It’s hard to go wrong with ballet. From a toddlers’ class giggling nervously through Swan Lake to the zaniest comic piece by Los Trocoderos, ballet excites, inspires, and delights us. All these occurred at the American Ballet Theatre performance April 14 at the Auditorium Theatre. I was very much looking forward to this performance; American ballet Theatre (ABT) is one of the most celebrated companies in the world. But I hadn’t anticipated just how vigorously and comprehensively they would blow my socks clean off.

The show was in three acts – unusual to have two intermissions in a two-hour show, but as the night unfolded it became clear why it had to be so. Act One was “Songs of Bukovina”. I couldn’t resist googling Bukovina: the region, sparsely populated since the Paleolithic (!), is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided between Romania and Ukraine. The language spoken is Romanian with influences of Moldovan, Transylvanian, and Maramureș. Whew! … try saying that three times fast! Any road, one expects a folk-dance sort of thing, and one would be correct. “Songs of Bukovina”, including ten dancers and led by principals Isabella Boylston and Daniel Camargo, was a celebration of the global genre of folk dance, with brilliantly colored costumes designed by Moritz Junge whirling about the stage. The music in “Songs of Bukovina” is excerpted by composer Leonid Desyatnikov from “Bukovinian Songs [24 Preludes for Piano]”, performed by pianist Jacek Mysinski.

Scene from Songs of Bukovina. Photo by Marty Sohl.

I had noted that the first dance in Act Two, “Touché”, listed Sarah Lozoff as Intimacy Director – a common role in theatrical productions but not, in my experience, customary for dance. I have mentioned in previous reviews my predilection for male pas de deux, and “Touché” gave me the pas de deux of my dreams. It began with Calvin Royal III and João Menegussi standing motionless on the stage and shouting individual words: “No!”, “Come”, “Fuck!”. Slowly they began to move, individually at first but with a gradual transition to synchronicity. Christopher Rudd’s choreography made it progressively more clear that we were witnessing a mating dance, so it was perfectly natural when they began to shed their clothes. Once they were near-naked the dance became more sensual, enhanced by Brad Fields’ inventive lighting – at one point the house lights came up while leaving the stage nearly dark.

In fencing, touché means “touched”. Fencers who have been hit may call out “touché” to acknowledge the touch. If, however, no hit was actually made, the fencer's adversary would say, "pas de touché" (in English: no touch) to indicate that the hit should not be counted. Via Woodkid and Ennio Morricone’s music, and the danseurs’ brilliantly controlled balletic motion, this spell-binding pas de deux was enhanced by the aura of pas de touché, a tempestuous ambience that saturated the dance. The standing ovation continued through three curtain calls.

Touché

There was a brief pause between “Touché” and “Some Assembly Required”, during which I reflected that I did not envy the dancers who would have to follow Royal and Menegussi’s sensational performance. But Katherine Williams and Jarod Curley rose to the challenge. “Some Assembly Required” could have been simply a hetero apologia to “Touché”, but Clark Tippet’s choreography and Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner’s staging did a fine job on its own merits. The brooding atmosphere of “Touché” was lifted by Kobi Malkin and Emily Wong’s performance of William Bolcom’s Second Sonata for Violin and Piano, setting a more frolicsome tone to ready the audience for “ZigZag”, a sprightly medley of Tony Bennett songs (with a very special duet with Lady Gaga).

“ZigZag”, a work for 14 dancers, premiered in October 2021. This performance included four of the original principals, Devon Teusch, Luciana Paris, Cassandra Trenary, and Joo Won Ahn, with the addition of Aran Bell and Blaine Hoven.

“ZigZag” was a perfect finale, a dazzling whirlwind of music and movement. The Tony Bennett medley included such favorites as What the World Needs Now, I Left My Heart in San Francisco, and It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing. Costumers Wes Gordon and Carolina Herrera dressed the chorus in bumptious black-and-white polka-dot tutus, setting off the principals in bright primary colors. Jessica Lang’s choreography evoked a blooming Spring season with It’s De-Lovely, Blue Moon and Springtime in Manhattan., and Derek McLane incorporated artwork by Bennett in the scenery. The final song, How Do You Keep the Music Playing, brought the audience to its feet, where we remained through several curtain calls.

I’ve made no secret that my favorite piece was “Touché”, and the ovation and curtain calls demonstrated that I wasn’t alone in that. However, the brilliance of “Touché” was intensified by all the works surrounding it, as a diamond’s luster is enhanced by its cut and setting.

American Ballet Theatre is only in Chicago for a brief stay, but where- and when-ever you have a chance to see them perform, you will not be disappointed.