Dance Review: Dancing on Air

“Gems,” L.A. Dance Project, The Wallis, Beverly Hills, Oct. 23 – 25, 2025

Oct. 26, 2025 | By Bruce R. Feldman

In Brief:  A long, rewarding program of three compellingly choreographed abstract ballets danced to perfection. Terrific sets, lighting, and live musical accompaniment, too. Respect!

L.A. Dance Project in Reflections (Photo: Jade Ellis)

L.A. Dance Project returned to its sometime home, the not-too-big, not-too-small, just-right Wallis in Beverly Hills, with a program of three worth-revisiting early works: Reflections from 2013, Hearts & Arrows from 2014, and On the Other Side, which premiered in 2016.

Collectively these ballets comprise a suite called Gems: A Triptych by Benjamin Millepied, a rubric that recalls Jewels, but it has nothing to do with the Balanchine masterpiece, other than that the swank jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels commissioned both works some 40 years apart.

(Van Cleef calls their current initiative Dance Reflections. It supports numerous dance companies around the world. Read more about it here.)

The first ballet, Reflections, opens with a stunning, extended pas de deux performed impeccably by two dancers uncredited in the program, but I believe they are Noah Wang and Daphne Fernberger.

The pair's dancing is elegant, effortless, and technically perfect. Crucially, their dancing is wonderfully sympathetic, as well. This elevates Millepied’s lovely, intricate movement and both sets the tone and raises anticipation for the sections to follow.

Hearts & Arrows (Photo: Jade Ellis)

The work has, I think, six or seven sections. I didn’t count them, and the oddly incomplete program credits don’t list them. Following the initial pas de deux, the work consists of an assortment of solos and ensemble movements by other dancers in the ten-member company.

Exquisite dancing aside, Reflections is notable for its vivid production design and David Lang’s intriguing minimalist score, attractively played live by an again uncredited pianist.

Conceptual artist Barbara Kruger’s statement set was a massive, graphic “Stay” in bold white letters on a brilliant red backdrop and on the floor in the same bold style, the phrase “Think of Me Thinking of You.” This suggests that, while the choreography is nonrepresentational, the ballet’s theme has something to do with human connections, longing, or, perhaps, lost or unrequited love.

(You can see a few of Kruger’s other powerful works at The Broad in Downtown Los Angeles.)

On the Other Side (Photo: Jade Ellis)

The shorter, more dynamic Hearts & Arrows was next. Millepied’s kinetic choreography takes full advantage of the driving Philip Glass score, performed with gusto live by a string quartet. The work is mostly fast paced, frenetic, propulsive. The dancers run across the stage, pair and re-pair. The piece ends abruptly.

On the Other Side is the final dance in the trilogy. Like Reflections, it is a long, complex ballet. It is abstract with no discernable theme. The solo and ensemble work here, too, is wonderful. Especially thought provking are Millepied's Pietà-like clusters of huddled, nearly immobile figures that appear several times toward the end of the piece.

Also read: L.A. Dance Project 2016

The score, by Philip Glass, was played by the same pianist as Reflections. The action is set against Mark Bradford’s colorful, busy, abstract expressionistic backdrop.

All three of the dances in Gems seem to have stood the test of time. They feel as fresh and relevant today as they were when they were created about a decade ago. Or, at least, this finely tuned ensemble of attractive, unmannered dancers makes them feel so.

Although L.A. Dance Project has been around since 2011, it’s not as well known in Southern California as it should be. That’s a shame because its founder Benjamin Millepied is a terrific choreographer and the dancing is world class.

The group is likely better recognized overseas, thanks to Millepied’s international stature as a former New York City Ballet principal, director of the Paris Opera Ballet, and his work on the movie Black Swan.

Nonetheless, a sizeable, appreciative audience filled The Wallis at the second show of a three-night stand that I attended. The dance fans responded to the very high caliber of dancing, musicianship, and production design with prolonged applause and numerous curtain calls.

“Gems: A Triptych by Benjamin Millepied," The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 746-4000, www.thewallis.org