Some might, mistakenly, think of ballet as a staid performance art form, still confined within formal traditions of centuries past. But, as part of the celebration of its new partnership with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), Richmond Ballet’s Artistic Director Ma Cong seems to be doing everything in his power to blow the doors off those kinds of preconceptions.
The Moving Art series premiering this weekend expands on the popular Studio Series performances that had been held at the ballet’s headquarters downtown. “Moving Art One” will be the first performance by the company in the newly-renovated Leslie Cheek Theatre at the VMFA.
Ma has not only programmed a bigger slate (three dances versus two) but also purposely chosen innovative, challenging and groundbreaking works.
“My idea is to give people a sense of the variety they can experience at the ballet,” says Ma. “I hope they can find a deeper connection to the different types of dance and the new directions we’ll be exploring at the VMFA.”
In the most obvious nod to this new relationship, Ma has revived his “Pentaptych” that he premiered at the Tulsa Ballet in 2018. The dance features abstract artist Eric Sall creating a new original painting onstage during the course of the performance in response to the movements of the dancers.
Sall, a Tulsa-based artist who earned his Masters of Fine Arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, still remembers when the concept was first suggested to him. “When it became clear that Ma wanted me on a platform on stage, I was like ‘No, I don’t do that,’” he says.
Having worked through the experience during the Tulsa production, Sall now sees the benefits both to him and the audience. “Working abstractly, the questions people ask me a lot are ‘How do you start?’ and ‘When do you know it’s done?’” he says.
“Those things are answered in this scenario because one of the dancers is actually the first person to touch the canvas, so I’m already in response mode. There’s a lot of call and response to making the marks on the canvas and it’s a limited time frame, 22 minutes.”
The resulting large paintings measuring 5’x7’ will be on sale immediately after each performance.
The “Moving Art One” slate also includes “Labarena,” an eclectic mix of traditional ballet and African dance styles choreographed by Val Caniparoli, the artist behind “What’s Going On,” featured in the ballet’s Studio Finale production last September.
In developing “Labarena” more than 30 years ago, Caniparoli collaborated with West African dance consultants Dr. Zakarya Diouf and Naomi Johnson-Diouf. “This is not me making up African dance, this is authentic,” says Caniparoli.
“Zak and Naomi came into the studio and worked directly with the dancers,” he continues. “We developed a process of honoring both traditional ballet and West African dance and sharing the cultures.”
To prepare for the dance, Ibrahima Diouf, the son of Zak and Naomi, worked with the Richmond company, presenting several classes on West African techniques. Diouf says that his work largely focused on getting dancers to loosen up. “They’re used to keeping everything upright, keeping their core posture,” he explains. “I tell dancers they have to feel the music in their body, feel the rhythm of what you’re dancing to.
“[The Richmond company] is doing an exceptional job, freeing their bodies and really eating up everything I’m telling them.”
The final dance on the “Moving Art” triple bill is a pas de deux from “After the Rain” by Christopher Wheeldon, O.B.E. Ma is excited to expose Richmonders to Wheeldon, who has gained acclaim thanks in part to his work on high-profile Broadway shows like “MJ: The Musical.” “We’re very fortunate to get his work,” says Ma. “Famous choreographers want to make sure the company is able to perform their work.
“This production is not just beneficial for our audience but also for our dancers because they are being challenged artistically and technically.”
Richmond Ballet has built a relationship with VMFA over many years, enlisting the museum as their community partner on their acclaimed youth engagement program, Minds in Motion, back in 2018. Discussions on staging the Studio Series at the museum started four years ago and the announcement of the plan to do so came in 2023.
Since then, the Leslie Cheek Theatre has undergone an extensive $5.3 million renovation, involving widening the stage, upgrading lighting and audio/visual capabilities and refurbishing the seating.
Ma uses a culinary metaphor to reflect his strategy with the “Moving Art” series. “I want to give people a different sense of taste with each piece,” he says. “They’re not all going to be buttery smooth; some can be very spicy.”
“Moving Art One” will have six performances on the VMFA’s Leslie Cheek Theatre from March 20 to March 30. Performances are already nearly sold out but tickets and information are available at https://richmondballet.com/performances/. “Moving Art Two” will be presented from May 8 to May 18.
