HQ Review: Saint Louis Ballet presents Call It Love featuring the St. Louis Blues
On February 14th and 15th at Touhill Performing Arts Center, St. Louis Ballet performed Call It Love, featuring St. Louis Blues. Call It Love is one of those evenings at the ballet where movement, music, and emotion align so seamlessly that you leave the theater feeling both exhilarated and quietly reflective. Saint Louis Ballet’s program brings together intimacy, theatricality, and American musical traditions, creating an exploration of connection and romance.
The show began with “The Chairman Dances”, choreographed by Peter Martins. What could have felt abstract instead becomes exuberantly theatrical. The vibrant colored costumes by Lauren Cram creates high energy visuals, while the choreography blends classical ballet with playful, stylized movement. The incredibly talented lead dancer pulled the piece together, supported by a corps of 16 women whose precision and vitality connect the score’s pulsing repetition. It’s impossible not to be inspired by the joy and momentum of this ballet that radiates with confidence.
Energy surges back into the theater with “The Liturgy” choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. This contemporary pas de deux starts off calm and grows into something breathtaking. The two performers move apart and return to one another with a measured restraint that slowly gives way to urgency. There’s something deeply emotional about the work due to the dancers' deep connection with each other. The darkness that ultimately envelops the dancers feels less like an ending and more like the beginning of something new, a shared disappearance that lingers long after the stage goes black.
Peter Martins’ “Hallelujah Junction” shifts the mood, this time into something relentlessly lively. With John Adams’ music, the piece is brought to life, propelled by delayed repetition between two pianos. The dancers embody the echoing rhythms and shifting meters, their movements crisp, quick, and endlessly alert. The choreography mirrors the structure of the music, layered, responsive, and exhilarating.
The program closes with “St. Louis Blues” choreographed by Gen Horiuchi, and it’s easy to see why this ballet returns by popular demand. Set to the soulful music of W. C. Handy, the piece celebrates American jazz with warmth and vitality. The live vocals by Denise Times add a strong sense of emotion while bringing together the concert and ballet. Classical technique meets bluesy expression, and the dancers rise to the challenge with charisma and ease, embodying both elegance and groove.
Overall, Call It Love expresses love stories through music, movement, and ways that cannot be expressed through words alone. Saint Louis Ballet proves once again its ability to honor classical roots while embracing bold, contemporary expression. It’s a program that satisfies both the eye and the heart, and one that reminds us why we keep coming back to the theater: to feel something deeply, together.
Photos by Kelly Pratt