A trip through the stages of lockdown ennui is Annenberg’s latest production | Review

Most of us have had an intense year, at best, dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. For Hope Boykin, it meant an abrupt retirement from dancing and all the changes and emotions that went with it.

Those feelings sparked the new piece she choreographed for her HopeBoykinDance company, Redefine US, from the INside OUT, which had its world premiere Thursday night on the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts’ livestream platform — exactly one year after what would turn out to be her final performance with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater after 20 years. (She had planned to retire two months later.)

Redefine US, from the INside OUT is set to music by Bill Laurance and spoken word by Boykin. The Annenberg commissioned the work, in which dancers explore what the choreographer calls her “lowest lows” and how Boykin had to “find hope” — or more likely, “find Hope.”

The four dancers express despair, self-care, a desire to spring free, and contentment through steps that go from contractions and movements on the ground to fast turns, jumps, and reaches toward, presumably, better things. Their costumes change as well, from black to blue to red and yellow.

Boykin comes out on stage for the final section to sort of direct the other four back into the light.

This live performance, streamed from the stage of the Annenberg’s Harold Prince Theatre and performed to an empty auditorium, was shot from several different angles, giving viewers perspectives of the dance we might not see in person. It is not intimate, like BalletX’s edited dance films have been, but the production made interesting choices that worked to energize this live dance format.

The dance is lovely and empathetic and hits home for people also struggling with lives interrupted, but sometimes hard to see. The lighting seemed to be fit more for stage than screen, and it was often hard to see the dancers, especially in the earlier sections when they were dressed in black against a black box theater.

Boykin previously danced with Philadanco and has returned to Philadelphia other times to choreograph for that company and others. She is scheduled to return to Philadelphia this summer for a work with BalletX that is scheduled to be performed on both stage and screen.

She is no stranger to dance on camera, and has said she carries around video equipment for when inspiration strikes.

Those who purchased tickets by 7:30 p.m. Thursday can watch the performance on demand through Saturday. Tickets are no longer available.