In Place of Its Spring Gala, the American Ballet Theatre Hosted a Virtual Celebration

Under normal circumstances, ball-gown trains would have skimmed the stone pavement at Lincoln Center Plaza and trailed up the carpeted steps at the Metropolitan Opera House before they found themselves tucked into seats at the American Ballet Theatre Spring Gala last night. But as the COVID-19 pandemic has flipped the world on its head, yesterday evening Lincoln Center remained empty.

Historically, the ABT spring fundraising gala signifies the start of the company’s new season. The night lures philanthropic balletomanes in black tie with the promise of a spectacular performance (a new ballet might be premiered) and an elegant dinner to follow. In the crowd is an interesting mix of Park Avenue diamonds and borrowed runway samples on fashion folk who previously enjoyed some sort of a ballet career. Most amazing is that on this night, the performance portion is open to the general public. A lesser-priced seat in the last tier of the opera house will give anyone a bird’s-eye view onto the orchestra section, where the glamorous gala guests congregate. You might spy Katie Holmes or Blake Lively or even Caroline Kennedy before the Swarovski chandeliers flicker and the lights go out for the show.

But last night, rather than host a virtual gala, the company, lead by executive director Kara Medoff Barnett and artistic director Kevin McKenzie, created a program that paid tribute to the company’s history and showcased the resilience of the dancers who came together, digitally, to collaborate on a livestreamed production in the hopes of raising money for the ABT Crisis Relief Fund.

“The title of the evening is American Ballet Theatre Together Tonight, not American Ballet Theatre’s virtual spring gala,” said Medoff Barnett, hours ahead of the 7 p.m. ET livestream on YouTube. “It’s a different experience, and it’s meant to be a different experience.”

Indeed it was. The program was delightfully down-to-earth. The majority of the footage was shot on the iPhones of dancers who likely enlisted their parents to play videographer, or clips that were recorded on computers, the glow of a screen illuminating their faces. Together Tonight featured a mélange of footage from archival ballets, new works, kind words from ballet patrons, and musical performances. The ABT Orchestra performed with AirPods in their ears, and the viewer saw un-costumed ballerinas in yoga pants and undone hair deliver heartfelt tributes to their art form and the company that allows them to pursue it. It was clear the days of the mysterious ballet company, with its Oz-like choreographers and silent ballerinas, are long gone.

On the program was one world premiere: choreographer Jessica Lang’s “Our Common Fate.” Lang enlisted members of the company to film themselves performing, and the dancers produced incredibly cinematic clips. There were poetic shots of shadows cast on a sidewalk by ballet arms and darkened silhouettes of dancers in front of a setting sun. The entire piece was produced especially for the occasion, choreographed, rehearsed, and performed virtually.

There were also two previous works that were adapted to the program. First was Michelle Dorrance’s “Dream Within a Dream (deferred),” which is an exhilarating tap dance that first premiered at the ABT fall gala in 2018. And then came Jessica Lang’s pas de deux, “Let Me Sing Forevermore,” which premiered at last fall’s fundraiser. The piece is set to Tony Bennett’s rendition of “Fly Me to the Moon,” and incredibly enough, Mr. Bennett was on hand to sing it last night. The setting for this version was Central Park. The two dancers in the piece, Catherine Hurlin and Aran Bell, were filmed sashaying across bridges and twirling by Bethesda Fountain amid the springtime bloom—it was a wonderful homage to New York City.