Season premieres are always milestones for arts organizations. When it’s the first one in-person since 2019 and the first by a new artistic director, it’s an extra special occasion.
Susan Jaffe, who joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre last summer, will make her Benedum Center debut as artistic director this weekend when the company opens its 2021-22 mainstage season with a mixed repertory program packed with contemporary and classical showstoppers. Dancers will be accompanied on stage by the PBT Orchestra.
PBT will dedicate its season opener to former artistic director Patricia Wilde, who died in July at age 93.
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s COVID-19 guidelines will be enforced. Audience members will be required to show proof of vaccination at the door. For those not able to be vaccinated due to age, a health condition or deeply held religious beliefs, proof of a negative antigen or PCR test taken within 24 or 72 hours, respectively, of the performance must be presented. Masks must be worn in the venue.
“What’s really special about being in the theater — in a real theater — for the first time as the new artistic director is I get to present the kinds of works that I can stand behind and really get excited about,” Jaffe said. “It’s a very well-rounded program.”
It will include American choreographer Helen Pickett’s “Petal” (2008), a PBT premiere, danced to music by Philip Glass and Thomas Montgomery Newman. This presentation of it is sponsored by the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Fund for Innovation in Dance.
“It is just fierce and powerful,” Jaffe explained. “It’s very contemporary, with classical work from the waist down. The dancers are doing an amazing job on that.”
That’s followed by what Jaffe describes as a “daredevil pas de deux” by Russian choreographer Victor Gsovsky. His “Grand Pas Classique” (1949), set to a Daniel-Francois Auber score, is a classical feat rich with ambitious balances and turns.
Another highlight will be a world premiere by Canadian-born choreographer Jennifer Archibald, founding artistic director of the Arch Dance Company. For PBT, she’s created “Through the Window,” which weaves elements of ballet and modern with hip-hop. In a prepared statement, Archibald said the title refers to “quiet moments of self reflection.”
With a mix of music, including Uno Helmersson’s “The Silent Lake” and Frans Bak’s “Singing the Truth,” the work is a bit “off the beaten path for PBT,” Jaffe said. “It’s quite an emotional work, and it is people in [a] community helping each other.”
The program also will feature George Balanchine’s brilliant “Diamonds” (1967). Danced to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29, the work showcases the corps de ballet in sparkling white tutus and a principal couple in an extraordinarily difficult-yet-elegant pas de deux. Grad students from the PBT School will dance along with the company.
At 8:15 p.m. Saturday, PBT will present a livestream of “Diamonds” for patrons who prefer to watch from home as a tribute to Wilde. On Friday, opening night, a gallery of photos from her life and career as a celebrated New York City Ballet dancer and teacher will be on display in the Benedum Center lobby and mezzanine beginning at 6:15 p.m. There will be additional tributes on stage by Jaffe throughout the weekend.
“When Pat died, she didn’t want flowers,” Jaffe said. “She wanted people to give to the live music fund.”
Launched in 2019, the goal of PBT’s live music appeal is to raise enough funds to sustain live music at the ballet for the next 50 years.
For PBT’s dancers, the return to Benedum Center has been a long time coming. The company is fully vaccinated and has been rehearsing back together in PBT’s Strip District studios for a while now. Although they wear face masks to rehearse, they won’t be required to wear them on stage.
“We sweat through a lot of masks,” said soloist Corey Bourbonniere, laughing. “I tell people it feels like altitude training. That’s the closest thing I can compare it to. I think it’s going to be a lot different going on stage [without a mask] and being able to take a full breath.”
He also anticipates opening night being a sentimental experience — for dancers and audience members alike.
“We haven’t been on that stage since February 2020 when we did ‘Beauty and the Beast,’” he said. “This will be a homecoming for us. I don't even know if I'm going to be emotionally prepared for it.”
Sara Bauknecht: sbauknecht@post-gazette.com or on Twitter and Instagram @SaraB_PG.
First Published: October 21, 2021, 5:00 p.m.