7 September, 2025 (matinee). The Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane Festival
Brisbane Festival media announcements for Benjamin Millepied’s Gems have frequently stressed that Gems, a work in three parts, reflects George Balanchine’s Jewels, also a three part work. It is an interesting, but perhaps confusing comment. Millepied of course danced with New York City Ballet (NYCB) and I was lucky enough to see him perform with NYCB in Jewels in 2010. Then I was impressed with his dancing in ‘Rubies’, the second section of Jewels. I referred to him in my review as ‘a boisterous Benjamin Millepied’.
Had the media not been so insistent that Millepied’s Gems reflected Balanchine’s Jewels I doubt I would have thought of making a connection. But Gems was not only a work in three parts but was made in collaboration with Van Cleef and Arpels, an upmarket and creative jewellery organisation. Charles Arpels, a co-founder of the company, was in part responsible for the development of Balanchine’s Jewels, so a connection of sorts is not beyond the realms of possibility..
The standout section for me was the second item, ‘Hearts and Arrows’, which Millepied made in 2014. Performed to a selection of music by Philip Glass, with arresting costumes of black tops of various designs with black and white skirts or shorts for the dancers, it showed Millepied’s beautifully constructed choreography that pushed the boundaries of classical dance into a contemporary mode of groupings and poses.
I was staggered by the brilliant dancing of one of the dancers (unknown to me by name but the tallest of the eight dancers who made up the company on this occasion). The pirouettes, tours en l’air and other airborne steps on view were so well placed and perfectly executed. Just spectacular.
The least arresting section for me was the first item on the program, ‘Reflections’ originally made in 2013 and performed to music by David Lang. It was danced in front of a bright red backcloth with the word STAY emblazoned in white across it, and on a red floorcloth with white writing on it that was hard to see from close up (I was sitting in row F of the stalls). One really needed to be seated upstairs in a gallery seat to look down on the wording.
It was not easy to focus on the choreography when the words seemed to take over (visual concept by Barbara Kruger). The writing on the floorcloth was something about ‘thinking of you’ and program notes say the section concerned ‘presence and absence, desire and memory’. But it would have had more effect I think had the so-called visual concept not pushed the choreography into the background. In addition the costumes were not as theatrical as I would have expected. Those track pants (not seen in the header image but very obvious in Brisbane) were not attractive.
The final section, ‘On the Other Side’, was also performed to a score from Philip Glass and took place in front of backcloth showing an art work by Mark Bradford.
Program notes say this section traced ‘the bonds between individuals and the quiet strength of collective experience’. It was perhaps a trifle long but it showed Millepied again working with classically trained bodies and making complex groupings, and often focussing on very moving moments of stillness.
A breathtaking moment occurred (more than once too), for example, when one of the dancers took a pose with upper body and head bent back but with one arm stretching forward. The pose was held for several seconds before the dancer folded her body into another pose. Simplicity perfected.
The true highlight of Gems, however, was the exceptional dancing of all eight dancers throughout the three sections. There was quite a bit of ‘grounded’ work, which was something that Balanchine avoided but which is commonplace in contemporary dance. But what stood out was the way the bodies of all eight dancers were managed by Millepied in ways that did to a certain extent recall a Balanchine choreographic mode, but that had been manipulated in quite complex ways to create a new, contemporary look.
Shortly after Balanchine’s Jewels was first presented in New York in 1967 a journalist wrote, ‘Though there’s no important meaning in the fact that Jewels is the “first abstract three-act ballet”, there’s lots of good copy in the phrase.’* I suspect that comparisons between Gems and Jewels is also ‘good copy’, but is perhaps just an unecessary comparison.
The three sections of Gems were put together for the first time for the Brisbane Festival. The work had much to offer in opening up a look at how dance can absorb much, and how in the hands of an exceptional choreographer can be developed into a particularly different mode of expression.
Michelle Potter, 8 September 2025
Featured image: A moment from ‘Reflections’ the first section of Benjamin Millepied’s Gems.
All images used in this review come from internet sources and are not necessarily from the Brisbane performances.
*See the section on Jewels in The International Dictionary of Ballet (Detroit: St James Press, 1993). Volume 1: A-K, p. 721.
I attended Gems as a member of the general public. My ticket cost $120.
