When We Fell, choreographed by Kyle Abraham and directed by Abraham and Ryan Marie Helfant

"When We Fell" was choreographed by Kyle Abraham in an isolated upstate studio over a three-week period and filmed on the promenade of the New York State Theatre as part of New York City Ballet's digital season.  The music is three piano pieces by Morton Feldman, Jason Moran and Nico Muhly.  The piece is filmed in black-and-white in grainy 16 mm. using NYC Ballet dancers of all levels, including principals, soloists, corps members and an apprentice:  Lauren Lovette, Taylor Stanley, Claire Kretzschmer, India Bradley, Christopher Grant, Jonathan Fahoury, Sebastian Villariini and KJ Takahashi.

The black-and-white film uses many shades of grey as well as a number of appropriately edited camera angles, conveying the isolation of the pandemic and how it has affected our way of looking at things that we once took for granted.  The choreography goes from adagio to allegro and back to adagio, again suggesting a pandemic uncertainty of changing behavior.  Abraham's choreography is influenced by Balanchine, especially in the varied groupings of the eight dancers, but also by Merce Cunningham, with its moments of stillness and contemplation and its dissonant music. The allegro part suggests the freeing of dancers from restrictions while the adagio parts suggest possible new ways to think about ballet and dancing.