On Tuesday October 12th at around 6 PM, various fashion legends, celebrities and renowned dancers dressed to the nines and headed to Frederick P. Rose Hall at Lincoln Center for a benefit dinner. This special event was held by the American Ballet Theater as part of a new effort to promote the freedom of expression and to dare choregraphers to really push the limit. The ballet theater has decided to call it The Innovation Initiative. I truly began to understand the essence of the movement with a quote from Hallberg, one of the principal dancers. He said, “The Innovation Initiative was created with a sole purpose of nurturing the exploration of new movement, giving choreographers a platform for experimentation. We hope this program will set a course to discover new ideas and nurture creativity.”
On this special night, four young choreographers of the American Ballet Theater saw their original works performed for the first time. Leading up to this climactic and exciting performance was a four week choreography workshop, where the four young creators (Gemma Bond, Nicola Curry, Daniel Mantei and Craig Salstein) worked with artists in residence Alexei Ratmansky and Stephen Pier and the artistic director Kevin McKenzie.
I feel that The Innovation Initiative really speaks to us as young adults who are just beginning to explore completely new things in college. It is empowering to be reminded that it is up to us to expand the horizons of what’s been done already and therefore, we should feel free to express ourselves, like these dancers did.
Check out the article about this here and a NY Times review of it here.
It is a wonderful thing when really talented people get together with untalented people with lots of money. Glad these choreographers are getting support. There is a great big world out there to explore. Nice post.