Choreographer Nicolo Fonte gave the dancers of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet a rarely heard rehearsal prompt in the studio last week: It\u2019s OK to cry.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end, it has that impact, you\u2019re going to want to bawl,\u201d he told the company while running through the powerhouse finale of his \u201cBeautiful Decay,\u201d which opens Tuesday at the Aspen District Theatre. \u201cIn rehearsal, I need you to start to feel that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The piece, which debuted in 2013 at BalletX in Philadelphia, is a two-act exploration of the cycle of life, the inevitability of aging, and time\u2019s whittling away of youth. It calls for two older dancers \u2014 in this production they are longtime Aspen dance instructor Hilary Cartwright and Oregon dancer Gregg Bielemier, both in their 70s \u2014 to perform alongside the younger company cast, providing contrast between the youthful vigor of professional dancers in their prime and a pair decades older.<\/p>\n
It is the first full-length ballet \u2014 other than the annual \u201cNutcracker\u201d production \u2014 in the 23-year history of Aspen Santa Fe, which normally stages triple-bill programs.<\/p>\n
Fonte has been in the Colorado Mountain College studio with the company dancers since May. The preparation has been emotional as well as physical, as he pushed dancers to communicate the emotional depths of the work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I say \u2018Do it,\u2019 I mean do it on a cellular level,\u201d he said after a recent rehearsal. \u201cSo that every cell in your body is committed to that one moment and the next moment, and the one after that. That\u2019s a long, grueling process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result, he hopes, is a direct emotional connection with the audience. He wants viewers to see themselves in the performers, young and old.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not going to see yourself in them hoisting their legs in the air and doing the incredible things they can do,\u201d he explained. \u201cBut you might be able to transfer your emotions to them \u2014 you might be able to recognize you\u2019ve felt that or experienced that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s super important. Otherwise it\u2019s just some kind of aerobic exercise that might be impressive, but it\u2019s an empty gesture.\u201d<\/p>\n
With original set design by Tony Award winner Mimi Lien, and set to Vivaldi\u2019s \u201cFour Seasons\u201d and Max Richter\u2019s reinterpretations, the company will give encore performances of \u201cBeautiful Decay\u201d on July 19 and Aug. 24 following Tuesday\u2019s premiere.<\/p>\n
Watching the ballet with audiences, Fonte has found that as soon as the older dancers enter, all eyes focus on them. We\u2019re used to watching perfect young dancers soar across a stage, but the 70-something dancer doing so is something rare.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something beautiful in experiencing 40 years of experience on stage, where physical prowess morphs into something else and becomes much more of an emotional, reflective way of moving,\u201d Fonte said.<\/p>\n
His original inspiration for the concept was inspired by a 3-D photo exhibition in Portland, Oregon, which brought viewers inside of nearly dead flowers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt touched me in my core,\u201d Fonte said. \u201cSomething about it was so powerful, and the element of 3-D you were inside the flower petals. These decaying flowers retained so much of their flower-ness. It was this undeniable identity screaming at me: \u2018I was once a flower!\u2019 My heart was racing. And that\u2019s really where the idea came from.\u201d<\/p>\n
With six years\u2019 distance from its premiere, Fonte is seeing the physical movements and the emotional intentions of \u201cBeautiful Decay\u201d with new clarity in Aspen.<\/p>\n
\u201cRevisiting it, especially with a group like these dancers \u2014 who are extremely skilled and expert at this kind of dance specifically \u2014 I\u2019m able to see things that I didn\u2019t even see when I was making it,\u201d Fonte said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeautiful Decay\u201d is the 10th ballet that Fonte has staged with the company<\/a>, including eight original creations, over the past 19 years. His aesthetic has helped define Aspen Santa Fe, while the company also has pushed Fonte to some of the definitive creations of his globally acclaimed career.<\/p>\n He describes Aspen Santa Fe artistic director Tom Mossbrucker as a collaborator, whose ideas in the studio have helped shape Fonte\u2019s work over the years. And Fonte pointed to his 2003 Aspen Santa Fe creation, \u201cLeft Unsaid,\u201d as a breakthrough in his creative life. It\u2019s gone on to become one of his most successful works, performed by seven companies since its Aspen premiere. Fonte recalled how he knew he would set it to Bach violin music, but how he created the work without music in rehearsals.<\/p>\n \u201cI created almost the entire piece in silence before I put the music on,\u201d he said. \u201cOf course it was running in my head the whole time, but not in the dancers\u2019 heads. So we were creating true human interaction that wasn\u2019t dictated by the music.\u201d<\/p>\n That deeply felt humanity has become a driving force in his work since then. The supportive environment here and the bond between Fonte, the company leadership and its dancers let him take that creative leap.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it had to do with the fact that I was here and I trusted them and they trusted me,\u201d he said, adding that it had been his fourth time making something in Aspen, pushing him to stretch beyond the familiar. \u201cI was forced to figure something out in that creation process. It was kismet. It had to happen here, based on the repetition of creations that I was making for them.\u201d<\/p>\n He first sent a video of \u201cBeautiful Decay\u201d to Mossbrucker five years ago. So when the company decided it was ready to produce a full-length ballet, Fonte\u2019s meditation of age and time was an ideal fit.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel honored and touched that they trust me and that they believe in the work,\u201d Fonte said. \u201cI think it has relevance everywhere, but I thought it would have real relevance here where there is a substantial segment of the community that is getting up there and we\u2019re living in this ageist society.\u201d<\/p>\n