Choreographer Christopher Williams premieres Spectre de la Rose at 92NY on October 29 and 30, the sixth piece in his long-running project of reworking the Ballets Russes repertoire, on a double bill with the New York premiere of La Rhétorique des Dieux.
The series is called Queering the Canon: Reimagining the Ballets Russes, and the new work is a 92NY commission. Fokine made the original in 1911 for Karsavina and Nijinsky: a young woman, home from her first ball, dreams that the rose she carried comes alive and dances with her. Williams, a Bessie Award winner, runs that scenario through the ballroom scene, borrowing its play between fantasy and realness.
The score keeps Weber's Invitation to the Dance among its selections, with sound design by Tei Blow. Two regular collaborators design: Joe Levasseur on lighting and Andrew Jordan, a recent Bessie winner, on costumes.
La Rhétorique des Dieux is danced to excerpts from Denis Gaultier's suite for Baroque lute of the same name. It centers on Phaëthon, thrown down from the gods to the mortal world, and the mythological figures he meets there in present-day disguise. Levasseur lights it; Jordan and Williams share the costumes.
"I'm a firm believer that storytelling must evolve as societies reform over time," Williams said, describing the series as both homage to the start of modern dance and "a gesture of present-day activism promoting LGBTQIA+ inclusivity."
Both performances are at 7 p.m. in Buttenwieser Hall at the Arnhold Center, part of the Harkness Mainstage Series' Home season. Tickets start at $45 on the 92NY website.
