Sharen Bradford
A & C
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the pandemic,” Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Executive Director Jean-Philippe Malaty tells SFR, “it’s to not predict, not plan ahead.”
Malaty says this in the lead-up to the long-running company’s upcoming event STARDUST: From Bach to Bowie created by New York City-based company Complexions Contemporary Ballet, an event long in the making which will wend its way to Santa Fe this month as part of the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s return to live performance.
We’re roughly one year to the day that the dance nonprofit announced it would dissolve the production aspects of its offerings, and though Malaty says there have been 90 ongoing weekly dance classes for nearly 500 youths between Aspen and Santa Fe—which phased to and from an online Zoom model along with the early and waning days of COVID-19—he and so many others have dearly missed performance. With STARDUST’s one-night-only performance on Monday, March 14 possibly kicking off a new era, they might not have to anymore.
“The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet was always a hybrid organization and, in addition to the dance company, we’ve had our schools here in Santa Fe—we teach Mexican folk dance in six public schools around Santa Fe, for example—and we’ve always brought dance companies when the schedule permitted,” Malaty says. “The only thing that was lost was the producing side, having our own dance companies, and now we feel it’s safe to be bringing dance to our audiences again.”
Malaty describes his organization’s handling of the pandemic as “more conservative, maybe, than others who were more adventurous and started doing things again only to be stopped by Omicron,” and while he says it was a hard decision to wait, it was ultimately the right one. He’s hopeful, but also cautious.
“It has been a lot of diligent work from the board, and we’ll still have to see how the [dance] field recovers, because everybody has been reeling, especially dance companies,” Malaty explains. “We’re taking it one week at a time; we’re looking to what happens after Complexions is behind us and we can stand on a successful performance.”
With most of the show already sold out save balcony seating, that success might have come early. Malaty says the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s audience in town is a strong one, and the vast majority of seats were snapped up within 24 hours of the show’s announcement. Further, he says, the company will adhere to the Lensic’s COVID-safe practices, including an indoor mask mandate and required vaccination proof or recent negative COVID-19 test results.
“Our audience has been super-loyal,” Malaty continues. “They’ve kept the lights going, people have supported the education side, and hopefully more of them return.”
It is, perhaps, worth noting that Malaty expects future shows to be announced in a fast-turnaround similar fashion. Previously, he says, he could tell you what dates were planned years in advance. Now, however, dance fans will have a more narrow window between announcements and performances. Does that make for more exciting energy?
“That the audience responded so positively and so quickly was exciting for sure,” Malaty tells SFR. “I think the appetite from the audience to come back into the theater has been inspiring.”
And the company returns with a doozy, too. STARDUST, according to Malaty, is a great entry point for the ballet-reticent. Founded in 1994 by Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, both former members of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Complexions has toured the world extensively since its inception. Entering its 28th season, the company tackles the original production STARDUST as a means of honoring the late and great JS Bach and David Bowie, and who doesn’t love a good musically and historically anachronistic piece of theater?
“This is not your classical ballet,” Malaty explains. “It’s music by Bowie, it’s a big rock show with incredible lighting, it’s uplifting and a celebration; and the dancers are fierce, that’s the best word I can come up with to describe them. It’s extreme. And [Complexions] is a company that has always been diverse, before it was popular, before it was all over the news. It started that way over 27 years ago, and has not just been about diversity in color, but ages and body types.”
And so it goes for one night only next week. Complexions is, after all, in high demand, and has further pitstops in Colorado, also under the auspices of the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. For now, more locally, Malaty is hesitant to announce further dance developments, but he does say he’s been dreaming of sugarplums.
“I don’t want to sound corny, but we hope The Nutcracker will be back in December,” he says. “It’s an important part of our community and for our students. Our whole industry has changed, though, we’re trying to navigate this new way of doing things. I’m hopeful, though, and we’re in a better position now. We can finally get back to what we do. It’s been a long wait, but we’re ready to go back to business.”
Complexions Contemporary Ballet: STARDUST: From Back to Bowie: 7:30 pm Monday, March 14. $36-$94. Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W San Francisco St., (505) 988-1234; tickets here
