Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE begins its fall season strongly with an all-Tharp bill and a satisfying retrospective

• By drediman
• October 20, 2025
• No Comments

This past week at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, American Ballet Theatre kicked off its fall season strongly with a pair of programs that highlighted the stylistic breadth of the company. As per usual, read on for my thoughts.

Commencing the fall season was a beautifully performed program dedicated to the works of iconic American choreographer Twyla Tharp (HIGHY RECOMMENDED). Over three ballets, the evening built in scale, beginning with the company premiere of Sextet, a pure dance piece for three couples and the newest ballet of the bunch (it was created in 1992). With its tango-like accents, the work allows its dancers to show some attitude and play with musicality. Particularly capitalizing on this opportunity were Isaac Hernández and Madison Brown, both of whom performed with sparkling personality and unalloyed joy of movement. Then came Bach Partita, a 1983 masterwork that can be a dazzling technical showcase for dancers, particularly for the women. Luckily, in Sunmi Park, Chloe Misseldine, and Catherine Hurlin, you have three ballerinas of exceptional abilities who were able to bring their own stylistic voice to their dancing — Park impressed with her clean precision, Misseldine dazzled with the beauty of her pristine lines, Hurlin (best of all) stood out with her daring attack and dynamism. Closing out the evening was Push Comes to Shove, Tharp’s inspired, crowd-pleasing ballet from 1976. Since it was specifically created as a vehicle for Mikhail Baryshnikov, any dancer taking on the central role can’t help but be compared to the legendary dancer. At the performance I attended, this daunting task fell upon Jake Roxander, who rose to the challenge by delivering a performance that smartly endeavored to be its own beast altogether. Indeed, the hugely talented soloist opted to replace Baryshnikov’s slinky, exaggerated movement quality with punchy, staccatoed dancing that introduced new texture to the work. Framing Roxander were the vivacious duo of Olivia Tweedy and Zimmi Coker, whose odd couple-like pairing brought a great deal of character to the performance.

Less successful, however, was the second bill of the season. Performed under the umbrella title “Retrospective Under Master Choreographers” (RECOMMENDED), the program covered much ground, fittingly starting with Les Sylphides, Michel Fokine’s enchanting one act encapsulation of the classical aesthetic of the Romantic era (the historic piece was the first ballet performed by Ballet Theatre in 1940). At the performance I attended, the tempos were glacially slow — the maestro was veteran company conductor Ormsby Wilkins — resulting in a performance that lulled rather than captivated, despite the display of classical elegance put on by veteran principals Calvin Royal III and Isabella Boylston, as well as the poetic tableaus created by the relatively young corps de ballet (particularly superb were the two dancers in the demi-soloist roles, Sierra Armstrong and Ingrid Thoms). Then came Antony Tudor’s Gala Performance, an amusing but ultimately tedious parody of classical ballet stereotypes. Although Christine Shevchenko, Chloe Misseldine, and Zimmi Coker were technically sound as three prima ballerinas melting down during a gala performance, their broad but repetitive comedic performances eventually overstayed their welcome. Indeed, comedy in ballet has been better achieved elsewhere, namely by Jerome Robbins’ The Concert, and even Twyla Tharp’s aforementioned Push Comes to Shove. The program’s saving grace was the closer, a splendid revival of the Agnes de Mille classic Rodeo. Set to the stirring Americana score of Aaron Copeland, the ingeniously structured piece featured a sweet, vulnerable, and sassy turn by principal Skylar Brandt, one of the company’s most vivid actors. As her hard won love interest, the up-and-coming star Jake Roxander — in effective contrast to the stoic and statuesque Jarod Curley — was dynamic and winning, as usual.