Wings

Charleston Ballet Theatreʼs Jill Eathorne Bahr talks about Piccolo Spoleto and the companyʼs upcoming 25th Anniversary season

CT: There is such a variety in your offerings this season at Piccolo Spoleto. How did you decide which dance performances would fit well together in such a tight season?

JEB: Music is often the creative inspiration of dance choreography and with of the works of Balanchine and Tharp in our repertoire, two of the most musical choreographers in the world, many of our program selections are centered around music. Music is a constant inspiration for me as an artist, and I felt that all of these works are as much a celebration of music as they are of the art of dance itself. The interesting thing about all the shows we are offering is how extremely varied in style they are both musically and as dance pieces themselves.

CT: Nashville seems like an unconventional choice for a ballet company to take on, yet you have created an entire show set to country music. What brought that idea to the surface?

Nashville

JEB: Funny enough, a trip to Nashville last year is really what led me to want to create this show. I’ve always liked country music but really wanted to immerse myself in that atmosphere, so what better way than to go to the heart of it all? It was just such a unique city and one that really nurtured and celebrated its most famous export. Feeling that vibe and warmth of the music scene really gave me some wonderful inspiration to create the show. Having so much success with doing Motown Mania last season, I thought another music city inspired show would work well again with Nashville.

CT: Heading in a totally different direction, you are also presenting The Ellington Experience as part of your Piccolo offerings. What makes the show really stand out among the rest?

JEB: Well, there are so many things, from the fact that the entire show is to the music of Duke Ellington, that our costumes are designed by Travis Halsey (who designs for The Joffrey Ballet), and that the entire show is done en pointe.

CT: Entirely en pointe? What made you choose to choreograph jazz en pointe?

The Ellington Experience

JEB: I really wanted to explore the juxtaposition of the fluidity of ballet against the angular movement of lyrical and jazz dancing. The music lends itself so well to a certain style, and I wanted to see how we could achieve the same feel but in a different form. Being en pointe forces a dancer to remain almost entirely straight up and down which restricts other sorts of movement that one naturally associates with jazz dance. I kept envisioning very angular movements when I would hear all of this wonderful Ellington stuff and thought, well, why not create a completely different style while still honoring the feel of the stunning jazz chords and sounds Ellington laid out. The result is a very stylized type of en pointe jazz dance that I don’t think many people will have seen before.

CT: Another popular aspect of Piccolo each year is your Brown Bag and Ballet series, which always have a very eclectic presentation of ballets. Wings, one of your most popular ballets, will be part of that series this season. What made you decide to bring it back for a Piccolo Spoleto debut?

JEB: Wings is such a beautiful piece and something that is complex and very simple at the same time. It is a celebration of the beauty of flight. I was inspired by the flight of over 200 egrets that nested outside in my backyard at my old home in Mt. Pleasant. The expansiveness of their wings and the vision of seeing all of these beautiful white birds taking off in tandem was such an overwhelming sight to me that I could not help but interpret that in my own way on stage. It is something I love sharing with audiences and one I think everyone can identify with in one way or another. And our Brown Bag Series will also include Seasons of the Sun, another piece that I choreographed.

CT: You will also be performing Wings at the Piccolo Spoleto opening ceremony at The Customs House with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra on May 27th, right?

JEB: Absolutely! We could not be more excited to perform live with the CSO again. We did the same thing with them a few years ago and had a blast. We will be performing both Wings along with Bruce Marksʼ Lark Ascending, another incredible and more intimate ballet about the celebration of flight. We are so lucky to be able to present ballet in this sort of format to an audience that is usually in excess of 400 people. It is always such a rush!

Seasons of the Sun

CT: You are also gearing up for your 25th Anniversary season this fall. What can we look forward to seeing this fall?

JEB: Ah, there is so much coming up in our 25th season I don’t know where to begin. I can tell you I am very thrilled that we are kicking the season off with my full length ballet version of Don Quixote at The College of Charleston Sottile Theatre. Itʼs epic in every way and filled with beautiful Spanish music and lavish costumes. In November we will be presenting The Big Easy which is a tribute to the sound and influence of New Orleans. It will include my ballet, A Streetcar Named Desire, along with a couple of other guest choreographers lending their talents to some New Orleans inspired works. There is so much more coming up that I could go on and on but would instead encourage people to visit our website (charlestonballet.org) and find out for themselves, and in the meantime come check out all our Piccolo Spoleto season of shows. I guarantee you will find something that inspires and entertains.

Jill Eathorne Bahr is the Resident Choreographer at Charleston Ballet Theatre.

Jonathan Tabbert dancing in The Golden Oscars

IN CHARLESTON BALLET’s performance, “The Golden Oscar,” two choreographers (Stephen Gabriel and Jonathan Tabbert) took nine movies from recent years and translated them from the screen to the stage. The dances were a distillation of the films, going straight to the human condition and using the vocabulary of movement to speak what actors, cameramen, and special effects do so splendidly on screen. Some pieces were more substantial than others, but each had a clear strand and offered dancing that held the audience’s attention with short sound bites and images.

The company of dancers was, as usual, easy to watch; they were well rehearsed and beautiful types with some standouts. In An Inconvenient Truth, a duet by Stephen Gabriel, Peter Swan and Emily Haas danced with just enough abandon to show the gravity of a sudden understanding of a bad situation. Dressed in silk pajamas to the sound of Melissa Ethridge, they were indeed waking up to something before unnoticed. The two worked well together with seamless lifts and dynamic movement.

In The Social Network, Johnathan Tabbert’s choreography handled the movie’s theme of the internet-generated frenzy of connecting to hundreds of people while alone on your computer with appropriate cool and mechanical movement for a group of 12 dancers. The techno-induced score added to the detached attitude that drives our pop-culture generation.

In Black Swan Jennifer Balcerzak and Gwenyth Kelley portrayed the two sides of the infamous swan. Balcerzak, the white swan, soon became madly conflicted by her black counterpart. The dancers were partnered by James Peronto and Peter Swan and performed beautifully sculptured lifts. All worked well with the dramatic tension within the piece.

My favorite was Gabriel’s interpretation of The King’s Speech danced by Johnathan Tabbert and Alexander Collen, both dressed in suits and portraying the characters of the King and his teacher who becomes his friend. The movement did a tremendous job evoking the speech disability without being too heavy handed. Sequences with gestures and abrupt stops carried the audience through the challenges both men faced. This dance really stood on its own and developed fully through the complexity of the story.

There is something tricky about creating art that is inspired by another art form without simply imitating the original, and when the inspiration is Hollywood, nothing compares. But, as usual, Charleston Ballet delivered. It’s too bad that more people didn’t attend this entertaining evening.

CBT’s Nutcracker with Jennifer Muller as “Maria” (Clara)

THE HOLIDAYS are not complete without the requisite performance of the timeless classic The Nutcracker, seemingly performed in every city throughout the world in some size shape or form for decades and decades. The question then begs: how do you keep it fresh? How do you keep it relevant?

Charleston Ballet Theatre manages to answer both those questions by not only presenting a fully entertaining holiday event, but creating a unique version of the ballet by setting it in Charleston in the mid 1800s. Jill Bahr’s sweeping interpretation does not skimp on detail or exciting choreography, decorating the stage with sumptuous backdrops, vivid period costumes, and a cast of professional dancers who provide star-making turns at just about every corner.

From the opening scene of Maria (a disarming Jennifer Muller) flitting down East Bay Street to the lush family holiday party hosted at the home of the Lowndes family (natch), every scene is filled with such visual splendor one finds themselves waiting eagerly to see what lies around the next scene change.

Stephen Gabriel and Jennifer Muller

Most impressive is the magical snow sequence filled with enough snowfall to convince this audience member to put their coat back on. The female snowflakes, though slightly off at moments, made for an arresting presence highlighted by a sweeping fantasy pas de deux (“step” for two) danced by Muller and her Nutcracker Prince (Jonathan Tabbert) whose repeated sequential tour jetés (forward jumps with the legs spread 90 degrees apart) impressed with their effortless beauty.

Stephen Gabriel’s Uncle Drosselmeyer was appropriately haunting, displaying a fine flair for onstage theatrics courtesy of live magic tricks including fire appearing in the palm of his hands. Moving clocks and floating swan carriages only added to the wonder and illusion, while Melissa Weber and Peter Swan’s mysterious and acrobatic Arabian dance showcased the true beauty of the dancer form.

A few missteps, including peculiarly underwhelming choreography for the Russian and Marzipan sections, and an oddly placed seated area for Maria and her Prince—they sat on a bench upstage of, and obscured by, the dancers in front of them—barely registered in comparison to the ballet’s most impressive and well-performed moments: The Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier variations in the second act performed by Melody Staples and Alexander Collen.

Alexander Collen and Melody Staples

Staples and Collen commanded the stage repeatedly with she making for an ethereal presence in her difficult variations while he stunned the audience with an athletic set of jeté en manèges (ongoing leaps around the entire perimeter of the stage, with the dancer turning one revolution before each leap) featuring some impressively high leaps. The two dancers’ chemistry and ability to fill a vast, empty stage space made for a thrilling climax to the second act.

My only real complaint was how long the ballet took to begin. After a seemingly endless and oddly grim curtain speech (donation checks can ‘hurt’ to write?), we sat through a canned and entirely too-long overture, which with a live orchestra would have been a lot more tolerable. A shorter and more cheerful beginning would have created more excitement before the curtain rose.

In the end though, Charleston Ballet Theatre more than delivers the most satisfying holiday event in Charleston. From gorgeously presented atmosphere and colorful sets, to gifted and athletic dancers, it is the kind of epic holiday show a ramped-up audience craves this time of year.

Entertainment Value Grade: A-

And here’s a nice online dictionary of ballet terms.

Jennifer Balcerzak Muller

I’VE NEVER CLAIMED to be a dance geek—but I’ve always loved quality ballet. What’s not to like? Who can resist the sight of beautifully conditioned bodies as they stretch the limits of human mobility while interpreting great music through universally understood body language? And you don’t have to be a dance geek to “get” it. I was thus delighted to be invited to the second outing of the Charleston Ballet Theatre’s production of Alice in Wonderland at the Sottile Theater on Sunday afternoon.

En route to the event, I wondered if this would be a kiddie-oriented affair, even though it had not been billed as such. No matter—as I’ve been a rabid fan of Lewis Carroll (Alice’s author) since boyhood (I can still recite Carroll’s famous nonsense poem, Jabberwocky, by heart)—and I try to keep in touch with my inner child (keeps my sense of wonder sharp). What better way to exercise that bent than with Alice in Wonderland?

Sure enough, upon arrival at the Sottile, it seemed that about half of the respectable crowd consisted of kids—so I resigned myself to putting up with heavier-than-usual audience noise. But, lo and behold, after the curtain went up and the music and stage action began, dead silence descended upon the crowd—and it stayed that way throughout most of the performance. There was nary a peep from the three very active little ones of the family seated next to me. So, right from the start, it was happily apparent that this was one of those rare artistic experiences that can float the boats of young and old alike. From beginning to end, my inner child was touched, titillated, and absolutely delighted.

copyright © Disney

The dancers dropped their classical inhibitions long enough to deliver a wonderfully wacky and playful interpretation of the classic tale. Jennifer Balcerzak Muller, as heroine Alice, appeared in most scenes. And she was an absolute wonder: she neither looked nor acted a day over twelve (her diminutive stature helped); the only adult aspects of her performance were the rare skill and grace of her dancing, amid the girlish gestures that helped keep her in character.

The other main characters—in rough order of appearance—were the White Rabbit, zanily realized by Jonathan Tabbert. We were soon introduced to the Cheshire Cat, brought to slinky life by Ashley Lazenby’s feline movement. Tweedle Dum (James Perronto) and Tweedle Dee (Stephen Boston) were Wonderland’s own Beavis and Butthead. Wearing ingenious hooped costumes to make them look fat, they provided much of the afternoon’s goofiest physical slapstick. Andrea Devries portrayed the crawly and reptilian Caterpillar (complete with hookah)—and she sported one of the event’s most arresting costumes.

Stephen Gabriel

We had to wait until the Tea Party scene to get to know the Mad Hatter, adroitly danced by Ballet Master Stephen Gabriel; his artfully deranged buffoonery fit the character perfectly. We also got some whimsical work from Alexander Collen as the March Hare (also the Knave of Hearts). Ten-year-old Jacy Fletcher was absolutely adorable (and quite capable) as the alternately sleepy and manic dormouse; when not napping, she had absolutely no trouble matching her grownup colleagues step for step. Emily Haas as the White Queen (the only non-comic character) was a paragon of willowy grace. She was the perfect foil to Melissa Weber’s smoothly villainous projection of evil as the Red Queen of Hearts. Peter Swan was her dashing yet hapless consort, the Red King of Hearts. There were lots of well-executed minor roles, too: assorted flowers, court attendants, etc.—all filled by the CBT’s excellent apprentices and (presumably) students from their ballet school.

The music—all from 20^th-Century French composers (mainly Francis Poulenc)—was perfectly chosen. French music of that era (especially Poulenc’s) is noted for its saucy Gallic lilt, cheeky whimsy, and sense of mischief—and Choreographer Jill Eathorne Bahr’s selections couldn’t possibly have suited the frolicsome stage antics better. Her imaginative choreography made for a seamless flow of surreally entertaining action. As usual from Jill, the style was a cunning pastiche of modern and classical dance techniques. Set design was spare, but effective—and costumes were simply fabulous.

As Jill confirmed afterwards, the CBT—like so many other local arts institutions—has fallen on hard times lately. They’ve had to let some of their junior dancers go, and belts have otherwise been tightened all around. But you wouldn’t know it from this production’s zest, wacky joy, and overall quality. We should be grateful that they’re still up and dancing—and bringing tremendous pleasure to their audiences.

Paul Taylor Dance Company

COME SEPTEMBER, a promise of something new returns, including a tap on the cultural reset button after a hot lazy summer.

Although arts organizations still struggle with depleted budgets, staff, and incentive, our commitment to supporting them must not waver as they are the essential lifeline not only for our society, but for the collective soul. So get out your calendars and choose to attend some of these great dance events.

Here’s a preview of the 2010–2011 season:

Charleston Concert Association

CCA is bringing three dance companies to town. It is wonderful that this organization has remained so committed to dance through the years.

The Paul Taylor Dance Company (above) on November 3 at the Gaillard Auditorium. This is a personal favorite and, with the recent finish for the Merce Cunningham Company, Taylor is the last  pillar of the modern dance heritage that is left standing. Hailed as the “greatest choreographer in the world,” Taylor continues to turn out works that are relevant, irreverent, and full of style. Be sure to catch this stellar company for a terrific evening of dance.

Ballet Grand Prix

Ballet Grand Prix Excerpts from the most invigorating ballets performed by winners of the Youth America Grand Prix alongside renowned principal dancers of the ballet world. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Ballet Grand Prix is the “highlight of the New York ballet season.” February 22.

Romeo and Juliet with the Russian National Ballet Theatre on March 7. Under the artistic directorship of Elena Radchenko, the ballet theatre is declared to be one of the best in the world. The story of the star crossed lovers translates beautifully to ballet and should not to be missed.

Buy tickets online at www.charlestonconcerts.org

Robert Ivey Ballet

Fall Concert. On October 29 through 31, Robert Ivey Ballet will present its fall concert at the Sottile Theatre. New choreography by Olga Wise, Lori Hull, Douglass Smoak, Jon-Michael Perry, Angela Agudo, and Robert Ivey will light the stage in classical ballet, modern, and jazz mediums. The Company in Residence at the College of Charleston utilizes the talents of its students and faculty. The season’s mission is to provide audiences with dance that is “Inventive, Invigorating, and Intriguing!”

Peter and the Wolf is an Ivey tradition which is the perfect way to introduce younger audiences to the world of ballet. Performances at the Sottile will run from December 2 through 4.

Tickets for all shows can be purchased by calling 556-1343.

Charleston Ballet Theatre

CBT looks to have a healthy season with several musically inspired productions and a few family friendly ballets.

little Alice

Ballet Unplugged Live! on  October 14 features the Charleston Symphony Orchestra’s Yuriy Bekker and friends accompany CBT in a one night only benefit program. The chamber music of Brahms, Shubert, and Vaughan Williams will accompany four different ballets that showcase the talented company.

Alice in Wonderland will be performed at the Sottile Theatre on October 16 and 17. Jill Eathorne Bahr’s unique and colorful adaptation of the classic story interweaves ballet, acrobatics, mime, and theatre in a kaleidoscope for the senses.

Rocky Horror has become a CBT Halloween tradition when dance and film join in a wild adaptation of this cult film. The performance will be held at the CBT Black Box Theatre on October 22-30.

Angeline Ballerina

The Nutcracker will be presented at both the Gaillard Auditorium and The North Charleston Performing Arts Center. Set in the Low country in the 1860s, this classic continues to delight audiences young and old.

The Ellington Experience will be a collaboration with the legendary Charleston Jazz Orchestra. New choreography by Bahr will highlight Duke Ellington’s most brilliant tunes. Audiences will be introduced and reminded of the scope of the musician’s prolific career. At the Sottile on February 11 and 12.

Angelina Ballerina Goes To The Circus is part of CBT’s children’s series and will be shown on Jan 29 and 30.

Purchase tickets online at www.charlestonballet.com

Joe Miller, conductor

As his program notes said:

“This program is about questioning. Questioning how we understand the mystery of divine love. Questioning why we love those who do not love us. Questioning what it is about human nature that makes us keep striving for answers.”

The opener, Knowee, started with four female singers entering from the back wailing their lost son’s names with an urgency and fear that only this situation can present. It was followed by a pastoral choral section sung with peaceful expression and angelic sounds.

Another highlight was the pairing of two poems set to music: Flower of Beauty composed by John Clements and Newlyweds composed by Nathan Jones using a poem by Marjory Wentworth (see related story). The two songs about human love were deeply pure in sound and feeling. As I watched these young singers and saw the commitment to their art form, I realized there is no better education of the whole self in any curriculum than that of the performing arts.

Two ending songs that spoke to the heart were Shanandoah (James Erb) and So I’ll Sing With My Voice (Dominick Argento). This choral landscape that the voices painted was a portrait of the soul that comes only from this human sound. It was truly elevating to hear these untainted young voices. It gave me great hope for goodness that may still exist in the world today.

CBT Soars at Piccolo

I also attended the Charleston Ballet’s Brown Bag and Ballet performance in their King Street Studio Theater, happy again to be in a cool, dark, indoor place in the middle of a hot day as part of Piccolo’s packed list of events.

The program included three pieces that had been performed during their 2009/2010 season, but were still shining bright in this showcase of successful dances.

CBT at Piccolo Spoleto

The first was Lark Ascending choreographed by Bruce Marks with music by Ralph Vaughn Williams. In this contemporary ballet, female soloist  Andrea DeVries was framed by a five-male ensemble that created a wonderful backdrop of strength and design.

The piece was performed with elegant clarity by dancers who moved inspired by ascension. Their  movements reached and extended beyond the body as they appeared to be floating and at times spiraling only to be uplifted again. Effortless lifts as DeVries encountered her fellow partners with dips and dives created sculpted tableaus, with the most stunning at the end as the ensemble lifted her in an attitude shape with birdlike arms that  carried her heavenward.

The other gem of the concert was Bolero with choreography by Helena Baron to Ravel’s luminous and seductive score. Again, the company’s clean line and confident manner shined with a contained passion shown with staccato movements contrasted with sustained ones.  The repetition of the score mirrored repetition of phrases that grew in numbers of dancers on stage and intensity of the performers until the full cast filled the stage reaching the level even of the shouting horns at the closing of the score.

Do not forget our town’s responsibility to support local artists and performers, and please make an effort to show your commitment to one of our important cultural groups.

Oil by James Moore

THE MUSIC of standard (classical) ballet is instrumental. And because there are no words to get in the way—of the choreographer, the dancers, or the audience—expression through movement, and its interpretation, are free to span a wide spectrum, and to take their time doing it.

Things get tougher for everyone, though, when there are lyrics. Because now there is a literal story to tell and be heard. Now everyone is looking for description as well as feeling. The choreographer is pressed to communicate—and the dancers to demonstrate—every word, or at least every phrase. And the audience unwittingly listens to the lyrics as much as, if not more than, to the melody.

Unless the synchronization of words, music, and steps is exactly right, and as soon as it’s wrong, the dancing becomes tedious. Rhythms slow down. Movements become fragmented. The fluidity that is the essence of dance—particularly of ballet—stiffens up.

Stephen Gabriel

Matching lyrics to classical solos is perhaps where choreography faces its most daunting challenge of not letting artistry succumb to verbal storytelling. And, indeed, that’s where The Charleston Ballet Theatre’s performance of The Little Mermaid—albeit a production for children—drooped at times. In its defense, though, it was confronted by not one, but two adversaries: the lyrics and a large video screen with moving images (which created an effective backdrop for the otherwise bare stage, but which worked best when the images were still, not moving).

The good news, however, is that choreographer Stephen Gabriel more than compensated for these lapses with his small-tandem and corps-de-ballet pieces which were upbeat, magical, and fun. He did it, in part, through the use of Broadway-like steps and gestures that almost transformed this “ballet” into a musical cabaret. Doing so loosened up the choreography, the dancers, and the crowd. The music clearly called for it, and it brought the story alive in a refreshing way.

Jonathan Tabbert

Stephen was also fortunate to have several CBT dancers supporting the Children Series dancers. One who stood out for me—his dancing carried the musicality of the story throughout—was Jonathan Tabbert in the role of Sebastian. His relaxed, effortless style, his sustained concentration, and his effervescence made him fun to watch and draw energy from. The same could be said for Melissa Weber who danced the role of Flounder. I’m only sorry she wasn’t on stage more often.

With even less time on stage, but dancing with presence and panache, was Alexander Collen as Chef Louis. In fact, his brief solo parts were possibly the best of the show in terms of their camouflaged complexity, their expression of the character he was playing, and his synchronization of both with the music. Alexander is a wonderfully pure dancer (as I wrote in this post about him and Stephen last year).

Melissa Weber

Another fun performance to watch was the role of Queen Ursula, danced by Christina Slaton (who I unfortunately could not find a photo of). Her costume was great, here energy toward the audience was piercing yet likeable, and she obviously enjoyed bringing out the despicable Octopus’s sultry side.

But the main credit goes deservedly to dancer-turned-choreographer Stephen Gabriel who, I think, has a special talent for group choreography. To get so many dancers, not only to dance in unison, but to blend and switch and reunite through a complex series of movements, is a rare achievement even in the world’s best ballet companies. And Stephen does it seamlessly.

Alexander Collen

Having seen Stephen, who is a terrific actor as well as dancer, be so animated in his performances, it was nice to see him sitting quietly in the technical booth watching the multiple parts of his directorial labor unfold as a whole.

Bravo.

This version of the beloved tale was choreographed by CBT’s ballet master, Stephen Gabriel, who says, “It’s a fusion of ballet and Broadway danced by professional dancers and some of the most talented students in Charleston”—who, by the way, come from Stephen’s “Broadway Dance Project” and whom were chosen from auditions. During the year they perform in CBT’s Children Series as well as at Piccolo Spoleto.

Stephen adds, “I have had some of these same students for five or more years and have seen them grow to become stellar performers. Guiding them through their artistic growth and seeing them enjoy that time on stage is quite extraordinary.”

You’ll think so, too. Come enjoy a delightful show. Introduce your kids to the wonder and majesty of ballet.

Tickets $10–20
Black Box Theatre • 477 King Street
SAT, May 15 @ 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM
SUN, May 16 @ 3:00 PM

Charleston Ballet Theatre

]]> http://www.charlestontoday.net/2010/05/13/the-magic-of-dance/feed/ 0 http://www.charlestontoday.net/2010/02/11/breathing-life-into-balanchine/ http://www.charlestontoday.net/2010/02/11/breathing-life-into-balanchine/#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:27:48 +0000 Eliza Ingle http://www.charlestontoday.net/?p=4042

Balanchine’s “Rubies”

THE GHOST OF THE BELOVED ballet master, George Balanchine, comes to Charleston this weekend as CBT presents Masterpieces of Dance at the Sottile Theatre on Saturday, Feb 13 at 7:30 PM. They will be breathing life into one of Balanchine’s first big successes, Serenade, as well as Rubies. Rubies is new to the CBT repertoire and choreographer Jill Eathorn Bahr describes it as, “crisp and witty, epitomizing the collaboration of Stravinsky and Balanchine.” One of his favored duets, its costumes are inspired by Claude Arpel’s jewelry design.

Charleston Ballet Theatre is one of the few companies that has been given the nod to present Balanchine’s work, as the oeuvres are under heavy scrutiny and protection by the quality-police in the dance world. About this phenomenon, Jill comments: “Many people are concerned these days about the authenticity of different companies’ versions of the Balanchine ballets. That’s good. Let them worry. But the way to be true to Balanchine is not so much to be authentic as to be artistic. A company must like the ballet for a personal reason (not just because it’s by the famous Balanchine), and work on it according to that idea.”

George Balanchine

In 1933, the Russian dancer-turned-choreographer was wooed by ballet ambassador Lincoln Kirstein to come to the brave new world and be the voice of American ballet (albeit with a Russian accent). After a series of diversions with musical theatre and touring companies that spread the word, the revelation of the School of American Ballet made it the esteemed breeding ground for students to be well trained in the art form and then to move on (in 1948) to New York City Ballet—an icon of the crème de la crème for balletomanes. Balanchine’s style is considered neo-classical because it takes the tradition of Marius Petipa’s ballet formula and turns it upside down and inside out. To see Balanchine work is to be completely seduced by the completely unpredictable nature of the movement and design of his dances.

When he arrived in the states, he was inspired by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and he put this into his ballets which presented an entertaining glamour that had not been part of ballet before. Incorporating the speed and sophistication of New York City, he infused his ballets with razor-sharp lines and ballerinas.

Many know that Balanchine married four of his leading ladies and that countless young ballet dancers served as his muses to create such gems as Agon, Apollo, and The Four Temperaments. He once said in an interview that he preferred his dancers like parmesan cheese: “young and moist, not old and hard” — delicious fodder for feminists who have often commented on his pedestal relationships.

So, step out this weekend to support the home team culture—especially if you had to endure the super bowl—and experience the good stuff! Enjoy.

You can BUY TICKETS here •

The Charleston Ballet Theatre has produced a sumptuous production of this nutty spectacular that runs like a well oiled machine, and even though we may tire of the annual event, it does not cease to transport those who are a part of it.

Jill Eathorne-Bahr’s choreography is classical perfection throughout the many facets of this ballet. The party scene is packed with revelers from the tiniest Tim to the venerable grandmother who is over served with merriment. There must be 40 dancers on stage,  brilliantly orchestrated to Tchaikovsky’s celebrated score, without stepping on each others’ toes or knocking out neighboring dancers with dolls or swords. The Snow Queen sparkled with graceful elegance and her snowflakes—real and imagined—transported this watcher into the perfect silent night complete with moonlit falling snow. The Sugar Plum Fairy and her able Prince were stunning with eloquent partner work and flawless technical feats.

Part of my enthusiasm for this overplayed ballet is that I had a personal connection to it this year. My six-year-old daughter had landed the role of a baby mouse (a role I shared in my childhood production in upstate New York countless Decembers ago). To be close to this enchantment again and see it through her eyes as the stage exploded with light and set and beautiful dancers with lots of makeup and point shoes is as close to stardom as one might get. For my small ballerina to feel the excitement of a production like this is indeed priceless. She hums the score, dances all the parts, and dreams constantly of sugar plums. Once again I have been completely snowed by the Nutcracker, and I am grateful to be so. •