A Force of Movement

Sharon Hoyer, Newcity

THE JOFFREY BALLET’S SEVENTY YEARS OF PUSHING BOUNDARIES

This season marks multiple milestones for the Joffrey Ballet: it’s the company’s seventieth season and also its thirtieth year since it relocated from New York to the Third Coast. With its two-story marquee above State Street and a “Nutcracker” rendition set during the 1893 Columbian Exposition—which happens to turn this year—the company is now synonymous with Chicago.  The Joffrey kicks off season seventy with “Carmen” by the late Liam Scarlett. In 2023, Scarlett’s “Frankenstein” had eager patrons of all ages lined up around the block to file into the Lyric Opera House for every performance, revitalizing public enthusiasm for story ballet. The season also aligns with The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S. at Wrightwood 659, a timely retrospective of the history of the company.  The exhibition opened last year at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, putting on display for the first time, film, costumes, props, and ephemera from archives amassed between Chicago and New York. We spoke with Joffrey Ballet's The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director Ashley Wheater MBE about the milestone year and how the company strives to live up to its legacy as innovators in classical dance. 

This is a year of many milestones for the Joffrey.

The Joffrey has had an amazing journey of highs and lows and everything in between. We’re still here seventy years later, and more importantly, thirty years in Chicago, which really is the Joffrey’s home. I think without Chicago, the Joffrey wouldn’t be here celebrating these milestones. I thank Chicago for supporting us in being able to succeed.

What is top of mind for you going into this season?

A little in keeping with what Robert Joffrey had in mind when founding the company is to always keep pushing boundaries, always explore where the language of dance is going, never be afraid. We’ve run the gamut of taking risks. It’s paid off incredibly well for us. Take opening the season with Liam Scarlett’s adaptation of “Carmen.” When Liam tells a story, he homes in on the humanity of individuals and the complexity of people.  The emotion of the lead role is multilayered. It’s a beautiful way of telling the story from her point of view. It’s Carmen telling her own story. It’s also the 150th anniversary of Bizet’s score. It’s no mistake that “Carmen” has been such a successful opera for such a long time. For an audience that loves the music, they’ll have all that, and the language of storytelling through dance.

Do you expect to attract opera audiences to “Carmen”?

I do. We’ve seen the crossover with Lyric Opera audiences, with Chicago Symphony audiences, and I think they see we’re doing more and more ambitious work. We’re treading more into the opera world this season since we’re also doing “Eugene Onegin” [June 2026]. It’s lovely to see that.

You mention how pushing the envelope is part of the Joffrey’s founding ethos. How are you incorporating that into this season and beyond?

Over the last few years, inviting Stina Quagebeur, who did “Hungry Ghosts” for us when she was an unknown. I think giving Chanel DaSilva those opportunities, and she’s coming back to do a world premiere for us at the Harris this year. We have a partnership with the Harris, where we’re doing “Broken Wings” by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, inspired by the life of Frida Kahlo. We always want to put opportunities out there, not only for choreographers but also composers. I do think over the last years we keep evolving; staging Dani Rowe’s “Princess and the Pea.” Yes, we love the nineteenth-century ballets—the “Swan Lakes”—but they can’t be the mainstay anymore. People are looking for relatable stories. This season, with “Carmen,” the new piece by Chanel and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, it’s really a season dominated by incredible women.

From a retrospective point of view, there’s the exhibit about the Joffrey coming to Wrightwood 659. I read about the opening in New York last year. It’s great to see it coming to Chicago.

Yes, and that was always the plan. When I came to the Joffrey, I started looking through the warehouse—what productions we might have, what is the history of the Joffrey—and it was in total disarray. Things had been shoved in boxes; papers were never filed. Amazing personal documents of Robert Joffrey, all his ideas from way, way back. We started to organize it, and the women’s board raised the money to sort the costumes and papers. Linda Murray, curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library, called. She said that back in the late sixties, Robert Joffrey left twelve boxes of things at the New York Library and asked if we could have a conversation. What happened is the New York Public Library took all of the archives and spent years sorting through it and digitizing it. Thank god, now we have a secure archive of this company. That’s when the idea about doing an exhibit on what is the Joffrey to American dance came about. The opening in New York was incredibly successful. New Yorkers who wouldn’t remember when the Joffrey was there got to see how this company traveled the breadth of America, sowing the seeds of dance at universities, in big theaters, in little theaters.  at reputation grew and grew. I think it's a significant retrospective of where we are today. I’m happy it’s going to be at Wrightwood for a few months. The other thing that came about is the collaboration with the Harris. The Joffrey was one of the founding companies with that theater, but we haven’t been able to have much of a presence there. On our thirtieth anniversary in Chicago, to be at the Harris for a week and do two new works is a lovely way to connect with the Harris, which has been a big cheerleader for us as a cultural institution.

And the Harris has a very different feel than the Lyric Opera House.

Yes. “Broken Wings” by Annabelle is a really intimate piece. There’s a proximity you want to be from the stage, and the Harris is ideal for this. Chanel’s piece will be an intimate portrait of a woman and her life. The Harris lends itself to these works.

This year is also a milestone for Christopher Wheeldon’s “Nutcracker.” I can’t believe it’s already been a decade since he created it for the company.

We’ve done so many performances of The Nutcracker now, but talk about taking a risk! So many people said, “You are a crazy man for reimagining The Nutcracker.” What we’ve seen over the ten years is that our audience has grown vastly. I think about what the budget used to be for “The Nutcracker” and what it is today, and how it has shown people there are different ways to tell stories they think they know well. Ten years later, [sets and props] have taken a beating. We’ve redesigned the battle scene and redesigned the snow scene, and I think they look absolutely beautiful. Chris is always self-criticizing his work and deciding what to change. So, I hope it will look as fresh and beautiful as on day one.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

The thing for me about “Carmen” is there are great roles for people. And Liam was one of the few people in his generation to use his talent to express stories. I think people will get a depth of character for many individuals, but also a force of movement for the entire company. It’s a story well told and packed with great choreography.

 The Joffrey Ballet fall season includes “Carmen” at the Lyric Opera House, September 18-28; “Joffrey at the Harris: Matters of the Heart” at the Harris  Theater, November 6-9; and “The Nutcracker” at the Lyric Opera House, December 5-28. “The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S.” at Wrightwood 659, October 3-December 20.

Read the full interview on Newcity.