Amherst Ballet’s Spring Show offered a dynamic blend of classical ballet, live music and expressive choreography in three sold out performances at the Northampton Center for the Arts June 5-7. Featuring original choreography by Amherst Ballet Director Mikayla Archambeau accompanied by a string quartet’s presentation of works by composers such as Shostakovich and Heitor Villa-Lobos, Shatter into Light set the stage for a unique program designed to shine a bright light on the future of contemporary ballet.

Director Archambeau sees ballet’s future as one that must honor the traditions of the past while embracing new choreographic visions of shape, sensibility and style. She gives this aspirational fusion of past and present a name: “living ballet.” To bring this vision to life, Archambeau asserts that contemporary choreographers such as herself must demand rigorous classical training of their dancers and at the same time develop expressive movement vocabularies that are supple and mindful of where we are and who we are today.

Shatter into Light clearly brought Archambeau’s vision alive with a choreographic process that began with music. In her program notes she explains: “As I open myself up to the music, it’s like it just becomes clear what the dance is. Sometimes it can take a little more work to discover all of it, and sometimes I can go awry if I start trying to tell instead of letting the music flow through. But the dance is always there waiting to be uncovered”. Although music serves Archambeau as a “primary driver”, the relationship between music and dancer quickly becomes a deep dialogue that eventually forms the shape and tenor of the emerging choreography.  

Fortunately, Amherst Ballet’s new North Amherst studio provided the perfect home for artistic inspiration, experimentation and the necessary refinement of Shatter into Light in its making. Archambeau works closely with her semi-professional Amherst Ballet Company dancers who she trains to develop their innate musicality, vigorously expand their technical skills and most importantly, learn to make their movements deeply personal. 

Rehearsals for the Spring Show were marked by enthusiasm and collaboration as AB Company dancers worked through difficult combinations requiring technical precision and seemless transitions. Archambeau guided her rehearsals with a keen eye and supportive demeanor, occasionally stepping in to demonstrate the mechanics of a difficult sequence or the dynamics of a gesture that must fill the dancer’s body from fingers to toes. Deep dips to the floor, rapid turns resolving into stillness and soaring jumps all clearly defined a choreographic style both playful and generous at heart. 

Mindful of its look to the future as well as its debt to the past, Shatter into Light ended the Spring Show with a full-cast romping finale that included the very youngest of Amherst Ballet students. Though brief, this joyously auspicious preview of the next generation of dancers and ballet enthusiasts brought down the house.