Classical ballet, modern dance, and spoken word collided on the opening night of the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s return to New York City. The graceful and elegant movements of the dancers mesmerized the audience from beginning to end. Having never seen ballet before, I did not know what to expect from this performance. The performers captured my attention right away, with classic pieces of dance from Swan Lake and Agon. 

While these were interesting, the evening really picked up when the performers danced not just to music, but also to spoken word. I never expected poetry and ballet to blend so flawlessly, different art forms telling the same somber love story about two brokenhearted people finding comfort in each other. The dancers would move towards and away from each other depending on the verse, but they would always be touching showing how that they could not live without each other.

After such a beautiful, but heavy story, the soulful voices of James Brown and Aretha Franklin were a welcome change. The dancers cut loose in a truly epic combination of modern music and classical dance. All the dancers on stage were not only jovial in their movements, but had big smiles on their faces, really adding to the lighthearted atmosphere. Everyone in the theater was clapping along, a perfect way to end such an electric evening. I never thought that I would take an interest in ballet, but this show showed me the magic of this dance form and I expect to see many dance performances from now on.