Arts Editor Avery Baumel reviews Columbia Ballet Collaborative’s latest program.

In five newly commissioned works, Columbia Ballet Collaborative’s dancers showcased their technical and artistic talents. The program, featuring works by professional choreographers Keerati Jinakunwiphat, Margaret Wiss (DPT ‘24), Nicholas Ranauro, and Da’ Von Doane, and student choreographer Elizabeth Hasapis (CC ‘25), was varied and beautiful. 

In the past few programs I’ve seen that combine professional and student choreography, I’ve noticed a vibrancy and intentionality of student work in comparison to the perhaps more technical, but often also less innovative, professional work. This program was no different, with one of the stand-out works being Hasapis’s “Misspent Youth,” and another being “Forth and Back,” created by Wiss, who is both a professional choreographer and a recent graduate of Columbia’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program. Maybe it’s that this closeness to the Columbia community leads them to have a greater understanding of their dancers, or that existence as a student lends itself to a different excitement or curiosity; I’m not sure, but it’s interesting to observe.

“Misspent Youth” had a lovely sense of intention. Heads nodded along to jazzy music; two dancers stood in parallel, making precise quarter turns that reminded me of gears; radio static revealed new songs that pulled apart the choreography into its composite languages. The dancers (Anna Patchefsky (CC ‘25), Danielle Zuccaro (CC ‘27), Sreya Sathish Kumar (CC ‘27), Emily Choi (BC ‘26), and Emi Horkan (CC ‘28)) at turns sat, leaning against each other, nervously rubbed their hands together, patted their thighs. This kind of postmodern movement wouldn’t seem out of place in Barnard’s dance department showcases, but in this context, it was refreshing. Pedestrian movement blurred into flowing arabesques, and if that meld was sometimes awkward it seemed like the fault of the necessarily-short choreographic timespan; the piece wanted polishing, not upheaval. Watching, I was continually curious about how it would evolve.

Wiss’s “Forth and Back” was fascinating to watch; it was visually beautiful, its dancers in golden dresses that felt otherworldly and magical. The piece was lit masterfully (by Larissa Souki (CC ‘27)), with a golden haze for most of the piece. At times it reminded me of the goldenness of gods, or of early-morning sunlight, or of immortalizing amber. Regardless, it had the effect of placing the piece outside of time. For a long stretch, the dancers (Cameron Heanue (BC ‘26), Shaye Hazen (BC ‘27), Lorelei Gorton (BC ‘28), Ian Segall (CC ‘27)), and Robert Mulvey (GS ‘26)) bubbled in and out and around the stage-left wings, in a series of small happenings, spiraling turns and lifts and gliding rolls. This was a simple idea with an astonishingly beautiful effect in its narrowing of the audience’s focus. Some of the lifts felt unimaginative—Wiss seemed interested in abstracting traditional ballet partnering from its male-female gendered structure, but also like she wasn’t quite sure how to do that—but largely her choreography was interesting and cleanly executed. The piece started and ended with a single figure, Mulvey, rolling on the ground, in a long sheath-like costume that wrapped around his form as he rolled back and forth (the titular “Forth and Back?”), pried himself away from the ground and was pulled back to it. This was another narrowing of focus, with deep attention to the human form, all muscles and strength and sheer capability. The circular progression of the piece felt like it mimicked a life.

The first moment of the show, in Jinakunwiphat’s “Drift Arc,” saw Tatiana Heintz (CC ‘26) take the stage with her characteristically breathtaking combination of strength and grace, in a series of simple steps that culminated in a powerful, vibrant passé. From there the piece emerged into a series of repeating motifs: arms in a sharp V, crouching down, then standing up, steadying, resetting; a diagonal line, still and solid; two trios alternating with each other, exploring light partnering. The lighting and costuming paid deep attention to shadows, which was a nice visual counterpoint to Wiss’s golden piece. Literal shadows occasionally took the foreground, with side lighting that saw the dancers’ shadows elongated across the stage. Whirling half-second solos emerged only to fall right back, or fall into a group phrase, like little flickers of light. The choreography was generally nice to watch, though not particularly memorable. The cast (Montgomery, Heanue, Heintz, JiaLi Deck (BC ‘28), Li, and Choi) executed the movement beautifully. 

Ranauro’s piece was very musical, his choreography largely following from the solos and riffs of his jazzy music. His dancers (Montgomery, Gorton, Li, Victoria Gonzalez (CC ‘27), and Georgia Ehrlich (BC ‘27)) wore pastel, colorful unitards and long ponytails, and for much of the piece explored a kind of unspoken conversation, with long, weighted glances and frequent grazing contact that only sometimes shifted into the lifts and weight-sharing of partnering. They pulled out into a long, weight-sharing line, then collapsed into a kind of group hug, then unfurled back into the line and re-furled into a new formation. A moment between Montgomery and Li had a particular strength. Montgomery’s intensity is always magnetic to watch; Ranauro’s choreography, with several sustained développés, became sacred in her hands. Li responded to a phrase of Montgomery’s with her own reframing and gorgeous, extended lines. At the end of the piece, a kind of folding, gesturing hand movement led each dancer out, one by one, clearly searching. I only wished it was clearer why.

The final piece on the program, Doane’s “Entropy: Atmospheria,” was largely successful because of its cast size and Doane’s deft understanding of space and formation. With the rest of the program’s pieces only made up of five or six dancers, Doane’s nine made the stage suddenly smaller, the movement suddenly feel bigger. The lead couple, Michael Shavelle (CC ‘27) and Alexis Aiudi (GS ‘25), were particularly gorgeous in their partnering; the entire cast (Keira Gutierrez (CC ‘28), Aiudi, Shavelle, Alexandra Ling (GS ‘25), Fiona Witty-Daugherty (CC ‘28), Christine Li (SEAS ‘26), Amber Li (CC ‘27), Deck, and Carolina Rivera (CC ‘26)) had solid technique and pointework that was stunning in moments of full-group unison. The piece was neoclassical ballet at its best, where formations blur together, distinct but with easy transitions, so the dance almost looks natural, evoking birds flying or a river flowing; it helped also that Doane wasn’t afraid of asymmetry. The piece ended with a series of circular, repetitive, slow développés, with arms and legs floating. In the piece’s velvety-blue costumes, it felt like stars.

It was hard not to think that I’d seen most of these pieces before, that they fell a little too neatly into the canon of classical and contemporary ballet. That isn’t to say that they were derivative—they were without exception interesting and beautiful and in some way surprising—but it is to say that they weren’t particularly innovative, either. Still, CBC is consistently excellent at putting together programs that showcase their dancers’ artistry and technique, that let the business of the city and Columbia and life fade into pure movement for a moment. That’s enough to make for an enjoyable afternoon.

CBC dancers via Aiden Hightower.