarial pas de deux for Courtney Conovan and Clay Koonar with angular shoulders and snapping arms, a duet for Fernberger and Conovan skewering ballroom dance and one for two men who ranged on the floor like parts of a caterpillar. Reflections succeeded beautifully and was perhaps the most fully imaginative coupling of visual art and dance.
In Hearts and Arrows, Philip Glass’s String Quartet No.3 was performed by musicians from the Colburn School. The propulsive score and Liam Gillick’s array of lights on tall rigs at the back of the stage created an electric atmosphere. There was a fraught energy to the piece as eight dancers in black and white with arms often extended skyward seemed to be striving for something just out of reach. There were whispers of Irish and Scottish jigs in the footwork and a moment when the flip of a hand was reminiscent of flamenco. One lift featured Fernberger with her legs straight and her outstretched arms held to the side and parallel to the floor. This crucifix pose created dramatic tension but perhaps raised questions as to what Millepied’s intentions were here.
At forty minutes, On the Other Side was the longest of the three pieces. Yanfeng Bai handled Glass’s brooding Etudes and the tender movements of Orphée Suite with sensitivity. The colorful backdrop by artist Mark Bradford resembled his series of large scale mixed-media paintings of abstract maps of unnamed cities. Moods varied from section to section, but the overwhelming sense was of a community with emotional and spiritual ties. Whether lyrical, balletic movement or angular modern dance, whether solos, pas de deux or ensemble dancing, there was a religious quality to the choreography. Dancers held poses with reverential stillness, lighting dimmed and out of the darkness various tableaux of eight dancers appeared in chiaroscuro. I thought of Caravaggio’s biblical paintings or Jacque Louis David’s mythological subjects. There were mournful duets and solos but there was also the relief of sudden bursts of playfulness with capering turns and soaring leaps.
In performing Gems, members of L.A. Dance Project were at their most harmonious. With spirit and technique, they did justice to Millepied’s choreography, creating a memorable evening of dance.
Jane Rosenberg
Featured Image: L.A. Dance Project in On the Other Side © Jade Ellis
Reflections
Choreography – Benjamin Millepied in collaboration with Julia Eichten, Charlie Hodges, Morgan Lugo, Nathan Makolandra, Amanda Wells
Visual concept – Barbara Kruger
Music – David Lang, This Was Written by Hand / Memory Pieces (selections). Yanfeng Bai, pianist
Lighting – Masha Tsimring
Heart & Arrows
Choreography – Benjamin Millepied
Visual concept – Liam Gillick
Costumes – Janie Taylor
Music – Philip Glass, String Quartet No.3, ‘Mishima’. Musicians from the Colburn School
Lighting – Masha Tsimring
On the Other Side
Choreography – Benjamin Millepied
Visual concept – Mark Bradford
Music – Philip Glass, Etudes No. 1, 2, 6, 16, 17, 18; ‘Dead Things’ (arranged by Nico Muhly); Orphée Suite Nos. 2 & 7 (transcribed for piano by Paul Barnes). Yanfeng Bai, pianist
Lighting – Masha Tsimring
Dancers: Lorrin Brubaker, Courtney Conovan, Daphne Fernberger, Tom Guibaus, Robert Hoffer, Shu Kinouchi, Clay Koonar, Audrey Sides, Hope Spears, Noah Wang