Benjamin Millepied is a choreographer of exquisite taste and pedigree. He also has a filmmaker’s eye.
Lured to the New York City Ballet by its grounding in the works of Balanchine and Robbins, the influence of these two greats on Millepied is undeniable and has moulded him into one of the finest neoclassical choreographers of our time.
Whether on stage or screen, it is always a pleasure to behold his fluid choreography that combines effortless virtuosity and seething passion.
Even his non-narrative works, such as the brilliant Chaconne (a co-production of Royal Ballet Flanders and the LA Dance Project, which Millepied founded 2011), speak to the soul, imbuing moments of pure dance with character and drama.
If Millepied can do that to Bach’s Partita for Violin No. 2, what can he do with Prokofiev’s melodramatic Romeo and Juliet?
David Adrian Freeland, Jr. and Mario Gonzalez in Benjamin Millepied’s Romeo and Juliet Suite. Photo © Daniel Boud
The answer is a lot, with Millepied delivering an intricately crafted work that is beautiful to behold, steeped in humanity, and a breathtaking showcase of the dancers’ virtuosity.
These are dancers well versed in the choreography of Merce Cunnigham, Martha Graham, William Forsythe, Pam Tanowitz, Christopher Wheeldon and our very own Stanton Welch, to name but a few.
Their combined experience allows them to make light work of Millepied’s seamless blend of styles, including perfectly executed classical extensions, flexed feet and references to West Side Story.
Millepied has a canny gift for making you think you’re watching Balanchine or Robbins, before surprising you with something entirely his own yet firmly rooted in his antecedents.
In his ravishing pas de deux, filmed live in front of the Sydney Opera House and watched on screen in the Joan Sutherland Theatre, there are also references to Cranko’s version of Romeo and Juliet, especially in the way the lovers embrace and their bodies entwine.
You can’t improve on perfection, and Millepied is wise not to try.
However, he does extrapolate, ingeniously it must be said, so that what we are watching on screen is at once fresh and familiar – the true mark of a craftsman who respects his tools and heritage.
Lorrin Brubaker and Shu Kinouchi in Benjamin Millepied’s Romeo and Juliet Suite. Photo © Daniel Boud
Millepied also uses the Sydney Opera House as a backdrop to the lovers’ joyous and youthful exploration of each other’s bodies, its soaring concrete buttresses and iconic exterior accentuating the heights of their love and sexual awakening.
This sharply contrasts with the gloomy and at times terrifying bowels of the building where a nail-biting chase between Romeo and Tybalt comes to its inevitable and brutal end.
On stage, the dancers occupy a neon environment that might have been designed by artists such as Dan Flavin or James Turell.
Its centrepiece is a screen which, when not showing live recorded footage of the dancers outside or backstage, resembles a Rothko painting in mutable shades of red, orange and white (the colours of the stage floor and the neon strips that frame it).
Rothko’s abstract paintings dealt with the fundamental nature of “human drama”, their rectangular forms in alternating dark and light colours conveying both tragedy and ecstasy – the perfect backdrop for Romeo and Juliet’s story.
The screen is also used for close-ups of the dancers which range from the playful during the ‘opening titles’ (drawn in chalk on the proscenium by the dancers themselves) to the gut-wrenching (such as Romeo’s silent scream as he holds Juliet’s apparently lifeless body).
Clever use of mise en abyme, frames within frames and point-of-view shots allow us to see the expressions of characters in the background, adding subtext to what is happening on stage. This is put to particularly good use when Tybalt watches Romeo’s solo from the wings.
Members of the LA Dance Project in Benjamin Millepied’s Romeo and Juliet Suite. Photo © Daniel Boud
On several occasions, aerial shots allow the audience to appreciate the dancers’ precise spacing and line formations. At other times, the camerawork (full marks to LA Dance Project’s Associate Artistic Director Sebastien Marcovici) weaves in and out of onstage formations which, when viewed on screen, reveal stunning tableaux that would otherwise not be seen from the audience’s perspective.
Millepied’s Romeo and Juliet Suite is being presented with a combination of pairings in the title roles. On opening night, we were treated to David Adrian Freeland, Jr. as ‘Romeo’ and Mario Gonzalez as ‘Juliet’.
Their technique is superb and their portrayals are utterly genuine, making us believe in love at first sight.
As Tybalt and Mercutio, Lorrin Brubaker and Shu Kinouchi perform at all performances. Both are equally brilliant and shine in their respective solos.
This might be a modern-dress production verging on the abstract, yet it is the most believable version of the story this writer has enjoyed in a long, long time.
Was anything missing? Yes.
We could have had more – much, much more – and hopefully, Millepied and the LA Dance Project will soon return with just that.
Benjamin Millepied’s Romeo and Juliet Suite is at the Sydney Opera House until 9 June.
