The Great Friends Meeting House, Newport, RI.
July 19, 2025.
It’s that time of year again; through the Newport Dance Festival, hosted by Newport Contemporary Ballet, dance took over a corner of Newport for a long weekend, featuring works from far-flung artists. It’s a chance for perspectives and stylings from around the world to grace the people of this small but mighty state: collaboration, connection, creativity abounding.
Artists from New English Ballet Theatre (London, UK) traveled the farthest this year, yet those from all over the northeast as well as New York City also brought their contributions. The atmospheres and approaches of the works, as a whole, were just as wide-ranging. As always, what a treat to take in a rich smorgasbord of dance on a beautiful summer night!
Stars and Stripes, choreographed by Lisa Bibeau and danced by students of the Academy of Newport Contemporary Ballet, kicked off the show. The student dancers oozed with poise and sweetness, performing with commendable maturity (their musicality, in particular, quite refined). The classic ballet score (from John Philip Sousa) was one of pure patriotic spirit, apropos not long after the 4th of July.
Kathryn Posin’s Triple Sextet, performed by East Coast Contemporary Ballet, had vibrancy leaping off the stage from the first note. Ebullient movement met the same quality in the score, not to mention the bright costumes in a rainbow of colors (by A. Christina Giannini). Zippy leaps had knees high and to the side, feet meeting in the air. Hips punctuating and expressive hands added sass and character, jazzy flair coloring contemporary ballet styling. It was like a buzzing meadow on a bright spring day, bursting with life.
The rich and thoughtful Raíces Vivas (Living Roots), choreographed by Anniela Huidobro Castro and danced by Newport Contemporary Ballet, opened softly. The movement was earthy, grounded, solid – qualities that remained even as speed and visceral energy escalated, a slowly building storm. Deep pliés, knees bent through fast footwork, dancers sharing weight as they softened toward the stage — yet, dancers’ hearts also lifted in resonating hope.
Action eased as all in the ensemble gathered to envelop one of them in gestures of presence and care; cycles in the life of a community sometimes include slowing down and focusing on one who needs it. Soon, we heard voiceover of people speaking on ancestry, family, art and rest — another slowing down and focusing on what matters most.
Daniela Cardim’s sensuous and evocative pas de deux Baroque Encounters came next, danced by Emily Pohl (New English Ballet Theatre) and Gregory Tyndall (Newport Contemporary Ballet). Their lines expanded through chill-inducing violin chords, creating an enticing and mysterious magnetism — the attracting and repelling of the dance within intimate connection. With alluring mystery, this work made that dance highly visceral.
Tom Gold Dance’s quartet Le Voyage, choreographed by Tom Gold, offered something both soothing and delightfully unique. The atmosphere again shifted, now into something both elegant and playful. That dance of intimate connection here came with coy, joy and plain fun. Classical movement vocabulary and the French score (from various artists, including Michel Legrand) brought a foundation of refinement. Peppy, jazzy infusions into footwork as well as zany patterns and coloring in costuming (from Gold) brought just a dash of quirky. It all came together into an enchanting blend.
Jenna Lee’s Summer Storm – Excerpt from the Four Seasons, danced by Louis DeFelice and Clara Jorgens (New English Ballet Theatre), was a fascinating storm indeed. The pas de deux partners lengthened through the notes in a way that met the drama of the score, the iconic Vivaldi work (here recomposed by Max Richter). They seemed beautifully attuned as partners, sharing a deep kinetic knowing. I mused on what a large ensemble might bring to the score’s epic scale. Lee commendably constructed the work in its current concept, and the dancers performed it just as much so.
Crushed – danced by Amelia Bednar, Jenna Torgeson and Gregory Tyndall of Newport Contemporary Ballet – brought us back to the fun, joyful and delightfully quirky. Emily Baker, former Newport Contemporary Ballet dancer, choreographed the work – wonderful to see her now creating work for the company.
It supplied a feast of fresh explorations — in score (from Pinc Louds), space and kinetic possibility. The comic, the weighty, the moments with touches of tension were all there for the enjoying. Indeed, the work explored much, yet nothing felt rushed or “shoehorned”, included for the sake of it. With the dancers’ honest theatricality, it did feel like a slice of life in the relating of these three personas — a quite delightful one indeed.
Next was East Coast Contemporary Ballet’s reflective and lyrical The Space Between, choreographed by Alejandro Ulloa. The lifted and airy movement, quite balletic in quality, met the soft piano score. I got the feeling of looking up at a clear blue sky, the dancers moving like wispy clouds – wispy, yet nevertheless holding their own solidity.
Varied groupings felt like different clumps of clouds — perhaps floating by, perhaps which we might see as we shift our focus within the wide sky. The fluid and cohesive feel of movement and performance enhanced that calming effect on me. They say that people will remember how you make them feel. I’d argue the same is true of art, and in that sense this work was immensely successful.
Newport Contemporary Ballet’s enigmatic and memorable Planet Other, choreographed by Danielle Genest, closed the show. The mystery slowly built, a solo of somewhat restless searching moving into a large ensemble. They moved independently, then connected into a clump — organisms of self and community. A tableau instilled a sense of pause, of thoughtfulness, of a moment for simply being. The energy rose again for that movement and energy of searching, even slight agitation.
The skirt frames and unique patterning in shirts (costumes by Deanna Gerde) helped to create a sense of another world, another time, another universe – potentially? The exact nature of the work’s context felt not to be known – yet, its pulsing intensity, the visceral energy resonating off the stage, the freshness of its shapes and movement pathways…all of that I very much knew, and very much savored.
The work ended with the whole ensemble leaping and falling to upstage, lights flashing off; the life and spirit of this “Planet Other” would continue. As long as this festival continues, it will be a window into dynamic concert dance happening all over the world: perspectives, stylings and qualities as varied as the artists who present them. I’ll keep peering in – until next year!
By Kathryn Boland of Dance Informa.
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