Dimensions Dance Theatre Turns 10 With Old Favorites, New Firsts

Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami in Tara Lee’s “Under the Olive Tree.”  The company will perform the work during its 10th anniversary opener on Saturday, Nov. 14 at the Moss Center. (Photo by Simon Soong, courtesy of DDTM)

Artistic past and present come together in Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami’s opening program of the season with the kind of energy that keeps the ten-year-old company pushing forward.

Eyes already on the future, the contemporary ballet troupe launches its anniversary celebration with cherished repertoire and company premieres at the Dennis C.  Moss Cultural Arts Center on Saturday, Nov. 14.

“This is a statement not just of where Dimensions has been but also where it’s going,” says Jennifer Kronenberg. As company co-artistic directors, she and Carlos Guerra remain purposeful. “We’ve always been about cultivating a company of technically strong, classically trained dancers capable of moving authentically to very different choreographic voices,” she emphasizes.

True to its founding mission, the company embraces ballet for today, taking it into newer territories and reserving a place for female choreographers. In addition to presenting works by company artists-in-residence, father and son Yanis and Yanis Eric Pikieris, Dimensions has brought in dance makers from across the United States, amplifying their reach and our perspective.

Keeping a dance company going for a decade is challenging under any circumstances. Dimensions has also had to weather the pandemic and significant funding cuts, making its continued presence in South Florida’s arts community all the more notable.

Emily Bromberg and Ariel Morilla unite intricate poses rehearsing Christopher Wheeldon’s “Liturgy.” (Photo by Yanis Eric Pikieris, courtesy of DDTM)

“Putting together a program is a balancing act between artistic ambitions and financial realities. Arts organizations are being asked to do more, reach further into the community, and demonstrate greater impact,” Kronenberg points out, adding that relationships with other artists and organizations have helped the company meet those demands.

“Watercolor,” one of the company premieres this season, was created by Jimmy Orrante in 2011 for Ohio’s BalletMet. According to Kronenberg, the work “fuses classicism with his contemporary language, musicality, and emotional sensitivity. It’s a pulsating, athletic work, not without delicate moments for three couples.” The work draws on water imagery and is set to an original score by Gabriel Gaffney Smith.

Dimensions already has other Orrante works in its repertory, but Christopher Wheeldon’s “Liturgy”—which New York City Ballet premiered in 2003 and still performs—will be a first for the company.

As principals at Miami City Ballet, Kronenberg and Guerra performed the pas de deux and fell in love with it. They wanted to share its intricate phrases, which Kronenberg describes as  “refined and intimate” with Dimensions dancers and audiences, set to the strings and percussion of Arvo Pärt’s “Fratres.” Their long relationship with Wheeldon’s stagers helped secure permission to perform the work. After watching a video of Dimensions dancers, Wheeldon gave the company the go-ahead. Emily Bromberg and Ariel Morilla will dance the pas de deux, which Kronenberg says “feels like a full-circle moment” for her and Guerra.

Dimensions first staged Gerald Arpino’s “Touch Me,” a premiere at Joffrey Ballet in 1977, five years ago with Daniel White performing. The former company member will now reprise his role — a bare-chested solo in a white skirt he spreads like wingspan —to gospel music by James Cleveland and the Charles Fold Singers. “This connects to a meaningful chapter in American dance history with cultural roots our community appreciates,” says Kronenberg.

“Under the Olive Tree,” a Dimensions mainstay since the company’s beginning, is by Tara Lee, co-founder of Atlanta’s Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre. Lee hesitated when New Orleans Ballet Theatre commissioned the piece in 2016 as a full-company show-closer, giving her a short rehearsal period. “But I embraced the challenge and looked to Vivaldi as my entry point,” she says, referring to “The Four Seasons,” recomposed by Max Richter. The music inspired her to explore divine and human passions through Greek mythology.

Chloe Freytag and former DDTM dancer Josue Justiz as divinities sharing human passions in Tara Lee’s “Under the Olive Tree..” (Photo by Simon Soong, courtesy of DDTM)

Though the ballet follows a storyline in which Aphrodite and the war god Ares begin an affair after the Olympians descend to earth, Lee says that “abstract narrative feels most natural to my creative sensibilities. That comes out without my spoon-feeding audiences, whom I love to have actively participate in the interpretation.” The characters have added significance because Kronenberg originated the role of Aphrodite as a guest artist in New Orleans.

“Jennifer was an inspiration,” recalls Lee. “From the initial rehearsal there was instant synergy between us. She understood nuances with a sensitivity that made every movement sing. And her partnering with Christian Clark anchored the piece.”

Clark came to Miami to set the ballet’s most recent version on Dimensions, and Lee reveals, “I’ve made lots of changes since the premiere, maintaining the exhilaration while adding depth through sections I call War and Pandora’s Quartet, which demonstrate anger, fragility, sorrow. But Jen and Christian’s pas de deux I’ve pretty much left intact.” Their imprints on the work, she contends, carry an inviolable artistry.

Still, every interpreter breathes new life into a role, and Dimensions founding member Chloe Freytag has done that each time she’s performed “Under the Olive Tree” since Dimensions’ inaugural program.

“I was one of the corps women then,” she says. “Later at our Lab Series, I was a soloist. On the Moss main stage in 2019 I danced Aphrodite for the first time. Before that, I’d been mostly cast in forceful roles, with lots of jumping and outward energy. But Jen and Carlos trusted me to do something slower, the soft, subtle quality reflecting the music. I found this really challenging, but Jen’s coaching brought out a different side to my dancing. That was pivotal in my career.”

Freytag no longer worries about shifting into finespun emotion.

Daniel White in Gerald Arpino’s “Touch Me,” with gospel music empowering his reach toward heaven. (Photo by Simon Soong, courtesy of DDTM)

“By now I’ve performed many roles that bring that out. So I can approach this with confidence in who I am on stage”—and also in life, she adds, factoring in experiences such as motherhood which “have softened my edges.”

Freytag addresses company cohesion praising her duet partner, Alexander Sokolov, a New World School of the Arts graduate who’s been with Dimensions since January. “I am tall, so whenever I get to dance with a guy who brings height, it helps me relax. But Alex and I also enjoy a friendly communication which lets us enrich our roles. He’s wonderfully invested in emotional impact and not just technique.”

Kronenberg says the dancers’ dedication is central to the company. “Our greatest heroes have been the dancers—with their dedication and artistry, they’re a remarkable bunch.”

For the co-artistic directors, the dancers’ work is part of a larger effort to sustain the company and prepare it for the future.

“The Dimensions story involves more than just the survival of a ballet company,” Kronenberg affirms. “It’s also about keeping culture soaring. Our tenth anniversary is not a finish line but another turning point.”

WHAT: Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami’s Fall Performance

WHERE: The Dennis C. Moss Cultural Arts Center Main Stage, 10950 SW 211 St., Miami

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14

COST: $25-$45

INFORMATION: (786) 573-5300 or mosscenter.org.

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