Ballet SA takes on the challenge of Balanchine
Transcription
Ballet SA takes on the challenge of Balanchine
3/20/2015 Ballet SA takes on the challenge of Balanchine - San Antonio Express-News Music & Stage Free Access View You've been granted free access to this San Antonio ExpressNews article. Subscribe today for full access to the San Antonio ExpressNews in print, online and on your iPad. SUBSCRIBE MUSIC & STAGE Ballet SA takes on the challenge of Balanchine Tobin sets Balanchine neoclassical work Jasmina Wellinghoff, For the ExpressNews | March 20, 2015 0 http://www.expressnews.com/entertainment/music-stage/article/Ballet-SA-takes-on-the-challenge-of-Balanchine-6146045.php 1/5 3/20/2015 Ballet SA takes on the challenge of Balanchine - San Antonio Express-News Photo: Courtesy Alexander Devora Lydia Relle, Crystal Serrano, Jayson Pescasio, Rania Charalambidou and Yanaylet Lopez will perform in Ballet San Antonio's program of works by George Balanchine and Gabriel Zertuche. Fresh off its impressive production of Ben Stevenson’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Ballet San Antonio has taken on a new and different challenge — a work of iconic American choreographer George Balanchine. Though born and trained in Russia, Balanchine moved to the U.S. in 1933 and later cofounded the New York City Ballet, which he led until his death in 1983. Along the way, he created hundreds of ballets and other dances, many of them still performed by companies all over the world. “As we were talking about developing the company further, I felt it was important to try to do Balanchine, to show that we were capable of stylistic diversity. His style is completely different from Stevenson’s,” said Ballet San Antonio Artistic Director Gabriel Zertuche. http://www.expressnews.com/entertainment/music-stage/article/Ballet-SA-takes-on-the-challenge-of-Balanchine-6146045.php 2/5 3/20/2015 Ballet SA takes on the challenge of Balanchine - San Antonio Express-News “San Antonio may not be well aware of him and his impact on dance, but ballet lovers know it. Not everyone can get the right to perform his work. The Balanchine Trust makes that decision after a demanding process of application and approval.” That did not stop Zertuche from trying. He made that first call last spring, and the rest may very well become San Antonio dance history. After providing written and video documentation of Ballet San Antonio’s accomplishments, the trust granted the company the rights to stage “Donizetti Variations,” a neoclassical ballet Balanchine created in 1960 as part of the “Salute to Italy” program celebrating the 100th anniversary of Italy’s unification. Though not frequently performed, the MORE INFORMATION 'Balanchine’ When: 8 p.m. FridaySaturday and 2 p.m. Sunday Where: HEB Performance Hall, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle. Tickets: $28 to $93 at the Tobin Center box office; by calling 2102238624; or online at tobi.tobincenter.org. piece has the distinction of being the first Balanchine work to be staged in the Soviet Union after his defection to the West. The Ballet San Antonio production, opening Friday at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, marks the first time a Balanchine ballet ever has been presented by a local ensemble. “The work is classical in vocabulary but with music from a Donizetti opera ('Dom Sebastien’), so there is that combination of classical dance and an operatic flair,” said former New York City Ballet principal dancer Philip Neal, who came to San Antonio to coach dancers in the Balanchine style. “It’s a bright, buoyant work, but technically very challenging, lots and lots of steps packed into half-an-hour. When Balanchine came to New York, LOCAL http://www.expressnews.com/entertainment/music-stage/article/Ballet-SA-takes-on-the-challenge-of-Balanchine-6146045.php 3/5 3/20/2015 Ballet SA takes on the challenge of Balanchine - San Antonio Express-News Man pinned under truck after North Side crash Neal added, “he said he wanted to create a company that matched the pace of the city. That’s how speed became the hallmark of the New York City Group rocks to beat of different drum Ballet.” Zertuche describes that speed as “breathtaking.” “As they exit the stage, the dancers are sweating and breathing really hard; this piece moves!” At first, the San Antonio dancers complained about the tempo, Neal said, but he promised that in two weeks it wouldn’t seem that fast at all. They just needed to adjust to it. SAPD: “Documented gang member” arrested in bar killing Federal judge upbraids government lawyers, raises specter of Police arrest two in Red Berry Mansion theft case SAPD: 'Documented gang member' arrested in bar killing Break out the umbrellas In addition to the brisk pace, “Donizetti Variations” demands exceptional technical skills, such as expecting ballerinas to land on pointe following a jump. Like much of Balanchine’s work, the piece is largely abstract, with choreography that embodies the dance maker’s vision of the music. There’s no story or theme. “How much story do you want?” Balanchine is famously quoted as saying. “You put a man and a woman on stage, and that’s already a story.” “Variations” features a lead male-female couple plus three trios of dancers who will perform the 20th century ballet in adapted period costumes. “He wanted the dancers’ own personalities to shine through,” Neal said. “That’s something I emphasized to the dancers, to find their own way to express themselves, not http://www.expressnews.com/entertainment/music-stage/article/Ballet-SA-takes-on-the-challenge-of-Balanchine-6146045.php 4/5 3/20/2015 Ballet SA takes on the challenge of Balanchine - San Antonio Express-News just learn the steps.” The production marks lead dancer Jayson Pescasio’s first encounter with the revered choreographer’s oeuvre. “It’s very different from story-based choreography,” he said. “You don’t have a character to portray, so you don’t know what you are going for. Here music ties everything together. So I relate my movements to the music; I translate what the music makes me feel, and since I dance with a partner I try to relate to her.” Pescasio’s alternating partners will be up-and-coming company member Kate Maxted and principal Sally Turkel. Maxted was chosen personally by Neal because he felt that “she could really physically manifest the music.” The program also will include two new contemporary ballets by Zertuche and the short balletic gem “Nokturn” created by principals Ian Morris and Sarah Pautz a couple of years ago. “Doing Balanchine is a rite of passage in a way,” said Zertuche. “It’s important that we do it well.” Jasmina Wellinghoff is an arts writer. © 2015 Hearst Communications Inc. http://www.expressnews.com/entertainment/music-stage/article/Ballet-SA-takes-on-the-challenge-of-Balanchine-6146045.php 5/5