"Tony-winner Peck has a known affinity for A Chorus Line, which may explain why Partita feels like his personal version of that Broadway classic. Indeed, the eight dancers in the piece are all in contemporary dancewear and white sneakers. It opens with the dancers moving into place as disembodied voices recite steps. One half-expects someone to sing "God, I hope I get it.""
"The piece veers into the experimental, albeit uninspired. Movements where the dancers come together to form moving boats adds to the "theatre games" impression that this is Peck's take on the musical. Yet, the choreography itself is too rigid. A later movement involving two dancers who mimic archers only slightly allows for more fluidity. Peck may be commenting on the stiff formality of both classical dance and the military, but that's only a guess."
"The piece only really comes to life in its closing minutes, when it becomes a duet between two dancers (performed this night by Tess Lane and Gabrielle Collins). Not only do they possess the grace missing from much of the earlier movements, but the choreography also shows how camaraderie can evolve into intimacy. This section tells a story of two people finding one another away from the cacophony of the outside world. It also saves Partita from being a piece to merely shrug at."
Smuin Ballet premiered Extremely Close at YBCA, featuring Justin Peck's Partita performed outside New York for the first time. Partita evokes A Chorus Line with eight dancers in contemporary dancewear and white sneakers and opens with disembodied voices reciting steps. The choreography veers toward experimental ideas like forming moving boats and archer mimicry but often reads as rigid and uninspired. The ballet comes alive in a closing duet by Tess Lane and Gabrielle Collins that reveals grace and an evolution from camaraderie to intimacy, rescuing the piece. Amy Seiwart's revision of a classic includes a prologue with a lowered lighting rig, stage flowers, and a custodian's pantomime.
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