Photo by Rachel Malehorn
Milwaukee Ballet II - Momentum (2025)
Milwaukee Ballet II performs 'Momentum' (2025)
Born in France, and with an extensive resume of work with European ballet companies, Mirielle Favarel arrived in Milwaukee 36 years ago as a principal dancer for Milwaukee Ballet. Ten years later, she became the company’s rehearsal director. In 2019, she became artistic director of Milwaukee Ballet II (MBII), Milwaukee Ballet’s second company. Part of her job has been to travel the country in search of MBII candidates, but her primary role has been to teach and coach young dancers to realize their full potential as artists.
She’s retiring from Milwaukee Ballet at the end of this season.
The MBII dancers—22 of them this year—perform substantial roles in mainstage shows and present their own concert each year. It’s title, Momentum, describes its goal: to enhance the career prospects of its cast members. 60% of Milwaukee Ballet’s main company currently came to their jobs through MBII, as positions opened up.
As artistic director, Favarel has done a great job producing Momentum. The closing performances of her final production are on Saturday, April 26 at 2 and 7 pm at the Baumgartner Center for Dance, Milwaukee Ballet’s Third Ward home at 128 N. Jackson Street.
More Than Great Technique
I’d seen the opening performance. We talked about the show, her work and her retirement. I ask her what’s required of a great dancer.
“It’s more than great technique,” she answers. “You need a sense of artistry. You need good acting ability to swing between all sorts of different roles. Also, you need great intuition about what the choreographer is trying to do, and how you can help that. A great intuitive dancer will show the choreographer what’s possible. A new piece is a contribution from them both.”
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About Momentum 2025, she says: “I’m very proud of this one but I’ve been very proud of all the Momentums.”
The show’s first act is a substantial cutting from La Bayadère, part of the standard classical ballet repertoire from the late 19th century with choreography by Marius Petipa. It’s challenging work, much like the work the entire MBII cast did beautifully in Milwaukee Ballet’s recent production of Sleeping Beauty. They did it beautifully in this show, too. The principal roles are double cast to give more dancers opportunities. I enjoyed the performances by Roxy Slavin, Alexander Boyd-Smith, and Andrew Powell-Arellano.
“The kids will probably not be cast in those principal roles until they’re much, much older,” Favarel tells me, “But this is elemental work.”
Different Styles
Momentum then continues with dances in three different styles of contemporary ballet. First is Lotus by Eric Figueredo, who is a dancer with the main company. It’s pure dance, dreamy, spectacular, hot stuff!
“I keep telling him, Eric, you have a choreographic voice,” says Favarel. “To me, he fits the potentially great choreographer requirements.”
Next is Lumière, a neoclassical quartet for dancers Ella Grimm, Fayeth Hartmann, Ezra Petunia McPhie, and Genevieve Raasch, choreographed by Davit Hovhannisyan who is in his second season as MBII rehearsal director, following his many years as a stellar leading artist with the main company. This is his second piece of choreography for MBII. “It’s quite lovely,” Favarel says, and I strongly agree.
Momentum closes with choreographer and composer Kristopher Estes-Brown’s enthralling Broken Pieces. This complex work for sixteen dancers is his fifth for MBII, each one set to his own excellent musical compositions. He lives in Chicago. Right now, he’s in Portugal, teaching and choreographing.
“I thought I would invite him one last time,” Favarel says warmly. “He used to be in MBII when I was a principal dancer here. When we heard he was doing choreography some years ago, we started inviting him. I love the way he works with the dancers. He’s very giving. I always feel like at the end of the process they’ve learned something. It’s a different style of contemporary dance. This piece is beautiful.”
She summarizes. “I’ve done everything I could possibly do here. I’m so happy and fulfilled. I love this organization but there is a time when you have to say it’s time to go. I’m planning on taking care of my house, my dog and myself. I want to spend a couple months in France, and there are many places in America I haven’t seen.”
“At the reception after this show, I’m not going to be saying goodbye,” she says smiling. “There’s still the MBII graduate show, and Carmen to close the mainstage season. They’ll all be in Carmen. But yeah, it’s going to be emotional. I get very attached to every single MBII dancer every year. I have to say goodbye to them every year. It’s tough. I don’t know when it’s going to hit me. I’m the sort of person that takes one day at a time. Let’s start with today and worry about that tomorrow.”
