{"id":1037017,"date":"2026-09-01T14:42:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T14:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037017\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T14:42:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T14:42:28","slug":"to-the-bowl-and-beyond-melissa-barak-on-los-angeles-ballets-busy-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037017\/","title":{"rendered":"To the Bowl and Beyond-Melissa Barak on Los Angeles Ballet\u2019s Busy September"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a choreography commission from the LA Phil and choreographer George Balanchine\u2019s jazzy ballet tribute to Hollywood and the Gershwin songbook,\u00a0Los Angeles Ballet\u00a0<\/strong>makes its Hollywood Bowl debut with the LA Phil on Tuesday, September 8, 2026 at 8 pm.\u00a0With the Bowl\u2019s giant video screens, even the farthest seats can see the dancing as well as the LA Phil playing three other works\u00a0conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the LA Phil music director Gustavo Dudamel commissioned and premiered composer\u00a0Gabriela Ortiz\u2019s\u00a0Kauyumari.\u00a0(The title has been translated as\u00a0\u201cblue deer\u201d and refers to a god or spiritual guide in Mexico\u2019s indigenous Huichol folklore.) The composer reportedly expressed the desire to see her\u00a0exuberant 7-\u00bd minutes of music\u00a0made into a dance, and earlier this year, the LA Phil commissioned Los Angeles Ballet\u2019s artistic director Melissa Barak to do just that.<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/a><\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel, Gabriela Ortiz, and the LA Phil. Photo courtesy of the artists.<\/p>\n

Recently, Barak took time from rehearsals to speak with dance writer Ann Haskins about Los Angeles Ballet\u2019s debut at the Hollywood Bowl and also about the company\u2019s upcoming performances at Santa Monica\u2019s BroadStage September 25 to 27. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/a><\/p>\n

Los Angeles Ballet in \u201cWavelength\u201d. Photo by Cheryl Mann Production.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>How did the commission and the Bowl performance happen?<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>We were talking to the LA Phil since the start of 2026 about collaborating on performing with the LA Phil on this night. We kept having back and forth about what would work and what was doable in addition to\u00a0Kauyumari.\u00a0They had to consider the music programmatically\u2013what they were looking for, what was going to work out on their end, and where a program for September 8 fit in with what else was being performed during the summer.<\/p>\n

\"Hollywood<\/a><\/p>\n

Hollywood Bowl. Photo courtesy of the LA Phil.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>The Bowl stage is very wide and not very deep with the orchestra onstage behind the dancers, also there are no wings. How did those stage challenges come into play when you were choreographing\u00a0Kauyumari?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0<\/strong>Choreographing something new with\u00a0Kauyumari\u00a0allowed me to create something that utilized the width of the stage and accommodated the lack of depth. We have more than enough dancers to fill the space. In my new ballet, there are six women, six men. The music is 7 minutes and 20 seconds. It\u2019s not very long, but it packs a punch. It\u2019s very charged, very energized music. With the dancers onstage with the orchestra right behind them playing this music, it\u2019s going to feel like a real party. It\u2019s going to be a very powerful moment.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>Was there a starting point?<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0<\/strong>Just by listening to it. The piece has so much style and character. It\u2019s so rhythmic and it builds. I knew it would be a larger group to allow it to build from a\u00a0 few dancers, building with the music into more dancers. I loved the style and just the way it makes you want to move your body. Most of it really came alive in the studio once I was with the dancers. I started playing with movement and finding that Mexican style, gaining inspiration from Mexican dance with the skirts. I incorporated that inspiration, but then also infused my creative interpretation of how that music made me want to move and what it made me want to express.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>After the Hollywood Bowl, are you contemplating keeping the piece, but adapting it for a more traditional proscenium theater?<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019m proud of the piece. I\u2019m excited to present it. So yes, it\u2019s certainly a piece that I would like to possibly program or do in another capacity for a future rep program or maybe a special event.<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/a><\/p>\n

Los Angeles Ballet in Jerome Robbins\u2019 \u201cWho Care?\u201d (2008) \u2013 Photo courtesy of LAB.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>The second work LAB is dancing at the Bowl is George Balanchine\u2019s\u00a0Who Cares?\u00a0How did\u00a0Who Cares?\u00a0become part of the program?<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0<\/strong>We discussed several ballets by Balanchine, and I suggested a couple of other works that would fit, given the parameters of the stage, so wide, not deep, so really limited options. There were\u00a0 a lot of ballets that we could have done and would have loved to have done, just they would be hard on that stage. It\u2019s a challenge.\u00a0Who Cares?\u00a0met those challenges.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>There are several different versions of\u00a0Who Cares?.\u00a0 Which version will be at the Hollywood Bowl?<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0<\/strong>Nilas Martins came and staged\u00a0Who Cares?\u00a0on us. It\u2019s the one known as the Concert Version with no corps de ballet because the stage is too narrow for ten corps dancers, so it\u2019s from the song\u00a0The Man I Love.\u00a0In this version, we have three men and three women, who dance the principal duets and solos in addition to the finale.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>Who are your dancers? is that set yet?<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0<\/strong>The three women are Kate Inoue, Sarah-Ashley Chicola, and Chloe Oronoz, and then our three men are John Dekle, Marcos Ramirez, and Evan Gorbell.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>Without the corps, there isn\u2019t much rest time between the solos and duets.<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0<\/strong>Yes, and\u00a0Who Cares?\u00a0is a very difficult ballet. It\u2019s very challenging technically. All three solos that the women do are really long and very hard. And you have to perform it with so much energy and pizzazz and sass.\u00a0 It\u2019s a very showy piece, but then you also have to be very feminine and romantic and dreamy.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been working with the dancers to sort of capture the jazzy fun but also the romantic dreamlike quality that is required. Our dancers have shown the technical skill and ability to perform under pressure. The dancers who will be performing have done main roles for us in the past, so they\u2019re the ones that we have who are best prepared to take on this ballet.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>Did you dance\u00a0Who Cares?\u00a0at New York City Ballet?<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0<\/strong>I never did it at City Ballet, the company is so big. I did dance one of the leads when I was a dancer with Los Angeles Ballet. I did the one called \u201cthe jumper girl\u201d in the \u201cI\u2019ll Build a Stairway to Paradise\u201d solo and the pas de deux to the ballet\u2019s namesake \u201cWho Cares?\u201d I loved doing that when I was a dancer at LAB. That was a blast.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>If you had been given a choice, would you have chosen a different one?<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0<\/strong>I think the one I did was the one that was most appropriate for me. I do love\u00a0Fascinating Rhythm. It\u2019s such a great solo. It\u2019s very hard. It\u2019s super tiring. I remember I learned it at School of American Ballet, and I was like, \u2018Oh my God, how does anybody get through this?\u2019 It\u2019s just so long, and then you\u2019ve got these like this double\u00a0menage,\u00a0(turning while making a circular path around the stage, twice) and you\u2019re just exhausted. But then, all the solos are hard. None of them are easy by any stretch of the imagination.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul Taylor Dance Company in \u201cDilly Dilly\u201d. Photo by Paul B. Goode.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>LAB also has a different program at the end of September at the BroadStage. Please tell me about it.<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019m super excited for this. For America\u2019s 250th, we\u2019re celebrating American choreographers and composers. We\u2019ll be showing\u00a0The Cage\u00a0by Jerome Robbins and\u00a0Dilly Dilly\u00a0by Paul Taylor, two iconic American choreographers who are legends with two pieces that have never been performed before in L.A. I\u2019m really excited to share those dances with the audience. The third work is the return of my piece\u00a0Wavelength,\u00a0a collaboration with American composer David Lawrence.\u00a0It premiered last year and was a big hit. A lot of people said it made them really happy and found it very uplifting. I think it will be a good ballet to round out the program.\u00a0Dilly Dilly\u00a0is such a fun piece, very theatrical. The music is Burl Ives\u2019 songs. It is filled with vignettes that are funny and fun, with characters like a story, but not really a story. I think it is a really good time.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a><\/p>\n

New York City Ballet in Jerome Robbins\u2019 \u201cThe Cage\u201d. Photo courtesy of the artists.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ve seen\u00a0The Cage\u00a0described as Jerome Robbins\u2019 different, revengeful take on the ballet\u00a0Giselle, as if Giselle didn\u2019t forgive Albrecht and save him, but instead in\u00a0The Cage,\u00a0The Novice carries out the order of\u00a0The Queen to dance him to death.<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The dancers are like the Wilies in\u00a0Giselle, women that are relentless in their willingness to kill the men that come into their domain. It is a bit like the Wilis, but also like inside an insect\u2019s cave. The movement and the shapes that the dancers need to make are really captivating. It\u2019s super cool. I first saw that piece as a student at the School of American Ballet. I saw Wendy Whalen do The Novice numerous times. Just to watch that ballet with Wendy in her prime was unlike any ballet that I had ever seen in my life. It\u2019s a piece that really stands out. Even if it was made today, it would be groundbreaking. It\u2019s amazing that Jerry made it in 1951.\u00a0The Cage\u00a0is one of my favorite all-time ballets.<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/a><\/p>\n

Craig Hall & Wendy Whelan in Jerome Robbins\u2019 \u201cThe Cage\u201d. Photo by Paul Kolnik.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>Before you went to School of American Ballet and New York City Ballet, you trained at Westside Ballet with Yvonne Mounsey who was a principal dancer with New York City Ballet at its beginning. Wasn\u2019t she in\u00a0The Cage\u00a0when it premiered?<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Yes, she was the queen, the original Queen.<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/a><\/p>\n

Los Angeles Ballet in \u201cWavelength\u201d. Photo by Cheryl Mann Productions.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>It sounds like\u00a0Dilly Dilly, and\u00a0Wavelength\u00a0are very positive and light, something of a counterbalance to\u00a0The Cage.<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0<\/strong>Yes,\u00a0The Cage\u00a0is in the middle. It\u2019s the dark center of the program which will begin and end on a much lighter note.<\/p>\n

Haskins:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, it sounds like a good way to sort of edge into October and Halloween. Anything else you\u2019d like people to know as you go into the performance at the Hollywood Bowl and at the Broad later in September?<\/p>\n

\"Melissa<\/a><\/p>\n

Melissa Barak. Photo courtesy of the artist.<\/p>\n

Barak:\u00a0<\/strong>Come support us. It\u2019s the support when people really attend the ballet numerous times a year, come to every one of our programs, and feel part of what we do. The dancers are blossoming.\u00a0 LAB is growing, becoming a staple of LA\u2019s performing arts organizations. It\u2019s time to change the culture of what ballet-going is in LA.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Ballet<\/strong>\u00a0dances\u00a0Kuauyumari\u00a0and\u00a0Who Cares?.\u00a0The LA Phil program also includes three orchestral works without dancing. Full program details at website. The Hollywood Bowl, 2301 Highland Ave., Hollywood<\/a>; Tues., Sept. 8, 8 pm, $12-$178.\u00a0Los Angeles Ballet<\/a><\/p>\n

Los Angeles Ballet\u00a0<\/strong>dances\u00a0Dilly Dilly, The Cage,\u00a0and\u00a0Wavelengthat the BroadStage, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica<\/a>; Thurs.-Sat., Sept. 24-26, 7:30 pm, Sun., Sept. 27, 2 pm,\u00a0 $64.50-$115 (+ fees).\u00a0Los Angeles Ballet.<\/a><\/p>\n

Written by Ann Haskins for LA Dance Chronicle.<\/p>\n

Featured image: Los Angeles Ballet in \u201cWavelength\u201d. Photo by Cheryl Mann Productions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a choreography commission from the LA Phil and choreographer George Balanchine\u2019s jazzy ballet tribute to Hollywood and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1037018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337],"class_list":["post-1037017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117196321170195173","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1037017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1037018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1037017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1037017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1037017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}