Artistic Director Benjamin Millepied paired exploratory choreography with student work
Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL
Members of L.A. Dance Project took to the Vibiana stage in downtown Los Angeles after a cocktail reception in the historic cathedral’s courtyard at the company’s annual gala held on Saturday, December 7. The evening, presented by Van Cleef & Arpels, also included dinner in the sanctuary created by Redbird’s Neal Fraser following a full program of selections from choreographers including Francesca Harper, Or Schraiber, Bobbi Jene Smith, and Rauf Yasit, as well as artistic director Benjamin Millepied and even George Balanchine. Guests including Doug Aitken, Bailey Hunter, Madeline Hollander, Dimitri Chamblas, Bastien Daguzan, Marcelo Spina, Carol Grigor, Robert van Leer, Sel Kardan, and Niki Cloyd got a look at an excerpt from Resonance, commissioned as part of the Getty initiative, PST Art, as well as a performance from Colburn Trudl Zipper Dance Institute students of Balanchine’s Elegie set to Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 3. Also on the evening’s program was an original piece by students comprising LADP’s summer dance intensive, Everybody Dance LA! and Millepied’s recently premiered, Me.You.We.They., set to an original composition written by Nico Muhly.
Introducing the Colburn student dancers, Millepied shared his admiration for the work they were about to perform. “If there was no George Balanchine, I wouldn’t be standing here because Balanchine’s work is what brought me to New York in 1992, to study at the School of American Ballet. So tonight is very special to me,” he said. Millepied summed up his feelings about the New York City Ballet founder, noting, “There’s choreographers and then there’s Balanchine. He’s really the great classicist choreographer.” Millepied said he danced the third and the last movement of Elegie during his tenure at the company Balanchine founded and called this presentation particularly special because Janie Taylor, a longtime collaborator with LADP, was just tapped to direct the Colburn School’s dance program. “She was my dance partner very often at NYCB, she danced with us at LADP, there’s really no one like her,” she said.
Later in the evening, Smith reflected on creating Resonance and premiering it for the public outdoors at Barnsdall Art Park in East Hollywood. “Performing in that setting was incredibly meaningful; the event was free and open to the public,” said Smith, adding, “It was a moment where dance truly became accessible and shared, a reflection of its power to connect us all.” She said such presentations show how wordless movements can resonate, “I believe deeply that we need the arts, and especially dance, more than ever. Dance as a form of nonverbal expression has the power to bridge differences and create understanding.”
December 13, 2022
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