A Critique of Justin Pecks 'In the Countenance of Kings'

I looked and critiqued Justin Peck’s piece ‘In the Countenance of Kings’ by San Francisco Ballet and I felt that it helped me understand why it’s important that a performance has a clear story line. My initial thoughts on this particular performance was that it had an atmosphere of being busy and constantly on the go, as the dancers were always moving and had very little moments of being stationary. I also observed that the performers were wearing trainers, which gave me the impression of everyday life and how ballet dancers are human beings as well as athletes. I came to this conclusion because a ballet dancer usually wouldn’t wear trainers when performing, the men were also wearing t-shirts and shorts and this made them look like an average person rather than a professional ballet dancer. (P//) The performance made me feel as though dancers should be perceived as athletes as well as artists, which I think is an important message to send to an audience. Therefore I found this as a dancer myself empowering and encouraging that ballet dancers are strong and powerful. Although I felt that the piece was about the athletic element and artistry in ballet I was still unsure if that’s what the meaning of the piece was, as I felt the costuming would have been different especially for the women as they were wearing leotards compared to the men who were wearing t-shirts and shorts.(P//) I recognized that the dancers moved with determination and strength, they were constantly moving except for a few minor sections of the piece where the group that were dancing stopped together or one person stayed dancing while the others held a position. The choreography had a lot of classical ballet lines, including 45 degree, 90 degree and above arabesques, their arms were also going through traditional pour de bras and arm arabesque lines too. There was sections of running, however this was normal running instead of classical ballet running where for the women the feet stay in front of the body and run on the balls of their feet. As much as it was kept classical, there were definitely aspects of neoclassical ballet, which I thought was really interesting to see as it put a more of a creative and freeing mood into the piece. As a whole the performance was very chaotic and for the majority of it I felt occupied because something was constantly happening, however the dancers were still controlled and kept their movements neat and placed, which I really enjoyed. I noticed this especially in a section where there was a group of dancers doing a pas de deux sequence where the performers moved rapidly but kept the strong and elegant form.(P//) I noticed a few choreographic devices like repetition, accumulation, motifs and unison. The one I recalled to see the most was accumulation as the camera focused itself on an individual or a duet and as the device moved further away from them it revealed more people who would then join in with the original person/persons. Unison was also used a lot since the group of people who were on screen were usually doing the same thing all at the same time, which personally I think had an impressive impact because the company was all in time with each other. (P//) Finally, I believe that James Peck’s ‘In Countenance of Kings’ by San Francisco Ballet was a well put together performance that kept the classical ballet style where the dancers performed beautifully and gave a modern twist which I thoroughly enjoyed. I could interpret the message of the performance to an extent; however I do think the story line could have had more clarity.(P//) Here is the link to Justin Peck's 'In the Countenance of Kings' by San Francisco Ballet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMTv_Y0Zrl4 (San Francisco, 2016) Refrences: San Francisco Ballet, 2016. Justin Peck 'In the Countenance of Kings'. [video] Available at: [Accessed 9 October 2021]. Biblioography: San Francisco Ballet, 2016. Justin Peck 'In the Countenance of Kings'. [video] Available at: [Accessed 9 October 2021].