At long last star power returned the stage at Cobb energy Center last Saturday night!

It was untypically dark in the cavernous theatre as a mellow hush came across the small Saturday night crowd. Without fanfare a wash of light quietly skimmed across the floor and dancers appeared from inside long slits in far distant opaque curtains dressed in skin-tight white, as pure as the work would turn out to be.

It has been two years since Atlanta Ballet made a swift reversal in direction, back to clumsy staid ballet that has no place in the wallets of young professionals and hipsters, as the case was until then. The company began to fire people right and left until the last few long-term stars defected, having no desire to step so far into the past.  They had seen the excitement of The Indigo Girls on stage, Big Boi and Outcast with Janelle Monae swinging high above the stage in full voice sporting her then-signature front puff of dark hair. Gone for the most part are the works of master choreographers, Alexander Ekman, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Helen Picket, Christopher Wheeldon, Jean Christophe Maillot, Christopher Hamson, and Twyla Tharpe. The list is extensive.

What Atlanta Ballet did under the genius direction of John McFall changed the face and donor power of the mid-sized dance company. What McFall brought to the table was diversity in the looks and shapes of dancers but more importantly, personality.  And the tradition of hierarchy was melted. We all knew who the stars were and so did they. But one never knew who would get the next principal roles. When a newcomer landed a sweet role even the stars celebrated and helped them achieve the success that McFall brought each of them to AB for. There were twenty or more years of joy that one could not miss on each and every face. The programming and that un-mistakable joy is what filled the audience.

Then in an avalanche John McFall resigned (actually, fired). The company was looking for new blood that could keep the momentum going into several more generations. The best answer that was right in front of them was company dancer, star, mentor to all dancers and who had the pulse of the City and the donors in the palm of his talented hand, John Welker.  However he was unceremoniously passed over causing him to make his exit. Principal dancers like Brandon Nguyen, Heath Gill, Sara Havener, and Devon Joslin were not rehired, shocking to all of Atlanta. The unstudied shakeup caused pandemonium among the rest of the company dancers and some of the artistic staff as the most beloved and guiding visionary, Rosemary miles was ejected from her long held position as ballet mistress. To the surprise of the company stars Christian Clark and Rachel Van Buskirk did not sign new contracts and veteran star, Tara Lee retired work on her choreographic career that had been bourgeoning over the past few years. At this time others began jumping ship for new companies all over the world as Alessa Rogers and Kiara Felder left for France and Canada. respectively.  Veteran star Jonah Hopper just went away as did the elegant Coco Mathieson. Benjamin stone saw what was coming as far back as the summer of 2016 and he was successfully landed in Monte Carlo to join the prestigious Ballets des Monte Carlo where he is currently enjoying a remarkable career.

It is not unusual for a new Artistic Director to change up a company of dancers in order to bring his or her direction style to new works. But to create such havoc as happened in Atlanta was in my opinion, unwise. Gone from the stage are the beloved and ultimately talented stars that caused the seats to be filled at every performance and brought the most magic to an iconic Nutcracker for twenty-two years.

Last night in the almost third-empty theatre the audience got what has been missing for a full performance year, “Blink!” The retired Tara Lee, cofounder of the new critically acclaimed Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre brought her choreographic talents back to Atlanta Ballet in the splendid Cobb Energy Center. Her pacing is subtle and exquisite. And she gave us back the dancers we have been missing due to most of their relegation to the core. We were all thrilled to see glorious Nadia Mara resplendent on pointe smiling the genuine smile that has endeared Atlanta audiences to her was back in full force!!! Jackie Nash, always a bright light was even brighter. Ms. Nash has long been a bright star and tonight every muscle, every perfectly pointed finger; the shapes she made in mid air gave me renewed hope that things are not hopeless.  Francesca Loi who is relatively new to AB was among Ms. Lee’s choices as she brought her into the fold of recognizable talent. Ms. Loi is an elegant and light performer and her Italian darkness caused hearts to melt. All of the dancers who stayed behind after the change of dancers were part of “Blink” and Ms. Lee gave them all the recognition they so deserve by spotlighting each one, renewing confidence and joy once again. There is a new emerging male star-quality soloist who was the only new face to this work. Nikolas Gaifullin is stunning! He has the long lean perfect body that makes an audience gasp. There were just enough experienced talent onstage to bring this contemporary lovely work to light.

There were several solos a few pas and one or two groups tossing the lovely ballerinas high into the air and then landed on other expertly outstretched waiting hands. The fluidity of motion in transition from solo to pas to group was as smooth as Egyptian cotton fresh from the loom.

Speaking of light, the amazing strata of light that was created by Joey Walls was some of the finest I have seen in a long time. Mr. Walls used sporadically placed lighting falling in long smoky rays from side front, back and wonderfully from above. It was if each dancer was enveloped in halos. The superb lighting highlighted each dancer bringing excitement and mystery to Tara Lee’s work.

The solo piano played by Di Wu was beautifully haunting with her beautiful Brahms renditions. I do not always like a solo piano but on this occasion it brought me back to rehearsal studios where that is the only instrument for learning steps. This solo work brought the necessary rawness “Blink” deserved. Although the work is titled “Blink” it was a full spectrum experience.

The first work, Tu Tu, brought me no inspiration. I love the new company members and they are fast growing as performers and on their own excellent talent. It was not the dancers that did not bring magic to me. There were just way too many of them in this frenetic work that would have been better served with a cast of eight. There was an array of stick-like gestures, arms in disarray of synchronicity that reminded me of what it must be like to land in Hell, a myriad of hands gesticulating to make their way out of the fire.

I could not stay for the third work, “Minus Sixteen”. It is not the work I did not want to see. After such a perfect experience with “Blink” I did not want to see a superb work that has been changed without the stars I have seen in the past. After Tu Tu I did not want to risk more disappointment.

Leaving in a “Blink” was all I needed to fulfill my artistic heart.