{"id":358,"date":"2026-06-15T23:06:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=358"},"modified":"2026-06-15T23:06:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:06:04","slug":"an-unmissable-dance-thriller-from-the-a-r-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=358","title":{"rendered":"An unmissable dance thriller from the A.R.T."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cBlack Swan\u201d is billed as \u201ca new dance thriller\u201d by the American Repertory Theater. It is indeed both thriller \u2014 a tense and suspense-driven story \u2014 and thrilling in its bold use of lighting, choreography, sound, music and illusion. It\u2019s an awe-inspiring work of creative power.<\/p>\n

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And one needed by the A.R.T., which has had a string of underwhelming productions in recent months. It\u2019s good to see it back with something unmissable, which is exactly what \u201cBlack Swan\u201d is. To be honest, I was not looking forward to seeing this, in part because of the 2011 Oscar-nominated film of the same title. That movie offered visual intrigue, but the exploitative and misogynistic relationship between young dancer Nina and her powerful male choreographer Thomas LeRoy overshadowed the story.<\/p>\n

Since 2011, we had #metoo. With the blessing of film director Darren Aronofsky, book writer Jen Silverman has recast choreographer Thomas from the film as Margaux LeRoy (an impressive Amber Iman), a woman with presence and power who must also battle the powers-that-be in the world of prestige dance. Her decision to cast young Nina (Melanie Moore \u2014 further comments about her later) as the Swan Queen in Tchaikovsky\u2019s \u201cSwan Lake\u201d shocks the rest of the company. Nina is a social outcast, driven by ambition yet held back by fear. LeRoy sees something in her that will equip her to dance both the \u201cgood\u201d White Swan and her \u201cevil\u201d double, the Black Swan.<\/p>\n

To dance the Black Swan, Nina must delve into painful, unfamiliar emotions. LeRoy insistently if gently pushes Nina, and she is not the only source of pressure. Nina\u2019s mother Barbara (understudy Mehry Eslaminia at the performance I saw), exerts demands, as do Nina\u2019s competitive feelings toward understudy Lily (Jada Simone Clark). But the biggest source of stress for Nina lies within. Her own ambition drives her to find and embody her \u201cshadow self,\u201d aspects of her personality she has previously denied.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the execution of this transformation, rather than the story line, that leads me to highly recommend this production. Sonya Tayeh\u2019s direction and choreography are a mesmerizing blend of ballet and contemporary dance; Dave Malloy\u2019s music, lyrics, and orchestrations are a compelling mix of percussion and melody interwoven with familiar strains of Tchaikovsky. Isabella Byrd\u2019s superb lighting design alone is almost enough to see the show. By turns she obscures and illuminates to highlight the growing emotional pitch of this brilliant production.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The A.R.T. characterizes this as a journey into mental illness; its website offers resources for coping with trauma and distress. Nothing wrong with that, but I did not see Nina\u2019s transformation as illness. Her deep personal interrogation is a requirement for her creative metamorphosis. (This metamorphosis, thanks to illusion design from Chris Fisher and Skylar Fox, is physical as well as emotional.) Painful, yes. Illness, no. The film presents Nina\u2019s journey as a descent into a madness; in the A.R.T\u2019s version it is healing. Nina fully realizes the roles required of the ballet; she also achieves adulthood.<\/p>\n

No production is perfect (except perhaps for \u201cHamilton\u201d!). This one has flaws, likely to be ironed out on its journey from world premiere here in Cambridge to later productions (the word \u201cBroadway\u201d was in the air the night I saw the show). The culmination of the show is confusing. Half or more of the audience began applauding before it reached its finale. And while I was glad to have the menacing male choreographer removed, I\u2019d like a different dynamic between Nina and her mother Barbara. Frustrated and demanding stage mothers are a stereotype.<\/p>\n

I had mixed feelings about Nina, played by Melanie Moore. Throughout most of the show, she is overshadowed in dance technique and personality by Jada Simone Clark, playing Nina\u2019s understudy Lily. It\u2019s only in the final scenes that Moore comes into her own. Arguably, that\u2019s the point of the story, but it left me wondering what led LeRoy to cast Nina in such an important role, given LeRoy\u2019s own professional challenges. LeRoy claims she saw her own younger self in Nina; I\u2019d like to have seen a glimmer of that.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBlack Swan\u201d plays at American Repertory Theater through July 12.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBlack Swan\u201d is billed as \u201ca new dance thriller\u201d by the American Repertory Theater. It is indeed both thriller \u2014 a tense and suspense-driven story \u2014 and thrilling in its bold use of lighting, choreography, sound, music and illusion. It\u2019s an awe-inspiring work of creative power. Read more CRLS ultimate enjoys national tournament experience And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nAn unmissable dance thriller from the A.R.T. - Cambridge Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cambridgemovinghub.com\/?p=358\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An unmissable dance thriller from the A.R.T. - Cambridge Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cBlack Swan\u201d is billed as \u201ca new dance thriller\u201d by the American Repertory Theater. 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