Audience Reviews

AUDIENCE REVIEW: The Choreography Project

Company:
Jersey City Ballet

Performance Date:
July 18, 2026

Freeform Review:

On Thursday July 16, Jersey City Ballet held its first The Choreography Project at Art House Productions. With the aim to showcase and highlight the artistry and versatility of today’s ballet creators and performers, Jersey City Ballet brought together a group of artists of utmost caliber around the Hudson region to a full house audience.

The evening included works by six choreographers separated into two acts. It opened with “Vivaldi” choreographed by Judith Elins Palacio, the founder and artistic director of Jersey City Ballet, danced by Chloe Russell, Brianna Jimenez, Estelle Collahan, and Chloe Aiello. This is a very classical piece that showcased the purity of ballet through clean technique and lines. Next up was “Eagle” by Axons Dance Theatre, choreographed and performed by artistic director Joan Liu. This solo brought a huge focus to artistry, which Liu excels at. I especially enjoyed the clever insertion of mime in the beginning – short enough to get passed as just plain choreography to the unknowing eye, but brought out the narrative of the Eagle being the queen of the sky to those familiar. Chloe Russel’s “Chaordic” followed. It’s a beautiful, flowy piece danced by Blake Brown, Magali Johnston-Viens, Miranda Bishop, and Russel herself. The movement quality matched the costume to bring out Russel’s vision.

Second half shifted the tone to more contemporary. Simon Kazanstev’s “Radioactive” danced by the lovely Elle Catalano gave a full rock ‘n roll feeling right down to the lighting design, setting the tone of the second half. “Reverie” choreographed by Kayla Armgardt followed. This technical quartet was danced by four seasoned dancers: Tanya Trombly, Amanda Summers, Laura Mosteller, and Armgardt herself. The formation changes were fascinating to me. It’s mind blowing how much variety Armgardt was able to create with just four dancers. The evening closed with “Fire” choreographed by Michael Bishop and danced by Chloe Russell, Brianna Jimenez, Estelle Collahan, Chloe Aiello, and Mark Dilorio. The piece, like its name, was fire! Dilorio captured the audience with his sparks and partnering with Collahan. What a perfect piece to end the evening!

It's worth mentioning that the entire show was done in pointe shoes. While I expected to see pointe shoes with a choreographic showcase curated by a ballet company, I didn’t expect every piece to be en pointe. It is definitely a rarity nowadays with the flourishing of contemporary choreographic scene (when not specially advertised as pointe shoe choreography). I appreciate the blend of very classical and pushing boundaries pieces. As this is the first The Choreography Project by Jersey City Ballet, I am assuming there’s more to come. Looking forward to seeing more choreographic works!

Author:
Xuan Yi

Website:
https://www.jerseycityballet.org/