BalletX’s ‘Maslow’s Peak’ promises a ballet of ropes, rocks, and birdsong

BalletX artistic director Christine Cox wanted a new story ballet and knew what she was NOT looking for: a new Swan Lake.

“We’re not the right company for that,” she told choreographer Jennifer Archibald.

It would have to be an evening-length work and involve her entire company of 14 dancers (since expanded to 16). It should also fit a big theater.

The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, where the new ballet will have its world premiere Friday night, fits 13,000 people.

“It doesn’t have to be traditional,” Cox told Archibald, for her second work for BalletX. So Archibald tossed out a few stories that interested her and mentioned the novel Lord of the Flies, which she had read in high school in Canada.

Written by William Golding in 1954, it is the story of a group of British schoolboys stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash during an unnamed war. Now alone, they must create their own civilization in order to survive.

“It was a novel that had enough characters for the company and had a lot of different emotional arcs in it and learning lessons in it,” Archibald said. “And that’s why I was attracted to the book.”

It focuses on themes of innocence lost, mob mentality, bullying, power, fear, and evil, and is on the American Library Association’s List of most-frequently challenged and banned young-adult books.

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“The themes are definitely relevant to what’s happening today,” Archibald said. “That was important to me, because I wanted to be emotionally attached to the work that I’m going to live in for a year and a half,” as Cox had given her a long lead time.

Cox was not the only one sold by the choice. Maslow’s Peak, inspired by the Golding classic, was partially funded by a $300,000 grant from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, she said, “and we’re probably matching that in terms of our own investment.” The company received an additional unrestricted $60,000 from Pew in the grant.

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Archibald is inspired by the book’s two main characters, Jack and Ralph.

“Who’s team Ralph and who’s team Jack and who’s the peacemaker within the group? And it starts to evolve in front of you,” she said. “We’re also trying to make it gender neutral.”

Jared Kelly will be dancing the role inspired by Jack, and Jerard Palazzo’s roles will be inspired by Ralph. But “the cover for Ralph is a female dancer,” Archibald said.

Knowing the dancers before arriving to create this second ballet helped in the casting. “Ralph’s personality very much matches Jerard. There’s a softness about him. There’s a quiet strength about him, and he fits that character very well.”

BalletX performed an excerpt from Archibald’s Maslow’s Peak last Marchat the Wilma Theater, and it was promising.

Archibald decided to have the dancers cross-train for the piece after that preview.

“I said, ‘You know, you guys are going to be climbing up and doing some aerial work,’” Archibald said. “A lot of them were ecstatic about it. Then you have other dancers that were like … you know, there’s a fear involved in it.”

It took about a week and a half after the ropes came to the studio before a comfort level set in.

One BalletX dancer, Itzkan Barbosa, was already at ease around the apparatus. Her father, Javier Dzul, was a Martha Graham dancer and an aerialist coach who came to BalletX to work with the dancers on this skill.

This was helpful, because aerial work was new to Archibald, too.

“I want to have a portfolio of work that looks really different,” she said, “and I don’t want to be the choreographer [with whom] you know what you’re going to see even before you buy your ticket.”

The Mann stage will be filled with almost 200 hanging ropes. Not all will be able to take weight.

“Guy de Lancey is the scenic designer, and he had this idea of, ‘If we’re gonna land in this jungle, have all these vines coming from the ceiling.’”

There will also be a massive rock on stage, fabricated by Proof Productions in Sewell, Gloucester County, which also builds Broadway stages.

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“I had this cliff idea where dancers could climb on it and show that they were the leader of the space,” Archibald said, “but then also fly off it and then jump on it, and hide underneath of it.

The piece is set to an atmospheric soundscape that Archibald assembled with the sound of leaves, insects, and animals that moves into cello music and percussion. The birdsong at the Mann should also add to the ambience.

But there’s one thing Archibald can’t control: the sunset.

“Projection is part of the work,” she said, “and when you do projection, you don’t want us to be in a theater that may not get dark soon enough. We’re just hoping the sun sets very quickly.”

“We went into a jungle,” Cox said, of the complicated making of the ballet. “We really dove into this Maslow’s peak, this journey of self-actualization and the sometimes terrifying aspects of humanity that show up in finding a place of empathy and compassion.”

BalletX in “Maslow’s Peak.” May 2-3, Mann Center for the Performing Arts. $25, 215-225-5389 x250 or boxoffice@balletx.org

The piece has been updated to reflect that “Maslow’s Peak” is inspired by “Lord of the Flies” and is not a direct reimagination.