Moving Parts

Celebrated choreographer Benjamin Millepied, neo-classical composer Nico Muhly and Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy converged backstage at Frank Gehry’s iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall last week to put the finishing touches to Moving Parts, their collaboration for the LA Dance Project. Millepied's 27-minute modern ballet is part of a program inaugurating the city’s first major resident dance company in 25 years, which the French-born choreographer set up after relocating from Paris with his wife, Natalie Portman. “The inspiration for the piece came from Christopher Wool's process as a painter, the layering and the way these layers interact in surprising ways,” says Millepied. The show includes a monumental re-staging of Merce Cunningham’s Winterbranch and William Forsythe’s Quintett. “We started with the number of bodies,” LADP co-founder Muhly explains of the inception of Moving Parts. “Six dancers, three musicians.” For the score, Muhly devised a fresh, spare take on Bach to complement the oversized calligraphic printed canvases framing the stage created by New York artist Christopher Wool and the Mulleavy sisters’ sci-fi–leaning, color-coded costumes. “The idea is simple,” Muhly concludes. “A beautiful form with a twist.”