Rosalia Chann

ShareThisBalletX’s inaugural season as company-in-residence at Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater came to a crackling conclusion this July with three wow-factor world premières by women choreographers: Helen Pickett, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and BalletX co-founder Christine Cox. “In an artform that is 85 percent female,” says Cox, “it was hard to find female ballet choreographers, especially those who fit our offbeat style. But we wanted to expand opportunities for women.”



Both former Pennsylvania Ballet dancers, Matthew Neenan and Cox formed BalletX in 2005. “We named it that because we wanted to make dance that crossed the boundaries between classical ballet and modern dance,” says Cox. “We needed more freedom to explore that crossover,” adds Neenan. “But we also realized that the city wanted to see more new choreography. We purposely didn’t put our names on the company, because if we leave it should take on a life of its own.”



Neenan received a Rocky Award this fall—an annual award given by former recipients during the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival/Philly Fringe—for his contribution to Philly’s thriving dance community, as well as his torso-torquing choreographic style. His major works in BalletX’s repertoire include this year’s full-length work, Right to Spring, which has been aired on WHYY Public Television. He also continues working as Pennsylvania Ballet’s choreographer-in-residence.



Cox became a first-time mom just three days after the close of BalletX’s July program. Like her latest piece, Numb Road, Cox’s ballets are mostly set to pop music, keeping the repertoire fresh and young.
Dancers drawn to BalletX include Emily Wagner, a former soloist with the Movement Network of Amsterdam, Pennsylvania Ballet soloist Francis Veyette and former PB members Meredith Rainey and Tara Keating. Since the company is only part-time, most dancers also perform with other companies and teach on the side.



At 23, Rosalia Chann is the youngest member. She graduated from The University of the Arts in 2007 with a BFA in Jazz Dance Performance. “I grew up going to classical ballet summer intensives,” says Chann. She had been interested in BalletX since they started and to prepare for the audition, she retrained back into pointe shoes while still in college. “I’m not sure why they offered me a spot out of 20 people. I just went in, had fun and danced my heart out,” she says.



“Although the company is small, it creates an intimate environment where choreographers can really bring out the best in each dancer,” says Keating. “The company commissions choreographers such as Pickett and Jorma Elo, who work with major ballet companies around the world.”



Neenan’s own insouciant, often-unanticipated moves and esoteric musical choices all but define the company’s offbeat style. His jaunty choreography especially suits its youthful spirit. “Our dancers must convey a sense of freedom in both pointe and flat. We look for people who have presence and who will stay in shape when we’re not working,” he says. “We look for classical line, but great flexibility. We are interested in keeping the classical forms, but making them look very today.”

- Pointe Magazine Merilyn Jackson | December 01, 2008

The Inquirer Daily Magazine

As Community Education Center's New Edge resident this year, Meredith Rainey sharpened his choreographic chops on a provocative 40-minute duet called "Look Inside," which premiered there this weekend.
Rainey, retired after 17 years with the Pennsylvania Ballet, called upon Francis Veyette (a current soloist at the ballet) to take the male role. He gave the female role to Rosalia Chann, who has been making her mark in BalletX.

Rainey also pulled together a crack creative team. Jorge Cousineau designed the production and the moody electronic score with its sinister underbeat; Martha Chamberlain created the costumes; and Anna Drozdowski, known for honing many local artists' works, acted as dramaturg.

Cousineau's large Sol LeWitt-styled cube dominated center stage. With its alternating black mesh and white sheer panels, it was bedroom, living room, front porch - whatever the viewer imagined it.

A confessed addict of TV home-makeover shows in the early days after his departure from the ballet, Rainey's introspection about his voyeurism inspired this work about watching and how watching can affect a relationship. In Jerzy Kosinski's novel/screenplay, Being There, Chauncey Gardiner watched a lot of TV, too, and famously said the most misunderstood line in film: "I like to watch."

And don't we all like to watch when it is dancers who dance like this? What a pleasure it was to watch this pair in the intimacy of the CEC's black box - up close and personal.

Instead of ballet's scissoring entrechats, Veyette, long a favorite of mine, leaps with his arms and legs wide, X-like, and is thrillingly more athletic. Lying prone, he does two near perfect Capoeira-style levitations. Chann leaps into his arms buoyantly.

Veyette and Chann began dancing in whites - a simple shirt and pants for him, a flared dress for her - and later quick-changed into identical costumes in the negative - black. This further drove home the filmic nature of the dance in which the dancers magically melted into their real-time and pre-filmed video projections on the panels.

Inside this see-through house, Chann watches Veyette's moves, and, as they cross the stage, the two take to staring at us staring at them. She leaves, he pulls her back. She throws her arms around him, he rejects her.

Only when they kneel down together, each placing a hand over the other's eyes, can they be at peace.

Any artist worth his salt must take a cool, deep look inside from time to time. In doing so, Rainey makes us look inside his work and ourselves, too.

- Philadelphia Inquirer By Merilyn Jackson June 22, 2009