BalletX Festival at The Mann
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 3, 2025
Maslow’s Peak (world premiere)
Sigrid DaVeiga
BalletX’s Festival at The Mann presented an artistry and sense of community unique to the company’s commitment to the city and arts culture. The night was truly an homage to the magic of live dance performance and the multifaceted ways in which audiences can be reached and brought together.
As part of The Mann’s picnic series, the evening opened two hours in advance of the 7:30pm performance. A lovely sunset view of Philadelphia’s skyline set the stage for young dancers from a variety of studios across Philadelphia, who performed a selection of pieces under a delightful open-air tent. Audience members circled the tent listening to music, enjoying the performances and their picnics on the open lawn at The Mann. The sense of community was already brimming there with dancers, choreographers and audience members connecting and basking in the warm pink light as the sun set and the main event of the night was set to begin.
The Mann could not have been a more perfect venue for the main event this evening, the second night of the world premiere performance of Jennifer Archibald’s Maslow’s Peak. As audience members moved from the verdant lush lawn to their main seats, there was a decided change in the weather. The sky became overcast, and the rumble of thunder began in the distance.
BalletX in Jennifer Archibald’s “Maslow’s Peak”
Photo by Vikki Sloviter
Maslow’s Peak is Archibald’s second experience choreographing for BalletX, her first was in 2022 when she created Exalt, the initial explorations for the two-year commission which has now become the full-length work on display this evening. Now a prolific choreographer and instructor in various genres of dance, Archibald is widely hailed as an exceptional cross-genre choreographer but is also a renowned storyteller through dance who focuses her craft on bringing communities together. She is a true artist in her approach, and in an interview described to me how she considers her process akin to “painting.” She said that she arrives with a concept but “depending on what emotion or task we need to achieve,” she will walk into a space and “create movement on the spot.”
In discussing her decision to choreograph an exploration of the widely read 1954 novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Archibald described how, “there are just a lot of things that are happening in the world today that reflect a lot of the themes that are in the story. I wanted to make sure that I was creating something that would have an emotional response for me and other people, and I thought it would be a good fit.”
(l-r) Skyler Lubin, Jerard Palazo, Jonathan Montepara,
Minori Sakita, Jared Kelly, and Eli Alford
in Jennifer Archibald’s “Maslow’s Peak”
Photo by Vikki Sloviter
Archibald’s commitment to the creation of Maslow’s Peak extended far beyond the choreography to every aspect and detail of this production, including her musical score, set design, music, costumes and the dramatic storytelling. Her elaborate set designs, created in collaboration with Guy De Lancey, Scenic and Projection Designer, and Proof Productions were immense and impressive feats of engineering. There was a large airplane wing, large rock, and an airliner seat reminiscent of the opening scenes of Lord of the Flies itself. The dancers interacted with each set piece, and they were critical to choreographic choices as well. When the curtain opened on tonight’s set, the entire audience stirred in awe at the jungle vines hanging from the ceiling, the dancers strewn across the airliner seat awakening to find their way, registering their sense of aloneness in the space far from home.
BalletX in Jennifer Archibald’s “Maslow’s Peak”
Photo by Vikki Sloviter
The elaborate set paired with the costumes by Emily Morgan, a gesture to the military garb of the adolescent boys in Lord of the Flies, were an homage from top to bottom to the written word from so many years ago that were the inspiration for this piece. While the reference to the source material was clear from the outset, Archibald’s objective to create a sense of the themes of the book were clear. Through Act I, the dancers frequently moved in larger groups with the occasional departure of one figure or another. The intentional inability to tell the dancers apart individually drove home the concept of mob mentality and the instincts humans develop in the drives for human survival. Archibald’s choreography captured moments of singular figures, though. For example, one dancer who could not climb up the rock being shown compassion by another; some dancers separating out to individually climb the hanging vines while simultaneously performing acrobatic feats.
BalletX in Jennifer Archibald’s “Maslow’s Peak”
Photo by Vikki Sloviter
There was something so believable about the effects of the set, lighting and interplay with the collective movements of the dancers that the audience could not help but follow the journey. There was a sense of complete relationship to the story unfolding on stage and as the savagery among the dancers escalated so did the actual tempest coming down around The Mann. In a bizarre, magical and transcendent moment of weather, the escalating storm winds, thunder and rain matched the increasing hysteria and brutality of Archibald’s story arc. The audience members pulled hoods over their heads, wrapped themselves in parkas and jackets as an apparent psychological battle ensued. It was as if Mother Nature herself understood the significance and ambition of tonight’s performance and was happy to join the cast.
BalletX in Jennifer Archibald’s “Maslow’s Peak”
Photo by Vikki Sloviter
A very intriguing figure in Maslow’s Peak was the ever-changing eye that appeared at times as part of the backdrop of the set. In the “In the Studio” interview with Archibald, she and Dramaturg, Kate Mattingly, discussed the significance of the eye and its varied and powerful metaphors. The eye seemed to change in features depending on the actions on stage. Sometimes the eye was pulsating, sometimes still, sometimes watching. The eye sometimes looked like a human eye, at other times perhaps an animal’s or an owl’s, or at times the eye was an image of the animalistic nature displayed by the characters in the dance itself. These moments added to the sense of foreboding that someone might be watching the terrifying tale on stage unfold.
Jared Kelly
in Jennifer Archibald’s “Maslow’s Peak”
Photo by Vikki Sloviter
Given the story’s substantial psychosocial and emotional implications, the physical and emotional prowess of the BalletX dancers was an appealing factor in Archibald’s decision to set Maslow’s Peak on this company. Archibald said, “This is something I thought the BalletX dancers could really do very well. The dancers are really versatile and there’s a power within them. This story is very interesting and has a lot of emotional arcs and I just thought that the physicality that the BalletX dancers could exude would be the perfect match.” Archibald described how her experiential process of setting a work on a specific company can “bring out the best qualities in their dancers” and the feeling of “having a truthful response to that moment” with each individual dancer “just makes the connection to the work stronger.”
While every dancer on tonight’s stage embodied a great power and prowess, even among the larger crowd some were standouts. Jared Kelly danced the role of one of the leaders of the lost crew. His character portrayed the more brutal member of the group, willing to exercise options of violence and subjugation to maintain power. His execution of the choreography embodied this power and was truly masterful, his jumps and turns larger than life and his ability to act the aggressor ultimately claiming power over the group were haunting. He was matched well by Jerard Palazo, who danced the role of the other leader among the group, but espoused a more gentle nature and peaceful existence. While this was the role he played, his dancing was equally powerful.
Jerard Palazo in Jennifer Archibald’s “Maslow’s Peak”
Photo by Vikki Sloviter
When Act II opened, the rain and wind had died down around the theater, but the story on stage was still in full throttle, the backdrop behind the vines and plane crash in red like blood and Kelly wearing a large animal mask with red eyes, signaling his role of dominance. As the other dancers join the scene, the audience can see that their costumes are now tattered and worn and they are divided by color of shirt, one group with light grey shirts, the other with dark shirts as if divided in two factions in conflict. Act II unfolded in equal drama to Act I, with more and more dancers joining in wearing masks reminiscent of animals. The act ends ultimately in a moment when Palazo’s character is beaten and looks almost as if he has died. The audience gasped in collective horror, when suddenly, one of the dancers, Lanie Jackson, appears to recognize what they have done. As suddenly as this transpires, the other dancers begin to recognize as well.
(l-r) Mathis Joubert and Skyler Lubin
in Jennifer Archibald’s “Maslow’s Peak”
Photo by Vikki Sloviter
Maslow’s Peak’s falling action is on this very beautiful moment of recognition and redemption, the dancers pairing off and delivering passionate and gentle pas de deux pieces. The choreography has shifted from a pounding and violent arc to a gentle, peaceful tone that centers on a moment of human relationship in harmony. The dancers depart the stage together walking away from the audience directly into the jungle, in finality followed by Palazo as a lone figure. They were mirrored momentarily by the image of a boy, messy hair, military school attire and back-pack, walking away from the audience in the screen behind them as well. This last moment was also a nod to the young boys in Lord of the Flies.
BalletX and Jennifer Archibald received a roaring standing ovation at the end of tonight’s performance. Archibald delivered precisely what she set out to achieve. She drew people to the ballet and spoke to them in a way that everyone could relate to. She showed the audience the essence of human nature, the horror and the beauty of it. Her astute selection of Lord of the Flies as her subtext was immensely insightful given current history. It is a timeless story that should never be forgotten and is as relevant now as it was when first written. Archibald and BalletX created a precious space for everyone to share this immensely important story. More so, Archibald used dance, every kind of dance, not just ballet, to explain that we can make choices despite drivers like, power, mob mentality and savagery. We can choose kindness, love and relationship. And maybe if we choose those things instead, we can make our way up Maslow’s Peak as well.
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