A ballet crowd, bustin' out in 'Carousel'

NEW YORK — Since March, three ballet dancers — Brittany Pollack, Amar Ramasar and Craig Salstein — have been living in a different world, where daily class happens not in a pristine studio with barres and mirrors, but on the carpeted floor of a theater mezzanine. And instead of being thrown onstage in a debut because another dancer is injured, or performing in three ballets in one night (sometimes four), they dance the same thing every night.

What happened to them? “Carousel,” by way of Justin Peck, the show’s 30-year-old Tony-winning choreographer. They only have a few more weeks to bask under the Broadway spotlight — the production closes on Sept. 16 — and then it’s back to life at Lincoln Center, at least for Pollack, 29, and Ramasar, 36, who are members of New York City Ballet. Salstein, 35 — a dance captain of “Carousel” — recently left American Ballet Theatre, where he danced for 16 years.

In the musical, set in Maine at the turn of the 20th century, Julie Jordan, a young millworker, falls in love with the handsome, rugged carousel barker, Billy Bigelow. Pollack plays Louise, their daughter, and Ramasar is Jigger Craigin, Billy’s friend, who also happens to be a scoundrel. There’s a botched robbery; Jigger escapes unscathed, and Billy dies but later comes back to earth to help his troubled daughter who, at times, is very unlike the sunny Pollack.

Dance plays an important part in the show, which features sweeping, intricate ensemble numbers; in the nautically themed “Blow High, Blow Low,” the dancers — with Ramasar front and center — create the illusion of a ship with their bodies. And there is a 10-minute ballet for the spirited and vulnerable Louise, who, we learn, is snubbed by her peers and left heartbroken after a pas de deux with the Fairground Boy.

“I feel like it’s a whole experience of different parts of my life,” Pollack said, referring to Louise’s trajectory. “It’s amazing how I’m able to lose myself so easily in the ballet.”

The three dancers and Peck have an easy rapport — growing up in ballet can bond people — but in “Carousel” they’ve seen one another grow as artists and discover different sides of themselves.The genial Ramasar is playing against type; Salstein, who has left the classical world behind, just feels free to dance. And Peck? This isn’t the last time you’ll see him on Broadway if he has anything to say about it.

Recently, they met at Peck’s office at Lincoln Center, where he is the resident choreographer for City Ballet and a soloist. He is also a member of the interim leadership team as the company searches for a new director. (Peter Martins, the longtime ballet master in chief, retired after allegations of physical and sexual abuse.) What follows are edited excerpts from that conversation.

Q: What has it been like dancing the same steps night after night?

BRITTANY POLLACK: It’s harder than I thought it would be. Just the repetition of doing the same thing on my body — you have no recovery time.

AMAR RAMASAR: It’s the same body part taking the same kind of pressure. I land on the same knee every night.

CRAIG SALSTEIN: But there’s no coasting. Because the vocabulary requires you to be so present in executing the steps, there’s no “I’m on autopilot.” Not going to happen. When you prep for a pirouette, it’s as if you were onstage doing a classical ballet. The vocabulary requires you to have a certain ——

RAMASAR: Presence.

SALSTEIN: You’ve got to be aware of what’s going on.

Q: As Jigger, what has this experience been like?

RAMASAR: I was having a difficulty with my character in the beginning. I’m not a mean guy. But I use Justin’s choreography: It has this raw strength to it, and a finesse and grace, so I relate to that. But I have to say that doing it every night is emotional.

JUSTIN PECK: It’s also like Jigger is never the guy who gets caught. It’s sort of similar to the dancing.

Q: To Amar’s dancing?

PECK: Yes, it’s like this natural talent. He always happens to hit his balance at the end of his sixth turn.

POLLACK: It’s annoying.

Q: What have you gotten out of this as a dancer?

POLLACK: At City Ballet, a lot of what we do is so abstract. I haven’t really had the opportunity to have to act so much. I feel that when I go back, I’ll dance differently. Studying the other actors has been so amazing.

Q: What have you learned?

POLLACK: One thing is that I have to try to stop being a dancer. If I have a scratch on my face or if I want to fix my hair or cross my arms, that’s all OK.

PECK: I would always go up to them and be like, “Stop walking like a dancer.”

POLLACK: It’s hard to turn that off.

RAMASAR: I grab my belt to hold my arms down to let the words tell the story.

SALSTEIN: At ABT, you can get very uptight especially in the classics and the [Frederick] Ashton and [Kenneth] MacMillan work — even the [Alexei] Ratmansky work. It’s like being in traffic. You get to the place where you want to go, but you’re stopping and starting. Are you on this mark? The priorities are a little different in the classical repertoire, and when you get into Justin, there’s no traffic. You just drive on a highway and you just relax ——

POLLACK: [To Salstein] You’re a poet.

SALSTEIN: And the other thing is to have the guy in the room. I don’t know Ashton. I don’t know MacMillan. When you get the guy in the room, you just go, yes.

Q: How have you dealt with singing and speaking onstage?

RAMASAR: I did a lot of studying because I was uncomfortable. It’s the most uncomfortable feeling I think I’ve ever had. The first day I walked in, to have the first read-through around the table?

POLLACK: Oh my God. My lines were not until the end. I sat there for two hours waiting.

RAMASAR: I was drenched. I’ve never been that nervous. [To Peck] Was it your idea to make Jigger a dancer?

PECK: Yeah, it was never a dance part. He would sing the song, “Blow High, Blow Low” and he would go away and stand off to the side and the ensemble would dance. I was like, let’s integrate all this together and turn this into a huge moment in the show. Usually, it’s such a throwaway number. So I turned it upside down in that way.

Q: Are you done dancing?

PECK: I don’t know. I enjoy it sometimes. I feel like there’s not a lot challenging me or that I have time to take on with everything else happening. I loved doing “The Times Are Racing.”

Q: I can see the writing on the wall.

PECK: What do you think? Should I keep dancing?

Q: I enjoy watching you dance when you like what you’re dancing.

PECK: [Laughs] What don’t I like dancing?

SALSTEIN: Do you have to do “Nutcracker”?

POLLACK: You like doing “West Side.”

PECK: I do. I love doing “Opus Jazz.” I think that’s why I got really into making sneaker dances. I got really good onstage in sneakers. I like Robbins.

SALSTEIN: Did you ever do “Fancy Free?”

PECK: I always want to do “Fancy Free.” I ask to do it, and they won’t let me do it.

Q: Who are they? You’re on the interim team — just cast yourself. Are you applying for Peter Martins’ job?

PECK: No. I’m not. [Laughs] I wouldn’t get to focus on the creative things I want to focus on if I were to do that. But I hope to be involved with who that is or what the setup is.

Q: Does it feel like “Carousel” has done more for your career than anything you’ve accomplished in ballet?

PECK: I don’t know if it feels like more, but I love choreographing for theater, and I want to do more. There’s not a lot of dance shows out there. I want there to be more.

Q: What will you do about that?

PECK: One of my dreams is to develop more content for Broadway that drives from a place of dance or movement as storytelling. That, to me, is much more interesting than doing a remake of “Swan Lake” or “Sleeping Beauty.” I think there are enough of those.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.