ABSTRACT
Americans love to proclaim the next king even though the present one is alive and kicking. This over-eager, often foolish impulse had a reasonableness about it when applied to Eliot Feld. The occasion was the premiere of his first ballet, Harbinger, in May 1967, by American Ballet Theatre (ABT), the troupe Feld danced with at the time. Two months later came a second fine ballet, At Midnight, also presented by ABT. Feld was immediately and unanimously hailed as the genuine article, and for genuine reasons. Both ballets were absolutely fresh and original in choreographic style, yet they also felt within the historical continuum of ballet. They affirmed the cherished belief that an artist could recycle old ideas and make them new, that, in fact, this is what the best art did. Two other qualities in these ballets made Feld all the more impressive. They were very musical and very different in feeling from each other. Harbinger, set to a Prokofiev piano concerto, was youthful, frisky, and optimistic. At Midnight, set to Mahler songs, was a darker piece, centred upon an anguished Christ figure.
