This system was a compelling demonstration of how an imagistic thought can thread works collectively. It additionally made evident that the classical and conventional can sit comfortably beside the post-modern, the groundbreaking and risk-taking. The corporate is stepping ahead underneath a brand new identify, a brand new imaginative and prescient and new management – and doing so with tenacity and readability. 

Catch Hearth! opened with the world premiere of Tristian Griffin’s Ashes, a piece each clear and stuffed with thriller, daring but additionally welcoming. It started with dancers slowly crawling in, the one rating the quiet rufflings of their gray costumes (by Naomi Tanioka) and their motion throughout the stage. The rating (from Michael Wall) regularly rose, as did they – but, they remained weighted in area and in vitality. A soloist, elevating and transferring extra rapidly, acted as some type of catalyst for the remainder of the group; quickly, they have been all transferring extra vertically and with the rating’s fast wanderings.

Extra riveting layers advanced from there. Beats within the rating grew to become like a heartbeat: constant, nearly meditative. Dancers added to that with clapping – reminding me simply how splendidly musical dancers are (they have to be!). Additionally they moved totally attuned to that heartbeat, limbs like waves. Griffin’s curvilinear vocabulary on this piece felt a bit extra classical and fewer summary than that in prior works of his I’ve seen (akin to The Lacking Peace, 2022) – but no much less intentional and no much less satisfying. 

Each works demonstrated Griffin’s potential to construct an explosive group vitality but additionally softer moments – akin to with a young duet and an impassioned solo (from Athena Flournoy) later in Ashes. Many additional sections graced the stage, every a neat package deal tied with a bow — full and cohesive.

In some unspecified time in the future alongside these sections, the vitality notably rose. Reds and oranges stuffed the stage (lighting by Stephen Petrilli). With stomps, claps and transferring with full abandon, the dancers exuded a primal spirit. They moved spaciously and hungrily. “Dancing embers above the ash,” I assumed – and that’s when all of it clicked for me. Whether or not intentional or not, the work made kinetic the life cycle of fireplace. “Ashes to ashes, mud to mud,” I additionally thought. 

That concept felt all of the clearer for me because the work returned to at least one soloist dancing above dancers in grey, lunging and crawling low and sluggish. “A-B-A” construction – in different phrases, coming “full-circle” – can typically really feel a bit trite. For this work, nonetheless, it merely labored — thematically, kinetically, energetically. Ashes to ashes, mud to mud – however in between, we dance. We’re illuminated. 

After intermission got here Inventive Director Danielle Genest’s 2023 memorable reimagining of the traditional story ballet The Firebird (1910). Genest has a commendable potential to make the classical breathe free – to launch, to be weighted, to search out serpentine ease – and she or he definitely introduced that to this work. 

The very first thing we skilled of the work was the rating (from Igor Stravinksy) — emotional, bracing. Then got here the backdrop (set design by Shawndavid Berry) — meshing midnight grays and fiery reds, it mirrored the ambiance to return. Gregory Tyndall as The Wanderer danced in, transferring with a softness on prime of his energy, a top quality that embodied the uncertainty and waywardness of his character. 

The Firebird herself, danced by Margot Aknin, quickly entered. She moved with pure vitality by way of each finger and toe, as vibrant as her costume (by Eileen Stoops). But, she additionally didn’t overdo a factor; she let the motion and her artistry do its magic. Portraying a timeless dynamic, The Wanderer grew to become enraptured and – tightly embracing her – appeared intent on possession. At first, she protested, however earlier than lengthy submitted to his seize. She molded to his agency assist as they partnered. 

Quickly, The Dreamers entered. They danced with a sweetness – a lightness, a heat – evincing their placid nature. Formations fashioned and dissolved in a manner that felt like a narrative unfolding — apropos for the story ballet at hand. With the stage buzzing on this manner, and the music coming to crescendo, this a part of the story felt like large information spreading by way of a tight-knit neighborhood. Brooke DiFrancesco additionally entered as The Protector, transferring along with her signature effervescent, but additionally understated class. She danced with simply the precise high quality to assist her character’s guiding of the itinerant The Wanderer.  

The slinking and foreboding The Monsters, having made one earlier look within the work, quickly returned. At their helm was The Sorceress, danced by Kelly Moeller Rabe, the foundation of those furtive creatures’ darkness. Program notes appeared to affirm that these creatures weren’t inherently ill-willed or malicous – that got here from this witch. Quickly got here an epic battle between these forces of sunshine and darkish — one other timeless dynamic.

The Firebird confronted off in opposition to The Sorceress, and the distinction between them – between their elementary natures – couldn’t have been clearer. The liberty and light-weight that The Firebird brings — that’s what at stake right here, I assumed. In the end, the Sorceress fell and stumbled, struggling for all times. Those that restrict the liberty of others solely restrict themselves in the long run, I mused. A large egg appeared to carry some type of Sorceress essence; she was extinguished when characters on the facet of The Firebird, and what she represented, destroyed it. 

That additionally meant that The Monsters have been now not underneath her spell, and so they might dance free with the benign characters within the story. They danced a Nutcracker-type ending, transferring collectively in strains to booming, joyful music – then resulted in a relatively classical tableau, The Firebird lifted excessive. The work as a complete was infused with the values and aesthetics of 2023, nonetheless. 

Basic or trendy, previous or new, then or now, the fireplace within the human soul dances and shines all the identical. Catch Hearth!, with two disparate works however kindred in spirit, was a beacon of that reality. I look ahead to seeing what fireplace and soul Newport Up to date Ballet will proceed to carry. We dance on! 

By Kathryn Boland of Dance Informa.