RICHMOND BALLET MOVING ART ONE:

Passion & Power

A Dance Review  

Program By: The Richmond Ballet 

At: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Leslie Cheek Theater, on the Armstrong Family Stage in Honor of Richmond, 200 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard, RVA 23220 

Performances: September 11-21, 2025 

Ticket Prices: $29 – $89 (more on opening night) 

Info: (804) 344-0906, etix.com, or richmondballet.com 

THE PROGRAM 

WILD SWEET LOVE 

Choreography by Trey McIntyre 

Music by The Zombies, Felix Mendelssohn, The Partridge Family, Lou Reed, José Alfredo Jiménez, Roberta Flack, Queen 

Staged by Iliana Goldman 

Lighting Design by Nathan W. Scheuer after Original Design by Steve Odehnal 

World Premiere: March 27, 2007, Sacramento Ballet, Sacramento Community Center Theater, Sacramento, CA. Virginia Premiere: September 11, 2025, Richmond Ballet, Leslie Cheek Theater, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Richmond, VA. 

PIENSA EN MI (THINK OF ME) 

A World Premiere inspired by the life and art of Frida 

Choreography by Ma Cong 

Music voy Lila Downs, Elliot Goldenthal, Chavela Vargas, Los Cojolites, Camilla Griehsel, Mariachi Juvenil de Tecalitán 

Costume Design by Emma Kingsbury 

Lighting Design by Nathan W. Scheuer 

Projection Design by Dave Watkins 

World Premiere: May 15, 1996, by Richmond Ballet at Leslie Cheek Theater, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA 

The Richmond Ballet aptly titled their season opening Moving Art One program at the VMFA’s Leslie Cheek Theater “Passion & Power.” 

The evening opened with the Virginia premiere of Trey McIntyre’s 2007 Wild, Sweet Love – which also happens to be part of the lyrics to one of the songs, Roberta Flack’s “Do What You Gotta Do.” In addition to the soulful tunes of Ms. Flack, McIntyre has set the work to a veritable wedding playlist of pop tunes and love songs. Lead dancer Celeste Gaiera wears a white dress with a layered classic tutu for a skirt, and elbow length white gloves. The only thing missing is a veil, because sure enough, that was Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” we heard. After her opening solo, set to The Zombies’ “The Way I Feel Inside” Gaiera walks off in a slouch with her head bowed, shoulders rounded. It’s interesting that the bride is the only character who has no partner. 

Four couples – Isabella Franco and Ira White, Eri Nishihara and Jack Miller, Annika Kuo and Aleksey Babayev, Josiah Lax and Kennady Jackson – accompany Gaiera on her journey to…find love? …recover from a lost love? We’re not sure. Wild, Sweet Love is a non-traditional, contemporary ballet. There’s not a pointe shoe in sight. My seatmate commented on how accessible the choreography was – noting that it appeals to a wide audience. 

Another remarkable element in Wild, Sweet Love is the cast of a dozen or so “shadow performers,” who act as a sort of Greek chorus. Main characters sometimes intermingle with the shadows – who are dressed in black and mostly shown in silhouette. Lead dancers emerge from the ranks of the shadows for a duet, a trio, or a full cast movement, then blend back in with the shadow performers. 

This, along with the often everyday movements of the dancers, adds to the relatability of the work. It suggests unity as well as the possibility or hope that at any moment any one of us may rise from obscurity into the spotlight. A duet by Isabella Franco and Ira White to The Partridge Family’s “I Think I Love You” is powerful and intriguing, followed by Eri Nishihara and Jack Miller is a quirky and carefree “Perfect Day.” 

All-in-all, Wild, Sweet Love was an excellent choice to open the 2025-26 season. 

The second half of the program introduced the World Premiere of Ma Cong’s Piensa en Mi (Think of Me), a contemporary ballet inspired by the life and art of Frida Kahlo (whose VMFA exhibit runs through September 28).  

The opening is beautifully staged with one of the four Fridas dancing downstage while three costumes are suspended from the ceiling. Two more Fridas enter and are helped into their dresses by their partners, while the fourth dress – a red one – remains suspended for the remainder of this section. 

Dave Watkins has designed projections, like a pattern that suggests footprints that leads the Fridas along a “Journey,” complete with hand luggage.  Ma has done his research and created a work that honors the spirit of Frida Kahlo without mimicking her paintings or the photographs in the museum’s collection. We see this in little touches like the flowers in the four Fridas hair, and in the carefully stitched bodices of their dresses – each a different color – designed by Emma Kingsbury.  

The women, Naomi Robinson, Mikell Graf, Eri Nishihara, and Izabella Tokev represent Frida at different ages, different stages: youthful, after her devastating bus accident, in love. 

Ma describes his work as intended to inspire people to be honest, brave, and expressive. It is not as extroverted as McIntyre’s ballet. At times it is more introspective, as is befitting a work inspired by Frida Kahlo, but at the times it seems to lag behind. This could be the effect of placing such a high-powered work at the top of the program and the more intimate work at the end. Nevertheless, “Passion & Power” is a deeply satisfying program that seemed to be over all too soon. 

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The Richmond Ballet’s 2025-2026 season began with Moving Art One, September 11-21 featuring Wild Seet Love by Trey McIntyre and Piensa en Mi (Think of Me) a world premiere by Ma Cong. 

Moving Art Two, October 16-26 is scheduled to present Slice to Sharp by Jorma Elo, a world premiere by Andrea Scher moly, and French Twist by Ma Cong. The Nutcracker will be performed at Dominion Energy Center December 6-23 and Giselle will be performed there February 13-15. The season will continue with Moving Art Three, the company’s New Works Festival with works by Natasha Adorlee, David Morse, Price Suddarth, and Serkan Usta from March 19-29, and conclude May 14-24 with Moving Art Four with George Balanchine’s Apollo, John Butler’s After Eden, and a world premiere by Val Caniparoli. 

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Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County. When not writing about theater, she teaches dance history at VCU and low impact dance fitness classes to seasoned movers like herself and occasionally performs. Julinda was recently awarded the Dean’s Distinguished Adjunct Faculty Award 2023-24 Academic Year by VCU School of the Arts and the 2025 Pioneer Award in Dance Ministry by Transformation International Worship Ministries, Newport News, VA.