The Joyce Theater Breaks New Ground with Ballet v6.0 Festival

There’s more to the ballet world than American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet or regional ballet companies like the Joffrey Ballet Chicago, Miami City Ballet, the Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Ballet, and Salt Lake City’s Ballet West. Those companies are built on the traditional model that ballet companies in particular have followed for centuries with a single artistic director at the top who dictates everything from the style of the company to the repertoire and the dancers themselves. Dancers who are unhappy or want more freedom to try things out their way usually just leave or seek employment at another dance company.

But increasingly, there is another model being adapted in the ballet world, one that resembles closely in approach and sensibility to how more established companies in the modern dance world have spawned smaller companies. What does that look like in the ballet world? Dance lovers will be able to see for themselves with the debut of the Joyce Theater’s Ballet v6.0 Festival, which begins Tuesday and runs through Aug. 17 at the Joyce, 175 Eight Avenue in New York City (www.joyce.org).

The festival features six small companies which are considered leaders of this new wave in the ballet world. “I noticed that there’s been a trend. Ballet dancers and choreographers are leaving the traditional large company structure to form their own, smaller scale groups, in order to take control of their careers,” said Martin Wechsler, director of programming for the Joyce Theater. “When they form their own groups, they can decide for themselves what they want to dance or choreograph rather than answering to the artistic director, or in some cases artistic directors. It basically gives them more control over their careers.”

Examples of this modern dance trend are numerous. Martha Graham left the company of choreographer Ruth St. Denis to form her own company. Paul Taylor left Graham’s company to form his own. Stephen Petronio left Trisha Brown’s company to form his own.

The most well-known example of this trend in the ballet world was Morphoses, the ballet company started by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon while Wheeldon, a former dancer with the New York City Ballet (NYCB), was still a resident choreographer with NYCB. Morphoses is currently inactive; Wheeldon severed ties in 2010 and the company’s co-founder and executive director, Lourdes Lopez, left last fall to become artistic director of the much larger Miami City Ballet.

The schedule and companies performing as part of the Ballet v6.0 Festival this month are:

• Aug. 6-7:  Ballet X, founded by Pennsylvania Ballet’s choreographer –in-residence Matthew Neenan and former Pennsylvania Ballet dancer Christine Cox.
• Aug. 8-10: Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, founded by Walsh, a former Houston Ballet member.
• Aug. 9-10: Company C Contemporary Ballet, founded by NYCB alumnus Charles Anderson.
• Aug. 12-13: Whim W’Him, founded by Pacific Northwest Ballet principal Oliver Wevers two years before he left PNB.
• Aug. 14-15: BalletCollective, founded by Troy Schumacher who is still a dancer with NYCB.
• Aug. 16-17: Jessica Lang Dance, founded by Lang, who has forged a busy career as a choreographer since dancing with Twyla Tharp.

The uncertain future of Morphoses highlights the challenges that may lie ahead for these companies. Securing funding and bookings while retaining one’s artistic focus and inspiration are challenges that have bedeviled companies of all sizes and spelled the demise of many.

Said Wechsler, “I think we just have to see how these companies develop in the future. I can’t speak for them about their goals, their desires or how formally they want to exist in the future or even if they’re hoping to grow into a larger scale company. But these types of companies are definitely a trend to watch.”

— Karyn D. Collins