BalletX frees our souls for 20 glorious minutes of virtual shorts | Review

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, there are a lot of virtual dance programs available.

But BalletX does it far better than most. And while their BalletX Beyond programs are short and subscription based, they are delightful.

The latest offering, released Wednesday, adds up to just 20 minutes over three films. But each is a story of transformation, a gem filmed in a way that invites you in.

Spanish choreographer Gustavo Ramírez Sansano’s Hernando’s Hideaway is a stylish music video set to the famous song. Performed by three men, Blake Krapels, Zachary Kapeluck, and Richard Villaverde, it is set in two locations: Glen Foerd, a mansion in Northeast Philadelphia, and on stage at Plays & Players, with two sets of costumes that represent the dancers’ daytime jobs and after-hours performance work, but using identical steps.

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It is the shortest piece on the program, coming in at under four minutes, but exhilarating and worth several viewings.

Canadian choreographer Maddie Hanson’s Virtuality is also a dreamy look at a double life. A dancer, Ashley Simpson, puts on a set of virtual-reality goggles and she is off — also to Plays & Players, where she has the theater to herself and is inspired to move.

This piece, set to music by Jack Frerer, also shifts between locations. We see Simpson dancing in her home (filmed at Formation Sauna + Wellness), although she is in her head, and then on stage via the goggles. At Plays & Players, there are trippy special effects, adding to the sense of an alternate reality.

It’s a welcome visit to another world that many of us would like to make right now.

Her Blood a Wild River, by Chicago-based choreographer Stephanie Martinez, feels the most like a fully realized film short. Set against and near the “Sanctuary City, Sanctuary Neighborhood” mural in Philadelphia’s Fairhill neighborhood, it is the story of a man with a boring job who imagines himself out of it, watching women with large flowered headpieces dance and dancing with one in a local park.

Villaverde is the daydreamer. The women of BalletX are the strong mothers, daughters, sisters, and girlfriends. And Philadelphia looks gritty and beautiful.

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This current program wraps up BalletX’s series of shorts. Five longer ballets are scheduled to be performed on stage and released on the virtual BalletX Beyond platform this summer.

BalletX Premieres

Available until Aug. 31 with a BalletX Beyond subscription. Fees are $15 a month for a basic plan and $30 for an upgrade with extras, including behind-the-scenes documentaries. Information at balletx.org.