When Two Men Fall in Love on the Ballet Stage, and Why It Matters
|
Version 0 of 1. Two men run across the stage in sweeping circles until one stops the other by pressing a palm into his chest. They lock eyes. Then the second melts backward into the arms of the first. Lauren Lovette created this lush pas de deux for Taylor Stanley and Preston Chamblee in her sweeping, romantic ballet “Not Our Fate,” and the effect was startling and wonderful. A pas de deux — a dance for two — is usually about love and usually between a man and a woman. But here were two men, not incidentally men of color, in a tender, athletic display of desire. Ballet is slower to change than most art forms, but in the span of just two weeks, New York City Ballet, one of the world’s premier companies, will have shown two ballets featuring significant same-sex duets. “Not Our Fate” had its premiere before a donor-filled crowd at New York City Ballet’s fall gala, on Sept. 28. And on Thursday, Justin Peck, the company’s resident choreographer and a soloist, makes his own statement with a casting change in his “The Times Are Racing” that City Ballet says is unprecedented at the company: In the central pas de deux, Mr. Stanley will perform the role originally created for a woman. Same-sex partnering on its own is not new, especially in contemporary ballets and in modern dance. And even at City Ballet, there have been instances of same-sex partnering in several ballets, including those by Ms. Lovette, Pontus Lidberg and Mr. Peck. What feels unusual in these two dances is their fresh approach: Full of abandon and brimming with romantic desire, they seem utterly natural. City Ballet, co-founded by the choreographer George Balanchine, has a tradition of breaking boundaries. This year is the 60th anniversary of “Agon,” Balanchine’s ballet that showcased a trailblazing pas de deux for a white ballerina, Diana Adams, and a black male dancer, Arthur Mitchell. “Agon” is a masterwork, and in 1957 Balanchine was making a purposeful statement about race and the civil rights movement. And today, in their casting and subject matter, Ms. Lovette, 25, and Mr. Peck, 30, are also responding to the contemporary world and putting it on the ballet stage. That response feels long overdue. And it challenges certain fundamental traditions in ballet, sparking a debate about what is appropriate for the genre and how it can move into the future. On Oct. 1, the choreographer Alexei Ratmansky wrote on Facebook: “sorry, there is no such thing as equality in ballet: women dance on point, men lift and support women. women receive flowers, men escort women offstage. not the other way around (I know there are couple of exceptions). and I am very comfortable with that.” His post was accompanied by what appeared to be a Photoshopped image of a ballerina holding a man in the air. A few days earlier Mr. Peck had announced his casting change on Instagram, writing that “The Times Are Racing,” which had its debut in January, would be continuing its “exploration of gender-neutrality.” (His post included the hashtags: #loveislove #genderneutral #equality #diversity #beauty #pride #proud.) Last spring, he recast the dance’s tap duet, giving the dancer Ashly Isaacs one of the parts originated by a man. She was all thrilling, silky power, slyly displaying how distinctly a woman can do a man’s job. “It’s time for there to be roles in the ballet where two men can fall in love,” Mr. Peck said, “and a woman can lead a company of 20 dancers that include both men and women.” Mr. Ratmansky, whose work richly engages tradition, wrote in an email that he didn’t mean to offend or impose a ban. “But there are gender roles in traditional ballet,” he said. “In other words, men and women are of equal value but have different tasks.” He continued: “Being passionate about ballet traditions, its present and future, I wanted to continue discussing gender roles in ballet, but hesitate now. There are so many things one could discuss around this topic. I agree that the rules are there to be broken, that’s how art evolves. And I myself have enjoyed playing with these conventions. But I personally choose to work within a tradition because I find it too beautiful and historically important to be lost.” “The Times Are Racing,” created during the presidential election, is something of a protest ballet — the dancers’ costumes are adorned with words like unite,” “react” and “fight.” And it’s danced in sneakers, which means no pointe shoes. Gender norms in ballet have developed through the use of the pointe shoe, worn by women to create the illusion of lightness and of floating, and the rules of partnering: Lifts require upper-body strength that men access more easily than women. “The future of ballet is really in the hands of the creators,” Mr. Peck said, “so if it’s something that interests them to push the envelope with gender roles, then I think it will change. But if that’s not of interest to a dance-maker, if their interest is to sort of preserve the way things have been done for the past 200 years, then nothing is going to change.” For the dancers, the roles feel like opportunities to express themselves in more nuanced ways. “I think for gay ballet dancers, you rarely get to be yourself,” Mr. Stanley said. Mr. Chamblee, his partner in “Not Our Fate,” and Daniel Applebaum, his partner in “Times Are Racing,” are also gay. Mr. Peck and Ms. Lovette are straight. Mr. Peck has been struck by the way Mr. Stanley and Mr. Applebaum have changed the tone of his pas de deux. “Somehow it feels more romantic to me,” Mr. Peck said. “At one of the early rehearsals, Daniel said, ‘It’s so nice to get to step into a role where I feel I could actually potentially fall in love with the person I’m dancing with, as opposed to pretending to be a prince falling in love with a princess.’” Robert La Fosse, a former choreographer who danced with both City Ballet and American Ballet Theater, has been active on Mr. Ratmansky’s Facebook feed. In an interview Mr. La Fosse said: “It’s very interesting that we’re looking at it now. And it’s good. It’s a conversation, and I think Justin and Lauren are wrestling with it: How do we become current?” For his pas de deux, Mr. Peck has made small tweaks so that each dancer takes a turn leading the other; learning how to be the supported one has been an adjustment for both. “There’s a constant exchange of who’s leading and who’s in charge,” Mr. Applebaum said. “So you have to switch on a dime.” At one point in the ballet, Mr. Applebaum takes Mr. Stanley’s hand and they walk to the back of the stage. “I am holding his hand onstage because he’s offering it to me,” Mr. Stanley said. “I take it, and that just fills me so much in so many ways.” Mr. Applebaum said: “It’s bigger than that performance. It’s bigger than the two of us.” Mr. Stanley said he had similar emotional moments while working on Ms. Lovette’s ballet, which explores not only a same-sex relationship, but also issues of race, both in casting and in theme. “It’s not like we’re pushing boundaries,” Mr. Stanley said, “it’s just that things are sort of looking how they should be looking.” Originally, Ms. Lovette cast Mr. Stanley in her ballet because the women she was considering for the role were all taken. “I wanted to find a dancer that had a very liquid quality — a strength but also a dramatic side and a contemporary feel and I wasn’t finding it,” she said. “Then I thought Taylor has that. That’s exactly Taylor. Why can’t I put two guys together?” The effect, she said, blew her away. “Suddenly, they could just be themselves.” |