New Classics at PA Ballet

Pennsylvania Ballet’s February program may be made up of well-known contemporary works—Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia and William Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude—but the latter two are new to the company. “I’m sorry to admit it, but I’ve never actually seen Polyphonia!” says principal Riolama Lorenzo, who’s cast in the spare, geometric ballet. “But I did a very cool pas de deux in Continuum, which I hear is sort of a sequel to Polyphonia, so I’m looking forward to learning it. I admire Christopher’s choreography. It fits so comfortably on the body, because it’s deeply musical.”

The company’s performances of both Polyphonia and Vertiginous are supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.