The Letter V
Mark Morris
Premiered May 28, 2015, by Houston Ballet
The Letter V
Commissioned in 2015 by Stanton Welch for Houston Ballet, The Letter V marked the first time that legendary American modern dance choreographer Mark Morris had choreographed on the Company. However this was far from the first time that Morris had choreographed on a ballet company, having previously choreographed works over the past several decades for several other ballet companies including American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and the Paris Opera Ballet.
Choreographed to Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 in G Major with lighting designs by Nicole Pearce and costume designs by Maile Okamura, The Letter V is an extraordinary example of Morris’ dynamic approach to dance and distinctive musicality. Interestingly the ballet name originates from the fact that some of Haydn’s symphonies were once known by letters of the alphabet, with V being assigned to this piece, hence the ballet’s title. Reviewing the ballet’s New York premiere in 2019, The New York Times critic Gia Kourlas wrote that she “realized that the only thing I want to watch after a ballet by Mr. Morris was another ballet by Mr. Morris.”
Talking before The Letter V’s world premiere in 2015, Morris talked about the artistic process behind the ballet. “I plan almost nothing in advance except I study the music, because I don’t know what I’m going to see. So when I come into the room, although I’ve seen these dancers and worked a little bit with them before, to actually start working from zero to make up a dance in a short period of time is a lot of very interesting and intuitive work. So I recognize them right away and I make up a dance on those exact people, and that’s what you’ll see when you see my dance The Letter V.”