Contemporary ballet combines the technical training of the classical vernacular with nontraditional music and movement.
The results can energize dancers, who get to perform their pirouettes and grand pliés with a new perspective.
That’s one of the reasons why City Ballet resident choreographers Geoff Gonzalez and Elizabeth Wistrich are looking forward to the staging of “Inspiration in Motion.”
The show is playing at two different venues beginning Friday.
It includes refreshed versions of three original works that are performed to percussive music, along with the poignant Act II pas de deux from “Giselle.”
Gonzalez was rehearsing his original work, titled “Battu,” at the company’s Pacific Beach studio last month. He first created the piece in 2019, but he decided to completely change the accompaniment.
“I wanted to find music that made me feel something and get excited,” he said. “I don’t always have an opportunity to choose what I like. So, this time, I got to have a little more fun.”
Gonzalez was in the process of mixing four compositions that integrate a disco track with the slinky, infectious melody from the song “Caravan,” a jazz standard popularized by Duke Ellington in the 1930s.
He’ll also add the skills of Adam Larocca, a drummer who will layer the music with additional percussion.
“Getting it tight for recording is a challenge but I wanted to create music inspired by other music,” Gonzalez explained.
“I want to use the energy of the beat for creating movement, not so much for developing the construction of the dance. Collaborations are a dream for artists. It’s like, let’s see what we can come up with.”
Wistrich and Gonzalez are from different generations and they get their ideas from a mix of modern and traditional influences.
Gonzalez’s work showcases sensual partnering and jazzy, fluid movement. At rehearsal, he wears a T-shirt and black athletic pants, and occasionally he demonstrates a move that the dancers watch and repeat.
In “Battu” the dancers practiced synchronized lines, crossing in front and behind each other.
“It has drive that way,” Gonzales explained.
“Transitions are a great way to energize movement. It’s all about crossing at the right times and making the right moves.”
Percussive instrumental music also accompanies Wistrich’s “Beyond the Circle” and “Straw Feet.”
She cofounded City Ballet three decades ago and during that time, she has seen her company perform more than 20 works by George Balanchine, a pioneer of contemporary ballet.
Her style is similar, with tightly structured movement that displays stunning athleticism and gestures that grab the eye.
When creating the steps for a dance, Wistrich is known for writing pages and pages of notes. Then, she puts aside the ideas she has committed to paper and heads for the studio, moving through the corps de ballet, directing steps with encouragement and clarification.
She has a signature look: dark blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail, jacket with colorful scarf, black pants and low heels. Her voice is even-toned and she has a regal demeanor, moving deliberately with perfect posture, a discipline she attributes to her mother, a dance teacher who reminded her from across the kitchen table, ‘Don’t slouch.’”
Her choreography for “Beyond the Circle” and “Straw Feet” was created in the 1990s and now refreshed by the current company dancers.
“Beyond the Circle” is named after an album that features ancient Japanese percussive instruments by Osamu Kitajima, a soundscape that helped her to create the work’s intricate partnering.
“Straw Feet” was inspired by the vision of migrating animals, crossing the Serengeti against the backdrop of a shimmering noon-day sun.
An original score by Brian Kohn accompanies her work and the dancers wear leotards in desert colors of orange and yellow.
In one segment, the company dancers moved in tandem to the rhythm, bending their hands at the wrist and fluttering their fingers in a wing-like gesture that called to mind a mass of moving birds.
Dancers Iago Breschi and Ariana Gonzalez rehearsed a jaw-dropping, cat-like move. She ran towards Breschi and jumped up to straddle his waist. While he ed her, she swung her body backwards and slipped down and through his legs, so that her head was even with the floor and facing the opposite direction.
The first show will be staged at Baker-Baum Concert Hall in La Jolla, where the company performed just once before.
It’s a venue that is ideal for more intimate contemporary ballet works.
“We are definitely interested in reaching out to La Jolla,” Gonzalez said. “We want to build an audience there.”
Though they come from different disciplines and times, both of City Ballet’s resident choreographers are single-minded when it comes to perfecting original work. At rehearsal, the company dancers demonstrated skillful teamwork and an enthusiasm for interpreting original movement ideas.
Gonzalez smiled and summed up the advantages in one sentence.
“We run a cool place.”
City Ballet of San Diego: ‘Inspiration in Motion’
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. March 19
Where: Baker-Baum Concert Hall, Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla
Tickets: $38 to $102
Phone: (858) 459-3728
Online: theconrad.org
When: 7:30 p.m. March 22
Where: Center Theater, California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido
Tickets: $41.50 to $81.50
Phone: (800) 988-4253
Online: cityballet.org
Luttrell is a freelance writer.
