BalletX journeyed toward enlightenment in the world premiere of Jennifer Archibald’s "Lord of the Flies"-inspired ballet. The company also reached a new peak.

by Ellen Dunkel | The Philadelphia Inquirer

BalletX journeyed toward enlightenment in the world premiere of Jennifer Archibald’s Maslow’s Peak Friday night at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, opening the Mann’s season.

The company also reached a new peak with this Lord of the Flies-inspired ballet. It looked like a different troupe, ready for much bigger stages than the intimate Suzanne Roberts Theater it performs in most of the year.

Not only did it captivate the large space at the Mann (which seats 13,000, including the lawn), but it seamlessly took on many layers of dance and presentation.

The company has been preparing for this piece for 18 months (while still rehearsing for and performing other work). But it also displays new skills not previously unveiled. For example, BalletX is up to 16 dancers (from last year’s 14) and most did not have experience with aerial work. Yet it is featured throughout the evening-length ballet.

There are many risks taken throughout the piece. The dancers climb up and jump off a large rock. They work on an airplane wing turned slide. They perform fast, difficult partnering.

There are elements of a Broadway show or Cirque du Soleil, but the piece is fully grounded in BalletX’s genre, and the dancers move constantly. Most of the steps are ballet and contemporary dance-based, although there are also backspins and other elements of hip-hop dance as well as cartwheels and handsprings.

There is a battle scene that had a whiff of the one in The Nutcracker. In Maslow’s Peak, the dancers each wield a long spear and perform in synchronized formation (presumably because their characters went to military school) before fighting each other.

Emily Morgan’s costumes are also based on their school. They represent pieces of the uniform that get torn and stripped down over time. The dancers also perform in socks and kneepads, which are both functional and part of the look.

If you’re expecting a retelling of Lord of the Flies, Maslow’s Peak was never planned as a full-out story ballet. But the narrative is even looser than I expected, especially considering a dramaturge (Kate Mattingly) was involved. If you didn’t know the novel, you probably will not tease out the plot, which is about a group of British schoolboys stranded on a desert island after a plane crash.

But the themes were what Archibald was after, and they are strong: fear, conflict, domination, and trying to find a way to coexist despite all that. (These themes still resonate strongly today, Archibald says in the program notes.)

The staging is as impressive as the dance. Set against a soundscape Archibald assembled of nature sounds, cello music, and percussion, the stage featured the aforementioned large rock and airplane wing, as well as nearly 200 ropes hanging from the rafters that gave it a jungle ambience (all designed by Guy de Lancey and built by Proof Productions in Sewall, N.J.). Sometimes the dancers swung on the apparatus. Sometimes the vines dance along on their own.

De Lancey also designed the projections, which play throughout the piece. The light changes as the days pass, and there are jungle scenes, a large eye watching the characters’ every move, and a naval officer. (William Golding was in the British Navy during World War II, and his novel reflects his experiences.)

Two of the dancers represent the main characters, Jack and Ralph (Jared Kelly and Jerard Palazzo, respectively), but all of the dancers become the lord of the flies in the second act, donning masks. Indeed, while there are solos and duets, it is almost entirely a group piece.

Maslow’s Peak was planned for only a two-day run at the Mann. It needs a large stage and a big commitment. But it deserves to be seen again.

(via The Philadelphia Inquirer)