“Illusions,” Harvard Ballet Company’s annual fall show which ran from Thursday to Sunday, explored its self-titled theme through 13 pieces choreographed by students and guest artists. On stage, dancers twirled and folded themselves, embodying the fluidity of “illusions” as the audience watched on with bated breath. Despite the subject of the show, the dancers made it look effortless. Yet a quick look into the preparation of the ballerinas shows that the show embodies the theme “illusions” in more ways than one.
Backstage, electrolytes and energy drinks scattered the tables. The ballerinas used heating pads to return circulation to their toes and warm their backs before bending in half. They applied nude paint to the borders of their pointe shoes to cover up stained blood and layered heavy stage makeup onto their faces.
Onstage, the pieces navigated the meaning of illusions. The show’s opening number, “it’s morning and lively and we’re awake but spinning,” glorified the innocent bliss associated with early morning avoidance. In Anna Antongiorgi’s choreography, dancers spun around gleefully, twirling with easeful euphoria. The first act closed with “Revelations,” a piece choreographed by Catherine Martinez, which twirled around the illusion of dreams. That lovely vision morphed upon the opening of the second act, as dancers from the Harvard Contemporary Collective tangled and untangled themselves seamlessly to the ghostly notes of “Shades of Cool” by Lana Del Rey.
Through photos, the Harvard Independent explored how the show’s theme manifested itself backstage. The dancers may create an illusion of effortlessness, but a week of daily seven-hour rehearsals is no easy feat.
Eliza Kimball ’25 (elizakimball@college.harvard.edu) and Maddy Tunnell ’26 (maddytunnell@college.harvard.edu) spend half the performance staring at calf muscles.
Sophia Barrekett ’25 and Scout Stevens ’25 warmed their feet before heading to stage.
Cole Yellin ’25 keeping warm backstage.
The Tech Team ensures that the performance will run smoothly.
Elisabeth Bullock calms the mind pre-performance.
Anna Torten Rabinowitz ’24 and other dancers stretch and apply show makeup after their warm up.
Scout Stevens ’25 reaching for the stars
A graceful pose in “Écorché: A Character Study”
Contracting in “Cynical”
Lifting in “Shadows”