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BalletX
BalletX honors unsung HEROES
The Company-InResidence depicts first mail service by air between New Zealand and Hawaii
By Kimberly Nicoletti
Captain Edwin Musick was one of the world’s most famous pilots in the 1930s, setting 10 world flight records and landing on the cover of Time magazine. On Jan. 2, 1938, he embarked on an inaugural flight to deliver mail from New Zealand, via Samoa, to Hawaii. It was the first time the then-remote country of New Zealand received airmail service from the United States. Tragically, Musick’s plane crashed on the way home. BalletX’s Sunset, o639 Hours interprets the story, complete with celebration, loss and paradise, in its 80-minute performance.
Choreographer Matthew Neenan partnered with award-winning New Zealand composer and musician Rosie Langabeer to tell a tale that people could relate to, and one that connected the U.S. and New Zealand, but it was quite an undertaking. To begin with, there aren’t many stories that connect the two countries. When they found the story of Captain Musick, the challenge lay in telling the tale through dance.
“It’s not a typical story for a ballet, but we thought, ‘no one else is going to do this but us,’” Neenan said. “What’s so important about this story is he was such a pioneer and risk taker. He was the first pilot to go overseas to the islands and New Zealand. He’s just one of those true American pioneers. He’s an unsung hero — one of those heroes we need to celebrate. World War II happened right after his flight, so his life and legacy was overlooked and forgotten.”
The first part Neenan choreographed was the airplane section, in which ten dancers form a moving airplane and emulate rotating
propellers. True to his style, he built the remaining choreography upon those gestural and somewhat mechanical movements. Langabeer composed the soundtrack, which features sound effects, jazz music from the 1938 nightclub era, and traditional island music, including Samoan songs. The sound effects include field recordings of native New Zealand birds, plane engines, dancers’ recorded voices reading fictional letters transported by air, and an actual recording of Musick giving a speech about landing in New Zealand. Some sound effects employ invented instruments by renowned sound mechanic Neil Feather — a bowling ball dangling from a long piano string with small motors that sound like a plane flying far away, and a free spinning disk with magnets
that make a popping noise. “It’s taking different flavors from different regions and also having modern elements — some pieces have a pop element as we travel through time and space,” Langabeer said.
Four musicians join the dancers onstage, providing yet another way audiences can connect with the story, and the performance. “Rosie’s such a genius at taking you through a musical landscape of emotions,” Neenan said.
While Sunset, o639 Hours begins with Musick’s successful arrival in New Zealand from Hawaii, we know the story is doomed. And yet, the ballet pays homage to heroic acts, spousal love, and human celebrations: its nightclub scene depicts a New Year’s Eve party; scenes of Musick with his wife tell of romance and longing; and the Hawaiian and Samoan beach scenes pay tribute to the islands. “There are so many heroes we don’t know about that died for us,” Neenan says. “They did it for us. In the end, it’s just about honor.”
Throughout the full-length ballet, dancers morph from depicting an airplane to floating like birds or ghosts to being quite human. “We’re telling the story of machines, nature, humans and feelings, so sometimes the dancers are the plane, sometimes they are the ocean waves and sometimes they are the human people at the cabaret having a good time getting drunk, and sometimes they become birds,” Langabeer said.
The dance is both dreamlike at times and vividly evocative of New Zealand, Samoa and Honolulu in the 1930s. “We wanted it to be really beautiful and soft and exciting, like a comfortable experience,” Langabeer said. “We wanted to inspire the love of dance and the love of storytelling through dance.”
BalletX debuted Sunset, o639 Hours in Philadelphia in 2014 and delivered it to a sold-out house at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in 2015, but the company had always hoped to showcase it within the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater’s natural setting. BalletX hasn’t performed it since 2017, and Neenan not only sees this rendition as a new beginning, but also as “one of the most important things I’ve done in my life.”
“It turned out to be a gem for BalletX,” said Tara Keating, the company’s Associate Artistic Director. “The world premieres that we create are about taking people on a journey, and I think this work really accomplishes that well.”
In addition to its performances at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, BalletX will perform at Dancing in the Park in Avon and Dancing in the Streets at Solaris Plaza in Vail. BalletX will also participate in the Conversations on Dance Festival Forums, as well as other community engagement activities throughout the Festival.
BalletX performs Sunset, o639 Hours. Photo by Alexander Iziliaev.
BalletX: Company-In-Residence
The first time BalletX was honored as Vail Dance Festival’s Company-In-Residence, the Philadelphia-based contemporary ballet company celebrated its 10th anniversary. Now in its 15th season, BalletX is the Festival’s Company-InResidence for a second time.
Even in its 10th year, “a lot of people didn’t know who BalletX was, and Damian took a chance with us,” said Tara Keating, Associate Artistic Director. “He appreciates the new work we do. He has been our guardian angel and shined a light on us.”
During this summer’s NOW: Premieres, BalletX and Artist-In-Residence Calvin Royal III will perform a world premiere choreographed by Jamar Roberts of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to really engage with all the artists,” said BalletX Artistic and Executive Director Christine Cox. “Damian has established an incredible formula that inspires dancers, allows them to take risks, collaborate, and experiment with our form. He mixes and matches artists together and magic happens with those collaborations. The time dancers spend together taking classes, watching each other rehearse and collaborating — there’s nothing like that in the world. You have all these experts in their field coming together with a passion for building community through dance, and that’s what Damian has done — built community. It’s so joyful. It’s extraordinary.”
