American Ballet Theatre Studio Company has a firm fanbase in London; the young dancers always display high technical standards and they are unfailingly charming, full of the unique American type of dance energy. Artistic Director Sasha Radetsky has a particular talent for curation; his programmes are always chosen with sensitivity to the young dancers’ individual strengths, as well as the need to balance old and new work in a way that will engage and entertain the audience. On this occasion we were shown four pas de deux, two solos and three group pieces, and there was not a moment of dullness in any of them.
The current cohort includes several dancers with whom many of us are familiar through the Prix de Lausanne or Youth America Grand Prix. These included Natalie Steele, who showed a consistent feel for upper back and shoulder line and has a particularly charming stage presence; Sooha Park, with a classical technique to die for, never faltering throughout the Rose Adagio; Yeonseo Choi, whose performance in the Black Swan pas de deux showed maturity well beyond her years and who danced so securely that she hardly seemed to break a sweat, and Paloma Livellara, trained at the Academie Princesse Grace in Monaco.
Max Catazaro, a member of an Ohio “ballet family” that includes former New York City Ballet principal Zachary Catazaro, showed impressive strength and stamina; he was on cavalier duty in the Rose Adagio as well as dancing the full Black Swan with Choi and partnering her skilfully, and Gerald Arpino’s Birthday Variations pas de deux with Steele. Arpino, a co-founder of Joffrey Ballet, made several delightful pieces that are not seen in London, so this was a fresh experience and lightly, charmingly danced.
Brady Farrar graduated from the Studio Company into the main company, and is an excellent dancer as well as showing incipient choreographic talent that will ensure his career in ballet will be long and strong. His Night Falls, danced by Livellara with Elijah Geolino, captured the essence of nightfall and the dancers embodied his intentions beautifully.
One of the principal highlights was the exhilarating Gopak solo dance by Ptolemy Gidney, who made a lasting impression at the Royal Ballet School summer performance in 2023, dancing faultlessly in Bournonville’s Konservatoriet. That piece requires excellent ballon, fine batterie and relaxed but precise upper body work, so I was interested to see how Gidney would fare in a high-flying virtuoso piece. The answer is: spectacularly, and the athletic feats were topped with a sparkling personality that could not fail to charm.
I have been following the career of Kayla Mak for a few years now. I have seen her in mainly contemporary work, and in this field she is, I believe, capable of becoming a major force; as well as performing with the Studio Company, she has graduated from Juilliard this year, so she clearly does not lack commitment or stamina. I was intrigued to see that she would be opening the programme in Balanchine’s lung-busting pas de deux Tarantella, dancing with the emerging star Max Barker, who already has a significant fan following. He is a classicist with a pure technique; would these two meld as a partnership? Of course they did, and neither showed any sign of the exhaustion this pas de deux engenders. Both coped easily with the fast footwork and changes of direction, and brought bags of sparkle to the work.
In Human, a solo for Mak by Yannick Lebrun of Alvin Ailey company, beautiful, sinuous choreography brought forth luminous, easy athleticism from Mak. She is gifted with a flexible, lithe physique but she also has the innate sensibility of a true artist, using every fibre of her body to express emotion. She has that rare ability to make you feel she is dancing for you and you alone. I look forward to her future career.
The programme closed with Interplay by Jerome Robbins, choreographed immediately following the outstanding success of his Fancy Free. The title, of course, references the interplay of personalties and people, but also explores the musical interplay between classical music and jazz and blues influences in Morton Gould’s lovely score, as well as the modern interpretation of classically-based choreography. As the eight dancers move in and out of skilfully made pairings, solos and group work, one can clearly discern similarities to the later Dances at a Gathering, perhaps Robbins’ most popular work. It is a perfect choice for this company, and Barker, particularly, did full justice to the quirky comedic moments as well as to the technical and interpretive ones. It was evident that the cast were thoroughly enjoying themselves, and so, beyond a doubt were the onlookers.
