Whether it’s representative of biography or artistic maturation or both, says McKenzie, who first heard the piece at the recommendation of ABT board member Barbara Hemmerle Gollust, the transformative arc of the music makes it a natural soundtrack for ballet. “There’s a trajectory there—serenity and then conflict and then resolution—that makes it a perfect candidate for theatrical interpretation,” he says. It was McKenzie who tapped choreographer Elo for the production, citing the 46-year-old former dancer’s ability to play with perspective, a common theme in Close’s work. (It probably didn’t hurt that Elo attracted copious attention with his 2006 work Glow-Stop, which also debuted at ABT.) Says McKenzie: “If you look at Chuck’s work up close it’s abstract, but the further you get from it the more specific it becomes. Jorma understands that idea and plays very well with how you perceive the proscenium and the box and how negative space is as important as positive space.”
Close’s Self-Portrait, 1977, etching and aquatint, which will be used to make a backdrop for the ballet.
Close—again more interested in seeing the project as a reflection of an era rather than a portrait of him personally—finds similarities between Elo’s work and that of choreographers like Lucinda Childs, Yvonne Rainer and Trisha Brown, all of whom shared his SoHo social circle in the Sixties. “Jorma’s choreography is very much like the choreography that was going on at the time that Phil and I were coming up,” he says, “not virtuoso toe stuff and dramatic flourishes but something rooted more in how regular people move.”
