Deputy Arts Editor Avery Baumel reviews Columbia Ballet Collaborative’s Spring 2024 gala performance.

When Columbia Ballet Collaborative (CBC) announced that their shows would continue last weekend, they did so with an acknowledgment that “the past week has been a time of immense heartbreak” and “the right to feel safe and supported on campus is vital, and that trust has been broken.” Originally scheduled to perform at the Miller Theatre on campus, they decided to move the performances off campus to the Ailey Citigroup Theatre. Holding the performances, they hoped, would be “an opportunity to rebuild trust within our dance community.” They also cited the financial disruption of canceling the performances, since CBC is a student-run organization. In the pre-show announcement by directors Alexandra Ling (GS ‘25) and Christine Li (SEAS ‘26), they again acknowledged the difficulty of recent events.

To see students create and move was an act of catharsis within a campus-wide moment of crisis. With five premieres of new choreography and one performance of pre-existing repertoire, the evening was full of interesting, creative explorations of movement. CBC has always been a place for new choreography to flourish, and this night was no different.

The opening moment of Takehiro Ueyama’s “Like a Flower Blooming in the Field” saw Katie Sponenburg (BC ‘24), in a corner of a dimly lit stage, begin to move in a way that felt like she was unfurling each muscle and bone from their hollows. Later, Tatiana Heintz (CC ‘26) and Nicholas Meyers (CC ‘24) floated through slow, miniscule movements, while the rest of the cast (Sponenburg, Weineinger, Danielle Schmode (BC ‘27), and Carol Davis (BC ‘26)) found a collective, precise rhythm in a line across the stage. This was a piece that centered around growth and nature, its dancers clothed in mostly greens and its music Max Richter’s recomposition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. At the same time, the choreography had an intense sense of destruction and violence. Dancers crawled off-stage on their backs, or repeated the same movement over and over—compulsion? Insanity? Although the combination didn’t always feel cohesive, both themes were wonderful to watch.

Miro Magloire’s “Fortis Meam” featured five dancers (Willa Broderick (CC ‘24), Una Oljaca (GS ‘25), Hortense Pelletan (GS ‘25), Caitlin Rogers (GS ‘25), and Samantha Sacks (CC ‘22, MA ‘25)), all in pointe shoes. For the first few minutes, the dancers remained in a flower-like formation, with one dancer standing still with flowing, gesturing arms while three others sat around her and the fifth spun or leaped on the outside of the formation. The standing dancer would roll out of the circle, everyone would shift positions, and the sequence would continue. It was beautiful, though repetitive, which remained true throughout the piece. Sacks had a gorgeous balancé, and Oljaca a lovely arabesque fouetté, both of which became common features of phrases. The music, Alyssa Regent’s “Fortis Meam,” masterfully played live by cellist Clara Cho, brought the piece together.

Clara Monk’s “Voyages” was impressively precise, despite a last-minute cast change as Meyers stood in for Ian Segall (CC ‘27). In lines of chassé turns and energetic partnered saut de chats, the dancers (Meyers, Larissa Souki (CC ‘27), Rose Hollingsworth (CC ‘24), Elisa Glauber (SPH ‘25), Sreya Sathish Kumar (CC ‘27), and Ashlynn Rutherford (CC ‘24)) looked genuinely joyful. Monk’s choreography was very musical, pairing phrases or movements with specific cues that then re-emerged later. There was a playfulness to it, especially with the dancers in bright blue; it felt happy, airy, light.

The first of two student choreographers was Hollingsworth, who presented “(you’re a) feast for the eyes,” set to a Handel suite and two songs by Daughter. Nicely complementing the music, it was a slow, serious piece that allowed each dancer to explore impressive emotional and technical ranges. The choreography was intense and dramatic, with the dancers (Glauber, Dominique Jenssen (GS ‘24), Jules Kramer (BC ‘27), Katherine Kuckhoff (GS ‘25), and Danielle Zuccaro (CC ‘27)) leaping into contractions, hitting sharply precise moments of stillness, and pointing and staring into a corner. This was an impressive and exciting choreographic debut.

“tossUp,” choreographed by Parker Whitehead-Bust (BC ‘24), was created in collaboration with composer Won Jong (CC ‘26). Her choreography felt like it existed within its own world, with the combination of lighting, all-green costumes, and Jong’s score, which brought together eclectic sounds: plucks, clicks, gong booms, a waterfall. The piece’s movement had a really interesting blend of styles, with a fistfight breaking into petit allegro, or spasm-like explosions fading into smooth lunges and slides. The end brought back motifs from the beginning with a new, controlled urgency and a final moment of explosive energy. This was another incredible set of dancers (Shaye Hazen (BC ‘27), Heintz, Eleanor Hutchinson (BC ‘27), Schmode, and Souki) and the combination of their talent, Whitehead-Bust’s choreography, and Jong’s score made for a fabulous ten minutes. 

The final piece was the opening section of George Balanchine’s “Serenade,” performed with permission from the Balanchine Trust, and staged by Amanda Edge, a Balanchine Trust répétiteur (in this context, someone who coaches dancers to restage a previously created work on a new cast). This is a truly iconic ballet, and to see Columbia dancers perform it was special. CBC performed Balanchine’s “Elegie” last semester, which was also beautiful, but their execution of “Serenade” had a particularly wonderful sense of purpose, dedication, and commitment. This is a piece that has a kind of magic to it, and the opening bars never fail to make me tear up. CBC’s dancers’ expressions made it clear that they felt that magic, too. Sacks as the soloist was light and energetic in her jumps, and the corps was precisely together in their delicate canons and formations. It was the perfect ending to the evening. 

I could not write this review without acknowledging that while the art that CBC shared was incredibly beautiful and important, the performance’s physical distance from campus was accompanied by what felt like an emotional distancing. There’s no perfect solution, and for some, continuing with as much normalcy as possible might be needed. Our community’s collective heartbreak is something that can, I think, be eased and experienced through art, but only with an intentional effort to acknowledge and center those feelings. Still: in the opening bars of Serenade, in the squeak of pointe shoes, in the focus in the dancers’ eyes, there was a constant reminder of the beauty of creation, of community, of art. It was undeniably beautiful.

CBC dancers via Sophia Loo.