Sharing the Same Space

This year’s Fall Fashion Gala program includes, alongside a world premiere by Resident Choreographer Justin Peck, two world premieres by choreographers born in Canada: one from Alysa Pires, following her 2023 ballet Standard Deviation, and one from Jennifer Archibald, presenting her first NYCB commission. As with the introduction of any new choreographer into the company’s studios, Archibald’s impending debut is accompanied by curiosity: What will the work entail, for audiences as well as the dancers, artisans, and staff involved in its creation? 

A Toronto native, Archibald graduated from The Ailey School, though as she shared in a recent interview with Dance Magazine, she grew up improvising—particularly within dance clubs pulsing with house music, where “You are literally there dancing for hours at night, and it’s just because you love to move.” Her artistic practice thus blends the classical training she received in New York with the spirit and vocabulary of hiphop and other vernaculars. Teaching around the country, she found the classroom a fertile ground for experimentation. This became particularly useful as she began working in both commercial and concert dance environments, producing work for brands like Nike as well as companies like BalletX. Her resume also includes several “Documentary Ballets,” which use multimedia alongside choreography to convey historical stories as varied as those of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street and dancer and Holocaust hero Florence Waren.

All of which begins to sketch what we might expect from Archibald’s first creation for the company. To further fill out the picture and better get to know the choreographer, we spoke with some of the dancers who’ve taken part in the creative process leading up to the premiere of Shared Rain. 

“Jennifer captivated me from the start,” shares Mary Thomas MacKinnon. “She’s engaging, no-nonsense, and refreshingly clear about what she wants. Within the first ten minutes of working with her, we had already completed a full phrase of partnering. I remember feeling instantly energized and ready to work. She commands the room in a very professional yet humble way, and I think that kind of presence naturally creates more focused and motivated dancers. Speaking for myself, I definitely felt that way from the get-go.” 

Establishing this level of focus and getting immediately down to business are essential to Archibald’s unique idiom, in that the dancers in the studio are learning not only the choreography for the ballet at hand, but also how to work within the blend of styles her work encompasses. For KJ Takahashi, this was a welcome demand. “It was personally exciting for me to re-enter a more contemporary style of movement since the past couple of years have been so classically-focused for me,” he says. “I can tell there are hiphop influences in her movement which I resonate with, so it’s been really fun getting back into that style. 

“This work in particular has really challenged me physically, but in the best way possible,” he adds. “The stamina and endurance required to perform her work are one thing; there are also lots of challenging partnerings I’m doing with Maya Milić.” Ruby Lister similarly highlighted the difficulty of Archibald’s footwork itself, alongside the fact that the choreographer transmitted the majority of the work within the first six or seven days in the studio, responding to the scheduling requirements presented by NYCB’s unique approach to programming.

“I’ve loved being in a space where I am given the freedom and trust to translate a choreographic framework into something that feels comfortable in my body,” Lister relates. “[Archibald will] give you the steps and the arc of what she’s trying to achieve (such as ‘a turn into a jump with sharp arms’) and it’s your job to show how that looks on your body. From there, she may leave it or edit further. At other times, her choreography is very intentional and specific, down to the degree of angle of your hands. That versatility and change of pace has been really enjoyable for me and has kept me engaged and invested in this process in a new way.” 

The “trust” Lister refers to reflects Archibald’s commitment to collaboration within the rehearsal studio. “Jennifer creates an environment where dancers know the direction that she wants to go, yet at the same time there’s enough room for play, there’s enough room for breath,” The Washington Ballet Artistic Director and former NYCB Dancer Edwaard Liang told Dance. Archibald has also referred to treating dancers like “human beings,” remaining attentive to the fact that they don’t simply become two-dimensional or automatons once the process begins. “I remember her saying that if a step or combination didn’t feel right or natural, to instead do what did feel natural,” Jules Mabie recalls. “That’s a very different thought process when choreographing than we’re used to in a more traditional ballet setting. I found it interesting trying to translate her steps into my own movement.” 

For MacKinnon, that two-way, three-dimensional style has led to personal discoveries alongside learning the ballet itself. “To be completely honest, I’m normally a more quiet dancer when rehearsing,” she shares. “This definitely brought out a different side of me. It could be from getting older and becoming more established in the company, or it could be Jennifer’s energy, but throughout this whole process I found myself really coming out of my shell when it came to problem solving, speaking up, and helping the group or Jennifer whenever she needed it. She is such a collaborator and truly prioritizes the dancers and what we need. Jennifer made all of us feel incredibly comfortable expressing concerns, asking questions, or suggesting changes, and it created a really healthy and collaborative environment.” 

Archibald spoke about this approach in an interview with Dance Data Project. “My work doesn’t exist if I don’t coexist with the humans that are bringing my choreography to life. The instant you don’t understand or put the work into honoring the individuals in the room, you separate yourself from the process. What I create onstage needs to reflect what’s happening in the world today.” From portraying history to engaging dancers from all backgrounds with house music scores and beyond, Archibald’s subject matter may be abstract but it always contains some element of storytelling, the latter of which often emerges inherently within the interactions between dancers and between dancer and choreographer. 

How does this arise in Shared Rain? “I think ‘shared rain’ could mean something really intimate about the things we all experience together, even if we experience them differently,” says Mabie. “Rain is something that falls on everyone equally, and you can’t stop it and you can’t really control how it affects you. Because there are eight dancers moving together in the beginning, there’s also this sense that none of us are completely alone in it. To me, ‘shared rain’ could also be about vulnerability while being caught in the same storm as someone else, sometimes finding comfort in another person and sometimes struggling against them, but ultimately sharing the same space, the same weather, and the same experience.” That quality of an experience in common, Archibald has said, extends to the audience itself. The premiere of Shared Rain is thus an invitation not only to witness the choreographer’s creativity and vision, but the dancers’ hard work in bringing that vision to life as well. 

_{Rehearsal photos © Erin Baiano.}