Unfold

Former Artistic Director Robert Battle’s sensuous, swirling duet evokes the tenderness and ecstasy in Gustave Charpentier’s aria. With fluid grace, this gem exemplifies the choreographer’s skill for nuanced gestures and vivid imagery.  

The ballet started with Battle’s ultimate inspiration: music. “[I’ve] always thought the aria is close to the divine,” he says. Battle’s dramatic manifestation of the extreme nature of Price’s soprano is reflected in the forceful nature of the choreography. Flowing arms and smooth transitions intertwine with halted, staccato movements and severe body positions that twist, stretch, and extend the body into unusual and remarkable positions.

Designed to capture the intensity of one’s first love—what Battle describes as “that feeling that life stands still”—the drama inherent in the piece is accentuated by the innovative approach to the romantic pas de deux. While the lovers are onstage together, they rarely look at each other. Rather than have the dancers swooning, Battle sought to translate the connection between the lovers by asking himself how weightlessness would feel. The answer is found in the mutual feeling of uncertainty about first love, and the connectedness is found in the sense that “we’ve never been here [before].”