Robert Joffrey knew a thing or two about being an outcast.
The son of immigrants (an Afghan father and an Italian mother), born in Seattle, whose legal name was Abdullah Jaffa Bey Khan, and the only boy in his circle to study ballet, he seemed to be the least likely to succeed in such an elitesque profession.
But by choosing it and creating his own ballet company, he contributed to revolutionize the world of ballet as few others did.
In the 1950s, the arts in the United States experienced a fresh influx of innovation, nourished by a wave of artists who had fled Europe after World War II. Classical ballet, however, remained fixed in a rigid control over the works they performed, the audiences they catered to, and even the looks of their dancers.
Aware that his physique did not fit into the classical standard, Robert Joffrey and his partner Gerald Arpino decided to challenge the cultural Status Quo of his time.
Thus, following a lifelong dream, in 1956 they created a company that would include all those dancers who did not “fit” in the approved canon, presenting new choreographies that would not only showcase their uniqueness but would also capture the zeitgeist of the moment, aiming not at the elite who flocked to the major Ballet companies, but at an audience who might have never attended a ballet performance before.
Because of these groundbreaking creative principles, the journey of the Joffrey Ballet was neither smooth nor traditional.
But it’s precisely because of this that its history is all the more relevant and fitting to be presented to present-day audiences.
The original Joffrey Ballet company, 1956
The NYPL’s exhibition The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S. in the Library for the Performing Arts at the Lincoln Center is a rare chance to plunge into this little-known history, documented in profuse detail, allowing visitors to take a privileged look at one of the most influential ballet companies in the country.
Richly documented and carefully curated (a work requiring 18 months of painstaking research and selection before its opening), “The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S.” showcases the Joffrey Ballet’s long journey from its origins and first commercial successes to its struggle as it was split across coasts (New York and Los Angeles), and its renaissance as a new company settled in Chicago.
The company’s high technical skills and their bold audacity in taking challenges attracted dancers from across the country and many maverick creators.
George Balanchine, Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp -among many others- collaborated with the Joffrey Ballet and created new choreographs for the company.
In addition, the Joffrey Ballet revived many iconic but by then nearly forgotten choreographies -such as Kurt Joos’s antiwar ballet “The Green Table” (1932), Frederick Ashton’s “Facade”, Mikhail Fokine’s “Petrushka”, Nijinsky’s “Afternoon of a Faun” and “Rite of Spring”, among many others-, rescuing them for a new generation of dancers and ballet audiences.
Displaying a plethora of material (rehearsal and performance videos, original photographs, letters, magazine articles, press releases, ads, props, costumes, original posters, and promotional material, among many others) this exhibition explores the emergence of the Joffrey Ballet, framed within six focal themes: Who is Ballet for?, What does a Ballet company perform?, A Company of All Stars, Reconstructing the past, The Business of Ballet, and Ballet for a Millennium.
The development of each subject provides insight on the relevant innovations carried out by the Joffrey Ballet throughout its history - from breaking the mold in the selection of their dancers and the material performed, to their role in revitalizing near-forgotten dance pieces for posterity, as well as dealing with the difficult business side of managing a ballet company at a time when ballet did not seem relevant.
Hosted in seven communicating spaces that dialogue continuously, the exhibit flows effortlessly, providing the visitor ample opportunity to immerse themselves in every piece of multimedia material presented, at their own pace.
Although the exhibit documents the company’s origins and follows a historical timeline, its focus is put on what made the Joffrey Ballet an original initiative, distinctive and separated from the rest of the available ballet offer at the moment, and how its artistic choices contributed to change the dance scene in the United States.
Worthy of mention is the ‘Astarte room’, designed to be an immersive experience for the visitors.
The blue room is dressed as a 1960s peepshow lounge, displaying on its walls five projections of the “Astarte” ballet (1967) to the sound of psychedelic music and stroboscopic lights.
Outside, visitors can see the plans for the Astarte projector devised specially for the ballet, along with other related documents.
Astarte Room (Photo: New York Public Library)
In a following room, as visitors peruse the collections on display, they can hear an extract of an interview with Robert Joffrey discussing the selection of dancers for his company, another quality that made them different from other ballet companies.
Given that much of their work emerged from the experiences of his dancers and their personal attributes, it was essential that, in addition to technical skills, dancers would bring in qualities that would enrich the company and become an asset to their creations.
In addition, and true to their principles, the Joffrey Ballet was one of the first companies to integrate dancers from different ethnicities (African American, Asian, Latin, Polynesian, etc.) into the company.
The giant-screen presentation of “The Rite of Spring”, flanked by the costumes worn by the dancers, provides a welcome pause, allowing visitors to witness the sheer brilliance of the Joffrey’s recreation and the electricity of the company’s performance, almost as if they were in a live theatre presentation.
Other interesting items on display are the masks used in “The Green Table”, the signed pointe shoes used by Elizabeth Parkinson in “Billboards”, the signed pointe shoes used in “Parade”, the cubist “Parade” costume created by Pablo Picasso, a Joffrey Ballet jigsaw puzzle, a Joffrey New York/Los Angeles baseball-style jacket, postcards, letterheads and graphic identity, a rolodex with the contact information of their illustrious fans, colleagues and collaborators, and many more.
Among its countless achievements, the Joffrey Ballet counts with a long list of “firsts” in its history: First classical dance company to use multimedia in a show (“Astarte”, 1967); First ballet company to create a ballet with rock music (“Trinity”,1970); First ballet company to appear on the cover of TIME magazine; First ballet company to perform in the White House (invited by the First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy); First ballet company to appear on American television; First ballet company to eliminate hierarchy (establishing a company of “All Stars/No Stars”); First ballet company to have a major motion picture based on it (Robert Altman’s “
The Company”, 2003).
All of these speak of the company’s high standards of quality, but also of its spirit of innovation, always capturing the social pulse of the moment.
At a time of radical social change, the Joffrey Ballet knew how to translate and channel the public’s desire for a cultural shift, incorporating popular interests into their works and providing an avenue for experimentation, which is what ultimately nurtures art and keeps it relevant to the audience.
A thrilling exhibition for those interested in dance (with a chance to spot rare pictures of a young Nina Ananiashvili, Mark Morris, and Martine van Hamel, among many others), but also for the general public interested in discovering how the arts and society mingle, exemplified in a legendary company, unafraid to push the envelope in order to connect with audiences and keep their art alive.
Exhibition: The Joffrey + Ballet in the U. S.
Location: The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.
Dates: September 19th, 2024 - March 1st, 2025
Cost: Free (Voluntary donations welcome)
To Learn More...
* Find out more information about this exhibition, along with a preview, resources, and how to plan your visit:
https://nypl.org/thejoffrey
* Interested in knowing more about the history of the Joffrey Ballet? Try to find the excellent PBS documentary “Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance”. Watch the trailer here (2:20):
* Are you interested in learning more about the collaboration between Prince and the Joffrey Ballet in “Billboards”? Check out this video (5:52) part of a longer documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVpBgLc5gIo
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