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March 8, 2009

DANCE

Rekindling Robbins, a Step at a Time

By JULIE BLOOM

ONCE asked about the impetus for Fancy Free (1944), the first ballet he choreographed, Jerome Robbins said
he felt compelled to create something different. I thought, Why cant we dance about American subjects? he
said. Why cant we talk about the way we dance today, and how we are?

Now, a new generation of dancers is applying Robbinss question to some of his own work. West Side Story,
the 1957 musical that changed the way we think about how dance can tell a story, is reopening on March 19 at the
Palace Theater. The show is directed by Arthur Laurents, the author of its original book, and Joey McKneely has
been charged with the difficult task of recreating Robbinss choreography for a new American generation.

Unlike other musicals, in which the dancing is, however entertaining, most often a flashy, kick-filled break from
the rest of the show, in West Side Story it is as essential to the story as the music and the words. If you remove
Jerome Robbinss choreography, you lose significant plot, storytelling moments, and you lose characterization
elements that are set in the dance, Mr. McKneely said in an interview. Its rare that shows have dance as that
kind of signature. Its the emotional glue.

Mr. McKneelys task is as hard as it sounds. Like balletomanes devoted to Balanchine many Robbins disciples
and fans see every step in West Side Story as sacred. But, as Mr. McKneely pointedly asked, What is the
original choreography?

Sitting in the back of the Palace Theater after a recent rehearsal, he ticked through the many iterations of the
show: Theres 1957, then theres the 61 movie, he said, adding, then theres the 80 revival, then theres
Jerome Robbins Broadway, then theres New York City Ballet. So, O.K., all of that is West Side Story and
Jerome Robbins was around, and he did all of those versions.

Mr. McKneely, 42, who has worked on Broadway he made his choreographic debut in 1995 with Smokey Joes
Cafe and abroad, has a long relationship with Robbins and his work. He worked directly with the
choreographer as a dancer in Jerome Robbins Broadway in 1989 before directing his first production of West
Side Story at La Scala in Milan in 2000. More recently he directed a European tour of the show on its 50th
anniversary in 2007 and an English production in 2008.

Still, to keep the movement as true as possible to Robbinss original intentions, Mr. McKneely drew not only
from his own experience dancing numbers like Cool and Dance at the Gym, but from the film, a video of the
1980 production and a choreographic manual for the show written by Alan Johnson, a cast member of the
original production. The Jerome Robbins Trust and Foundation, which licenses Robbinss work and safeguards
its legacy, was also involved in the process to ensure that the show remains true to Robbinss spirit.
its legacy, was also involved in the process to ensure that the show remains true to Robbinss spirit.

But for all the efforts to adhere to the original choreography, this West Side Story has also been re-envisioned
for todays audience. Many of the lyrics are now in Spanish, and parts of the dances have changed as well to
make what the creators hope is a more realistic show.

You cant worry about the past, Mr. Laurents said in a telephone interview. Jerry was very concerned with
why they dance. Why they dance in this version is not the same as why they danced in the others. The theater has
changed. You have to reflect that in the dancing and it does.

Some adjustments were slight (a fist was added to an originally balletic arm movement in the prologue) and
some more significant, like those made to the second act ballet, which Mr. Laurents said could look like a dance
concert unless you pull it into the story.

To make that dance more organic to the stage Mr. McKneely decided not to include the nightmare scene, which
retells the deaths of Bernardo and Riff, and to make Maria and Tony front and center in the dance featuring the
Sharks and the Jets. They are generating the ballet, he said. It just doesnt happen around them.

Adjustments were also made to America, as well as to the scene in which the Jets attack Anita, played by Karen
Olivo. That moment, which the cast members now refer to explicitly as a rape, has become more violent. We
dont treat them as lovable little thugs. Mr. Laurents said of the characters. We treat them as what they were
then and what they are now.

Cool, one of the shows most technically demanding pieces, is another place where this fresh focus is seen. The
steps are the same, Mr. Laurents said, but what is different is the emotional anger that is under it.

At the second technical rehearsal in early February, Mr. McKneely worked with the dancers on Cool. Laptops
lay scattered across makeshift tables in the theater, while Mr. Laurents watched and Mr. McKneely gathered the
Jets onstage around him. The movements are so familiar: the snaps, the hunched shoulders, the fist pounding
into the palm, a pirouette to the ground, and the straight jump up, one leg sideways, both arms reaching up,
toward the sky: Pow.

Communicating the tension that simmers just underneath the surface in these movements is one of this
productions most difficult challenges. Build, build, release, Mr. McKneely coaxed them, demonstrating a jump
in front of the cast. Robbins would do these steps, and you could see the character emerge out of him, he said
later. Just watching him, he would become each character. So when I teach it, I do it. I do it full out.

Young dancers were sought to make the production seem more contemporary. More than 2,500 people from
around the world were auditioned, and some primary cast members, like Ryan Steele, who plays Baby John, are
as young as 18. When youre in your early 20s, you still have your hormones flaring, youre still partying out at
night, youre getting in trouble, Mr. McKneely said. The closer you get to that age group, the more in touch in a
natural real way they are to those emotions, so you believe them.

Even with the direction to let go of past interpretations, the pressure to get Robbins right is immense, not just for
the choreographer but also for the stars. A lot of people come here with an idea of what they want to see, Ms.
Olivo said before a rehearsal. I dont have the short hair. Im not in the lilac dress.
Olivo said before a rehearsal. I dont have the short hair. Im not in the lilac dress.

But for all the adjustments, its still Robbinss movements that remain so powerful after all these years. Ms. Olivo
added: I always tell my husband, when I do it right, when I do the choreography right, I feel like Im flying.
Thats Robbins. When you get it in your body and you do it right, or you see someone doing it right, its an
exhilarating experience.

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