Ballet Theatre of Ohio Fills in the Gaps
It’s a tough time for ballet in Northeast Ohio. If you’re a fan, you’re coping with the demise of Ohio Ballet and the dearth of touring ballet companies at Playhouse Square. We can only imagine the difficulties for dancers; most have moved away and those who’ve stayed have patched together part-time performing jobs, teaching, and other work to make ends meet.
Ballet Theatre of Ohio provides one of the few bright spots. Professional dancers, many of them familiar faces from the former Ohio Ballet, mix with student dancers and present satisfying concerts. In everything we’ve seen, BTO’s women’s corps de ballets looks good on their pointes and their professional dancers get a chance to shine in soloist and principal roles.
When we learned that BTO had a winter repertory concert coming up, we exchanged a few e-mails with Artistic Director Christine Meneer and googled the choreographers. What we learned told us that BTO’s Winter Repertory Series should be well worth the drive.
For a part of the ballet audience a title says it all. Carmen evokes familiar music and characters and implies that staple of ballet programming, the pas de deux. Jurijs Safonovs, who we’ve known until now as a dancer with BTO and Pointe of Departure, has choreographed something that promises to fulfill those expectations, excerpts from ‘Carmen’ using highlights from the familiar Georges Bizet score.
Safonovs casts familiar faces as Carmen and Don Jose. Jennifer Moll, a relative newcomer to the local ballet scene, and Brian Murphy, long a local, both performed with Verb Ballets at the Ohio Theater on January 26th. We cannot imagine Moll or Murphy doing less than a terrific job with such an assignment. Nor is this a maiden voyage for Safonovs; Meneer tells us that he is already an award-winning choreographer.
Another part of the audience wants to see something new, contemporary ballet that uses the special abilities of ballet trained dancers in original ways. For those audience members, BTO company member Eric Carvill’s I Had the Same Dream may be the hot ticket. We’re already fans of Carvill’s dancing through his tenure with Ohio Ballet. Meneer tells us Carvill’s 9 minute piece is for 3 women on pointe with Damien Highfield, another familiar face from Ohio Ballet, Verb, and Ground Works Dance Theater. Music is from a recent recording by Papadosio, an Ohio band with an improvisation-heavy, “jamtronica” sound.
A quick google search identified choreographer Joseph Morrissey as Moll’s former classmate at Indiana University’s ballet program. Morrissey’s offering for the Akron concert, One, is award-winning choreography. Meneer describes it as a short, innovative contemporary pas de deux incorporating pointe technique and making beautiful use of the unique score. “Two bodies blending together as one.”
We remember Richard Earley, choreographer of Swingity, as a dancer for Heinz Poll in the early days of Ohio Ballet. Set to the music of Count Basie and Benny Goodman, the world premiere Swingity draws on Earley’s long experience with ballroom dance at his southeast Ohio studio to create a piece for 15 dancers in 3 movements. Says Meneer, “We love working with Richard and he’s been very good for our company.”
Not to ignore Meneer’s own contribution, the premiere of Beyond the Planets, which uses contemporary music by William Joseph instead of the familiar Planets by Gustav Holst. Meneer seems to have fun with the premise. “Nine planets plus the sun; I include Pluto and a sad pas de deux when she gets her title stripped away.”
Experience BTO at the Akron Civic Theater with their Winter Repertory Series this Friday, February 15 and Saturday, February 16 at 8PM. At 11:30 am Friday, the doors open for Dance-A-Fair, an interactive carnival with games, prizes and light refreshments, and at 1pm the curtain goes up on a one hour concert designed especially for families, Swingity and Under the Big Top, Meneer’s charming circus ballet.
All tickets for these performances are available at the Akron Civic Theatre Box Office (330-253-2488) or through Ticket Master? at (330-945-9400). Visit BTO’s website http://www.ballettheatreohio.org to receive a special discount ticket offer for evening performance only (Dance-A-Fair tickets not included on this special discount). Doors open one hour prior to each evening performance and the doors will open at 11:30AM for the Dance-A-Fair event.
From Cool Cleveland contributors Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas vicnelsaATearthlink.net
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