New World Symphony, Miami City Ballet Pair Composers, Choreographers for ‘American Dance Odyssey’

New World Symphony, led by Stéphane Denève and featuring the New World Symphony Fellows, present “American Dance Odyssey” in collaboration with Miami City Ballet featuring five new works along with a tribute to Jerome Robbins. (Photo by Alex Markow, courtesy of NWS)

Dance and music go together like bright stars in a dark sky – one enhances the other. Two powerhouse Miami arts institutions are collaborating on an all-new performance that elevates American music and contemporary ballet.

New World Symphony is partnering with Miami City Ballet to premiere new music from contemporary American composers and choreographers. “American Dance Odyssey,” which will be performed at New World Center on Friday, April 17 through Sunday, April 19, brings together five composers and pairs them with five choreographers.

“It’s logical, of course, that we try to unite the art forms,” says Stéphane Denève, artistic director of New World Symphony. “We’re linking creativity to new music and new choreography.”

Dancers from Miami City Ballet, New York City Ballet, Houston Ballet, and St. Louis Ballet will perform in the original pieces; the program also includes a tribute to the late American dancer and choreographer Jerome Robbins.

 In his fourth year as artistic director for NWS, Stéphane Denève is at the helm of  “American Dream Odyssey.” (Photo by Dario Acosta, courtesy of NWS)

“We really want to show off the American music and ballet of today,” says Denève, who had a hand in selecting the composers.

The project also reflects a longer commissioning strategy at Miami City Ballet, which has increasingly expanded beyond its George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins repertory to invest in new works by contemporary choreographers. Choreographer Brian Brooks will be participating in American Dance Odyssey; he was commissioned during the 2017-2018 MCB season and created “One Line Drawn.” Brooks has been paired with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts.

“American Dance Odyssey” is structured around five composer-choreographer pairings curated by New World Symphony and Miami City Ballet: Carlos Simon, an Atlanta-born composer whose work engages with Black American musical traditions and contemporary themes, with Miami-born choreographer and former Alvin Ailey dancer Jamar Roberts; Sarah Kirkland Snider with choreographer Claudia Schreier; Pulitzer Prize and Grammy award winner Jennifer Higdon with New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck; Michael Abels, a composer active in both concert and film music including scores for filmmaker Jordan Peele, with choreographer Pam Tanowitz, and the pairing of Puts and Brooks.

Each composer and choreographer pair was instructed to create a 5-to-7 minute arrangement. “We organized the pieces so that they could be performed together, as a choreographic concerto, but that each piece also has an individual life of its own,” explains Denève.

In her third collaboration with Miami City Ballet, Claudia Schreier choreographed “Iris,” an original work in a pairing with composer Sarah Kirkland Snider. (Photo courtesy of NWS)

Many of the composers and choreographers knew of each other and some even worked together in the past; but for others, this will be the first time meeting. Such is the case with Kirkland Snider and Schreier.

The two were first introduced via email and began conversations about what their collaborative piece would sound like and look like.

Schreier is a New York City-based choreographer and this will be her third time working with Miami City Ballet. She created the world-premiere ballet “Slipstream” for MCB in 2019. When she was first introduced to Kirkland Snider, the two spoke about the different themes they hoped to evoke with their piece.

“She and I spoke before she composed it and I was so enamored with what she produced. It’s a beautiful, rapturous, lush piece of music,” Schreier says.

The choreographer admits that part of her creative process involved referring frequently to a written description from Kirkland Snider about what “Iris” meant to her.

Schreier, during a telephone interview, reads from Kirkland Snider’s email and recites, “I called it ‘Iris’ because iris is a symbol for hope and wisdom, and it’s also the part of the eye that lets the light in. It’s a short piece, but in thinking about the state of our country at this point in time, I am praying for wisdom, hope, and light.”

In her email to Schreier, the composer describes the harp as a steady rhythmic undercurrent—persisting beneath the shifting music around it. At times, she notes, the piece opens into moments of celebration, which she interprets as expressions of the human spirit’s resilience.

Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider said her piece “Iris” Kirkland Snider was largely inspired by reflecting on the current state of the country. (Photo Courtesy of NWS)

“I want to celebrate the good in people… and I hope that better days lie ahead,” is how Kirkland Snider closed her statement.

“She sent me her thoughts before I started creating, so I had that as kind of my point of inspiration,” Schreier explains. “I love the idea of the iris being the part of the eye that lets the light in and having this kind of circular entry point into the music.”

Schreier choreographed a work for six dancers, each paired with another, to show the interconnectedness of people and relationships. She ensured that the sense of hope and connection is the driving force for the dance.

“As I was writing this piece, knowing that it would be used by a choreographer, I was trying to think in terms of levels, of pulse and rhythm, so that they would have different musical layers to respond to,” says Kirkland Snider.

Echoing what she first shared with her choreographer partner, Kirkland Snider says the work was largely inspired by reflecting on the current state of the country. “No matter where you fall politically,” she notes, “we can all agree that the country feels deeply polarized right now, with very little empathy across that divide. We’re made up of many different backgrounds, heritages and cultural traditions—and that diversity is something to celebrate—but the question is, how do we actually do that?”

Her answer is felt in “Iris.”

Second year NWS fellow and violinist Hannah Corbett is concert master for “American Dream Odyssey.” (Photo by Alex Markow, courtesy of NWS)

“It starts from a small idea and that little fragment is repeated and grows into this huge body of sound throughout the piece,” says second-year NWS fellow Hannah Corbett speaking about “Iris.” “Texturally, it’s pretty complicated but it’s truly a stunning piece.”

Corbett will be acting as the concert master for “American Dance Odyssey” and as leader of the string section, and will be violin soloist as part of the concerto.

The Toronto native expresses gratitude for the New World Symphony program and adds how exhilarating it is when guest composers write music specifically for the fellows. “So much of my musical life is spent studying the mastery of others and replicating that excellence. But playing a premiere, especially five premieres, is different. There’s no recording in existence… We get to be the first people to play this music and our recording will be the one that future musicians use as their reference when performing this choreographic concerto somewhere else.”

Playing in performances like “American Dance Odyssey” is part of why she became a musician.

“It’s gratifying to bring to life the music of my time,” Corbett says.

WHAT: “American Dance Odyssey”

WHERE: New World Center, 500 17th St., Miami Beach

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 17 and 18; and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 19. The Saturday, April 18 showing will also be shown live on Wallcast in Soundscape Park with free admission.

COST: $55, $99, $135, $160, $290 

INFORMATION: (305) 673-3330 or https://nws.edu/dance

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