The Birmingham Royal Ballet’s production of Black Sabbath – The Ballet is a thrilling blend of classical dance and heavy metal music. While Paul Murphy conducts the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra in Black Sabbath music and original music composed by Marko Nyberg, Christopher Austin, and Sun Keting, inspired by the band, the company dances pieces choreographed by Raul Reinoso, Cassi Abranches, and Pontus Lidberg. In three acts, the ballet pays creative tribute to a band that has made its mark on popular culture.

The company dances wonderfully in spectacular combinations of solos, duets, quartets, and groups. In Act I, the Guitarist, Marc Hayward, joins them onstage, and they circle around him, carrying and floating him away. Yaoqian Shang and Javier Rojas, as “Solitude,” play, circle, spin, and lift while always kissing. They are joined by Rachele Pizzillo and Enrique Bejarano Vidal, in black full-body suits, who spin, lift, and extend their legs.

Act II has voice-overs of band members speaking about creating their music while “Orchid” plays. While Tony Iommi recounts the factory accident that necessitated his new guitar sound, Callum Findlay-White walks and spins to his speech. As Ozzy talks about starting out, Ava May Llewellyn spins and extends her legs. Later, while Ozzy relates a spooky occurrence with fans at a hotel, Lachlan Monaghan sings the beginning of “Black Sabbath.”

In Act III the dancers move an overturned car with a demon atop it around the stage, while spinning and lifting each other. Later, they tumble and leap across the stage, pumping their fists and stomping their feet. Riku Ito dances to the Guitarist as “Laguna Sunrise” plays, diving between his legs, circling around him, and moving in pure joy.

Conductor Paul Murphy, music director and principal conductor of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, powerfully leads the Opera House Orchestra in their renditions of Black Sabbath songs. While several songs, like “Iron Man” and “War Pigs,” appear multiple times, they are played differently each time. In Act I, they sound like Black Sabbath would play them, heavy metal grinding. In Act II, they sound much lighter, sometimes almost jazz-like; this version of “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” sounds perhaps even better than the original. In Act III, the songs feel like the thrilling soundtrack to an action movie, the perfect accompaniment to the dancers’ energetic movements.

Costume Supervisor Elaine Garlick puts the dancers mostly in black shirts and tights or regular clothes. For some scenes, some wear grey bat-like outfits or black full-body suits covering their faces. Scenic elements, constructed by Scott Fleary Productions, involve small circular symbols dropping and rising from the ceiling, as well as an overturned car and a silver devil in Act III.

Lighting Designer K.J. enhances the atmosphere by playing with darkness and light. At the start, spotlights appear on the dancers as they emerge from the back. As Ozzy speaks of his encounter with witches, red lights shine in the back, creating an indistinct but frightening shape. Sound Production and Designer Joshua Blair handles the voice-overs of the band members.

Given the recent controversies at the Kennedy Center, audiences must decide for themselves whether to attend a production there. But Black Sabbath – The Ballet’s bringing together such disparate groups as heavy metal fans and ballet lovers, to enjoy world-changing music and inventive, beautiful dancing together, feels worth it.

Running time: Two hours and 10 minutes, including two 20-minute intermissions.

Black Sabbath – The Ballet plays through June 8, 2025, presented by Birmingham Royal Ballet, performing in The Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW, Washington, DC. For the schedule and to purchase tickets ($59–$169), go online or contact the Box Office at (202) 467-4600.

The program for Black Sabbath – The Ballet is online here.

COVID Safety: Masks are optional in all Kennedy Center spaces for visitors and staff. If you prefer to wear a mask, you are welcome to do so.

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By Lisa Troshinsky

The Scottish Ballet, currently at The Kennedy Center, has brilliantly transformed an iconic 1950s drama/tragedy classic into a full-length dance narrative. Anyone who remotely enjoys dance needs to see the Scottish Ballet’s East Coast premiere of The Crucible.

Helen Pickett’s powerful choreography and Peter Salem’s haunting score bring to life the histrionic struggles of Puritan life when childish scapegoating turned into a community massacre.

The story, by Playwright Arthur Miller, is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem Witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the 1600s. Miller wrote the play as an allegory for McCarthyism when the U.S. government persecuted people accused of communism.

This production ingeniously creates the cryptic world of the Puritans through bold movement, eerie lighting, dramatic music, a minimalistic set, and simple props.

At the start of the ballet, choreographer Pickett uses a girl playing with a small doll’s house to represent the whole of the vulnerable and isolated religious Puritan community whose members are as easily manipulated as are figurines by naughty youth.

The production stars Kayla Maree Tarantolo as the servant and seductress Abigail, who is unsuccessful in breaking up the marriage of Elizabeth and John Proctor, played by Bethany Kingsley Garner and Bruno Micchiardi, respectively. However, her character is eventually responsible for the couple’s downfall.

The illicit seduction scene between young Abigail and John Proctor builds to a fevered pitch, as an almost violent musical crescendo dramatizes their aggressive lovemaking before Proctor pushes her away.

The sparse set is then removed, leaving Tarantolo isolated on stage in the spotlight as she expertly performs a tortured solo, demonstrating Abigail’s outcast role in a strict society where she has no constructive outlet.

Pickett writes in the program, “Abigail is dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She has seen her parents slaughtered and she has been taken in by her uncle but what she really wants is to belong.”

The formidable church scenes emphasize the weight of Puritanism that preached a judgmental God, predetermined salvation or damnation, and Original Sin. Groups of dancers mimic the regulated gestures of the priest and dance in systemized unison in a culture where there was no room for error.

However, in the middle of harmonious dancing, a group momentarily breaks out from the mold, the light on them dims, and chaotic writhing movement ensues, only for them to move back into the fold again.

Much of the dancing is classical ballet, especially in the mournful pas de deux (dance for two people) between Elizabeth and John Proctor. However, at times, to demonstrate a more violent or frenzied intensity, the choreography morphs into modern dance gestures, exposing raw emotions and mood changes. In the forest scene, for example, when the teenage girls conjure up spirits, jerky, animalistic movement takes over.

Set and Lighting Designer David Finn makes good use of darkness and shadows when the underbelly of the community rears its vile head.

Although The Crucible is over 60 years old, it is also ripe like a good wine. It can be stored away for some time but when opened it packs a punch.

Composer Salem admits in a program note that The Crucible is not an obvious choice for ballet but believes that makes it more interesting:

“When I was writing the music, I was always referring to the play but we are not ‘doing’ the play but rather are finding the emotional undercurrents of every scene and making clear what is going on at every single moment … it’s about finding the way through the two opposing narratives — one full of violence and brutality and the other represented by the relationship between John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth which is full of love.”

Pickett believes, according to the production’s program notes, that the story throws a challenge down to us at a time when new shadows loom and fear of the unknown and outsiders is on the rise.

Watching the dance, one wonders: Is our society rearing its ugly head?

Running Time: One hour and 45 minutes, with one intermission.

The Crucible — which had its world premiere in August 2019 at the famed Edinburgh International Festival — plays through May 28, 2023, presented by Scottish Ballet performing in the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street NW, Washington, DC. Tickets ($39–$129) are available at the box office, online, or by calling (202) 467-4600 or (800) 444-1324.

Recommended for audiences 12+.

The program for The Crucible is online here.

COVID Safety: Masks are optional in all Kennedy Center spaces for visitors and staff. If you prefer to wear a mask, you are welcome to do so. See Kennedy Center’s complete COVID Safety Plan here.

Lisa Troshinsky has a background in dance and theater, having been in dance companies and community theater in the DC area. Lisa is a full-time high school English teacher. She freelances theater and dance reviews for various publications.

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Betrothal, betrayal, and the ultimate forgiveness: these are the themes that shape Giselle into one of the beloved ballets of the Romantic canon. This week exuding resilience, courage, and patriotism, an ad hoc ballet company named the United Ukrainian Ballet re-invigorates this warhorse of a ballet, while demonstrating the indomitable spirit of the Ukrainian people.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupted daily life, including the performing artists and ballet dancers of many of the nation’s opera houses. A ballet dancer’s career is brief, and the inability to train and perform can make it briefer. While many female dancers fled their homeland, amid a barrage of Russian strikes on cities and towns in Ukraine, including its capitol, Kyiv, men were conscripted to fight. Ballet company leaders requested that male dancers be released from military service in order to serve the Ukrainian people through their art. It was granted.

Sixty dancers from Ukraine and around the world, including the National Opera of Ukraine, Doinestk Opera House, Kharkiv National Opera House, and Donbas Opera, to name a few, found their way to the Hague, Netherlands. They have been joined by Ukrainian nationals, among them Cristina Shevchenko from American Ballet Theatre and Kateryna Derechyna from the Washington Ballet.

Together this ad hoc group is breathtaking in conception and physical prowess, rallying to create a unified company, which can take years or decades, in just months, while their homeland is fighting for its survival. That sense of urgency, particularly in act II, is palpable and came to a pinnacle with the bows and curtain calls on opening night. Lead dancers Shevchenko and Oleksei Tiutiunnyk took center stage draped in a vibrant blue-and-yellow banner stating “Stand with Ukraine,” followed by Russian-Ukrainian choreographer Alexi Ratmansky proudly stretching the Ukrainian flag above his head.

The journey to Giselle and the Kennedy Center wasn’t easy but was eased by fortuitous circumstances. A former conservatory-turned-refugee center in the Hague became the haven and home for this new Ukrainian ballet troupe. Last year the company performed in London, Australia, and Paris; this relatively late booking at the Kennedy Center Opera House is the only U.S. performance, and it only happened, according to a Kennedy Center staffer, when the cancellation of the National Ballet of China caused a hole in the ballet series. United Ukrainian Ballet filled the bill nicely.

When choreographer Alexi Ratmansky heard the Ukrainian dancers had taken refuge in the Hague, and they needed a ballet, he didn’t hesitate. The renowned ballet maker and stager, while born in Leningrad, has a Russian mother and a Ukrainian father; his heart, he has said, fully beats for Ukraine.

Ratmansky gifted this ingathering of fleeing dancers a fully realized and reinvigorated version of the 19th-century Romantic classic. The result: a refreshingly compelling evening that draws from historical precedents, which Ratmansky unearthed in research into archival notes and accounts of the ballet that originated in 1841 in Paris. He’s done this before with The Sleeping Beauty, among other classics.

The story of Giselle, a vivacious young woman besotted by Albert (Albrecht or Loys, in some versions), who is a nobleman slumming as a villager, is an oft-done standard in the ballet canon. A stable of the repertoire, Giselle offers up two acts of elegant dancing, along with the pathos of heartbreak when Giselle discovers her suitor isn’t who he claims and is engaged to a noblewoman. As a jilted bride who dies before her wedding, she is resigned to haunt the forest as a ghostly spirit called a Wili. The second “white act” — in the midnight forest — features these ghostly beautifully terrifying Willis, clad in shimmery, bell-shaped gossamer tutus. But their beauty deceives: having been jilted by their fiancés, they haunt the forest to take revenge on single men whom they dance to their doom.

While basing the work on choreography by 19th-century ballet master Marius Petipa, after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, from the early 19th century, Ratmansky resuscitates what can, depending on the company, be a staid experience aimed at ballet stalwarts. Here he returns to mime passages that often receive short shrift, particularly by American troupes. The codified gestures typically express basic feelings of love, fear, and promises to marry and presage death. This version allows Berthe (Olena Mykhailova as a fierce helicopter mom), Giselle’s mother to “speak,” miming her worries and the spooky backstory of what happens to young ladies who disobey their mothers’ wishes and court someone in secret. Her sharp gesture as her forearms form a cross pointed to the ground rings true for all the mothers of teenagers over millennia who declared, “Be careful or you’ll find yourself in an early grave.” Sergii Kliachin’s Hilarion, Albert’s rival for Giselle’s attention, broodingly eyes the happy couple as he plots his revenge in order to win Giselle’s heart. He’s a bit like outsider Judd from the Rogers and Hammerstein golden-age classic Oklahoma!

Throughout both acts, small and large details provide for a more compelling Giselle than I’ve seen in decades of dance-going. Some, I’m not sure are fully necessary, like shifting the first-act demi soloists’ variations during the villagers’ variations to a more formalized grand pas de deux structure. For those who know, the four-part grand pas de deux is typically reserved for four-act classical ballets and allows the principal ballerina and danseur to demonstrate their technical virtuosity.

In act II, before the Wilis appear, a bumptious forest scene features a group of drinking buddies out at night for a lark. This “bro” moment, when they toast each other and nearly bump fists, feels like any testosterone-filled Saturday night at the pub. Then Hilarion, and later Albert come upon them. A distant bell chimes midnight and the thought of ghosts makes them scatter. The Wilis, led by the imperious Myrtha, fearsome mean-girl Elizaveta Gogidze, dart and even fly across the stage as they gather to dance under the watchful eye of their tall leader, their translucent veils whisked away as if by magic.

Ratmansky has furthered beautified and given weighted meaning to this white act, through his sensitive staging and floor patterns. The dancers gather, tracing circles and lines and, most notable, forming themselves into the shape of a cross as Giselle’s fresh grave stands to one side. Other intriguing moments include the fight-club-like rounds of dancing Albert is compelled to do at the behest of Myrtha, her gaze steely, her arms crossed across her chest. He is pushed and pulled up and down a diagonal line of Wilis until he collapses in exhaustion.

Shevchenko imbues her Giselle with a vivid personality, she’s girlish but a bit of an adventurer in the first act. Often Giselle is scolded by her mother for her weak heart; this Giselle projects a feisty spirit. It’s no wonder that Count Albert falls for her vivacity. Tiutiunnyk, lean and leggy, is not nearly as caddish as many Albert/Albrechts I’ve come across. His leaps soar, suggesting he’s used to a larger stage than the Opera House, and he’s a fine partner to Shevchenko, guiding her gently into balances. Shevchenko, who returns to the Opera House later this month as Juliet in her home company American Ballet Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet, has a lovely sense of ballon, or rebound, which is perfect for the many versions of the “Giselle step,” a gentle hop on one foot as the other leg opens and closes at the ankle like a hinge. It’s her signature dance — made for a 15-second TikTok video.

The Birmingham Royal Ballet (Great Britain) lent its sets and costumes for this production. Act II’s Wilis shimmer in moonlit colors of palest gray-blue rather than the traditional stark white Romantic tutus, which only Giselle wears.

The new staging of Giselle’s final moments, when she forgives Albert, completely shifted the demeanor of the ballet. Giselle settles herself into a raised berm or hillock at the corner of the stage — resigned to her fate as a jilted woman, foretold by her mother in act I. As Albert approaches her aggrieved one last time, she lifts her head and shoulders, and gestures to him — the sunrise in the background showing the royal retinue arriving — to go to his original fiancée Bathilde. Giselle earns her wings forgiving and releasing her beloved. She will remain a Wili, resigned to a ghostly life only to arise at midnight in the forest.

In a Giselle filled with moving moments, this final gesture was deeply felt and resonated with the resilient and unstinting performances of the company. At the final curtain call, the company stood together, shoulder to shoulder, as the orchestra struck up the Ukrainian national anthem:

The glory and freedom of Ukraine has not yet perished
Luck will still smile on us brother-Ukrainians.
Our enemies will die, as the dew does in the sunshine,
and we, too, brothers, we’ll live happily in our land.

We’ll not spare either our souls or bodies to get freedom
and we’ll prove that we brothers are of Kozak kin.

Running time: Approximately two hours 20 minutes, with one 15-minute intermission.

Giselle plays through February 5, 2023, presented by the United Ukrainian Ballet performing in the Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street NW, Washington, DC. Tickets ($45–$135) are available at the box office, online, or by calling (202) 467-4600 or (800) 444-1324.

The program for Giselle is online here.

COVID Safety: Masks are optional in all Kennedy Center spaces for visitors and staff. If you prefer to wear a mask, you are welcome to do so. Kennedy Center’s COVID Safety Plan is here.

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You may have heard of Eva Perón, also known as “Evita” — former First Lady of Argentina, who died tragically young at the age of 33 after rising from poverty into international fame — but your source was likely not Argentine. As Eduardo Vilaro, artistic director and CEO of the Ballet Hispánico estimates, 85 percent of Kennedy Center audience members seeing the Ballet Hispánico’s new ballet Doña Perón about the life of Eva Perón will have developed their view of her from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita rather than from scholarly sources and Argentine biographers and artists.

Shortly after I saw Doña Perón at the Kennedy Center, I had the chance to interview Vilaro over the phone. I asked him about the performance’s development, and why he feels so strongly about the social and political significance of this ballet.

If you are familiar with Eva Perón’s biography only through Evita (or that one time she was mentioned on Veep as a role model of Selina Meyer’s), here is an overview: She was born to an impoverished family and a middle-class father, who rejected her for his other, richer family (memorably, she was not permitted to attend his funeral). Perón eventually moved to Buenos Aires, where she rapidly climbed the social ladder. Historical proof does not exist that explicitly explains how she rose so quickly as an impoverished woman in Buenos Aires in the 1930s, so many theorize that she used sexual means to do so. Perón became a touring theater actress, model, and B-movie star. In 1944, she encountered then-Colonel Juan Perón at a fundraiser gala, and the two soon married. She helped him become the President of Argentina through her fiery, populist oratory, much of which was conducted on radio, and garnered major support from the Argentine working class — called the descamisados, or “shirtless ones” — through her philanthropic work for children and the poor. She then contracted cervical cancer from HPV-related complications and died at the age of 33.

Eva Perón remains a major figure in Argentine and Latin history, noted for her rags-to-riches story and path from entertainment into politics. During her life and since her death, she has even taken on the status of a saint to some Argentine people (in 2019, Argentina’s labor union unsuccessfully launched a campaign to the Vatican for her to be formally declared a saint by the Catholic Church — requests were made by Argentine unions shortly after her death in 1952 as well). Doña Perón hits on most of the major plot elements here, at least symbolically, through dance.

Vilaro says that Eva Perón’s story serves to publicize the challenges that women have dealt with for hundreds of years and continue to overcome. Dandara Viega plays Evita in Doña Perón and represents her, according to Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s heartwrenching choreography, with profound humanity as she navigates rejection from her father, multiple romantic entanglements, and failing health. We see Perón strutting in front of the descamisados, who literally carry her, seeming to worship her, and seconds later collapsing, audibly hitting the floor as she writhes with the cancer that destroys her.

“This is a woman’s story,” Vilaro said. “What inspired me was the fact that there are not enough stories about women and female heroes. [Staging Doña Perón] is a way of decolonizing and deconstructing the field.”

Vilaro noted that much of female representation in media and art depicts not women who advocate for themselves and socio-political causes but “nymphs and precious princesses that are driven mad, like in Disney, there’s always a man that got away — this glamorizes oppressed women. How do you shift that? By getting a fantastically brilliant Latina choreographer to create a work about a woman. Which has never been done. Evita has always been depicted by male directors.”’

One element that surprised me about Doña Perón was that, like Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Evita, the ballet still suggests — albeit through nonverbal and motif-laden choreography rather than droll lyrics from Tim Rice, who relied on one documentary he saw about Perón once and a few anonymous sources to create the narrative in Evita — that she used sexual means to rise to the top of the Argentine social ladder.

I am currently studying Evita and a few other musicals about historical figures for my master’s thesis on the relationship between art — especially melodramatic popular art — and historical accuracy, and from my understanding, one primary reason that Evita is considered by scholars to be a historically irresponsible representation is that it accuses Perón of using these unsavory means of self-advancement. So I was surprised to see this element in Doña Perón — but Vilaro told me what he felt the key difference was between his show and Evita: Doña Perón depicts what its creative team believed women had to do to gain social power during Evita’s time, while Evita primarily seeks to condemn those means. Both Ballet Hispánico and Lloyd Webber and Rice filled the historical gap in Perón’s rise the same way — by asserting that “she must have slept her way to the top… how else could she have done it?” — but Evita omits key social and cultural context. It suggests that there were plenty of ways that Perón could have ascended the social ladder, but chose the seediest, potentially even out of a desire to avenge her mistreatment by the middle classes and her father. This connection is not directly made in Doña Perón.

“From what we know, there were no other options for women to climb the ladder, except to use their wiles,” Vilaro said, suggesting that this interpretation may be, in fact, a historically reasonable inference. “How do you manage being an immigrant from a poor family, given the history that’s been handed down to women? I’m talking from lived experience from myself and from those who came before me. There’s some very strong realities at play here.”

Vilaro explained to me that his issue with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Evita is not necessarily the claims it makes about how Perón rose to power, but the fact that these claims were being made by non-Argentine and non-Latino/Hispanic artists. Furthermore, the stage musical has been wildly successful, winning the Tony Award for Best Musical, earning over $2 billion, starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas in its 1996 film adaptation, and having been performed on every continent except Antarctica.

“We should all be given the right [to create art],” said Vilaro. “Steven Spielberg did West Side Story, which continues to have bad scars for the Latinx community, and yet he went and did it. But it was three white guys again in the leadership on that movie. It’s beyond me… but I don’t take the right away from Steven Spielberg. He still had the power to shift that dynamic and didn’t. He could have said, ‘I’m not going to direct it, I’m going to mentor a Latino director.’”

Vilaro also expressed disappointment that the Lloyd Webber–Rice interpretation of Perón is the one that succeeded commercially.

“We’re a capitalist society here in America, and the consumerism is stronger in determining thought than it should be,” he said. “Evita became such a smash hit that everyone refers to that in one way or another, which is very dangerous. The conversation has shifted about the power dynamics of the past.”

Running Time: One hour 10 minutes with no intermission.

Doña Perón plays through December 3, 2022, in the Eisenhower Theater in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Opera House, 2700 F Street NW, Washington, DC. Tickets ($35–$129) are available at the box office, online, or by calling (202) 467-4600 or (800) 444-1324.

The program for Doña Perón is online here.

COVID Safety: Masks are optional in all Kennedy Center spaces for visitors and staff. If you prefer to wear a mask, you are welcome to do so. See Kennedy Center’s complete COVID Safety Plan here.

The post Sure, sex was a career move for Evita, but Ballet Hispánico reclaims her in ‘Doña Perón’ at KenCen appeared first on DC Theater Arts.

Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s production of Les Sylphides and Other Works is a fun way to open the 2022-23 season. The four short pieces in the program, performed at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts as well as live-streamed, are a celebration of movement.

Les Sylphides, a 1909 ballet choreographed by Mikhail Fokine and staged by Samantha Collen, is a real thrill, with the Londontowne Symphony Orchestra performing the music of Frederic Chopin live. Lauren and Isaac Martinez as a Pas de Deux lift and spin each other beautifully, while Cindy Case gracefully glides across the stage in the Waltz Variation, and Victoria Siracusa expertly extends her legs and arms in the Mazurka Variation. Corps members Destiny Billot, Karen Fleming, Olivia Fohsz, Jenna Fritts, Anne Gutcher, Meredith Hardin, Sarah Hoffman, Madeline Jones, Mia Koshansky, Emma Lane, Brenna Mazzara, Clara Molina, Rachael Spicer, Julia Walden, Victoria Walpole, and Isabella Warshaw create further lovely images by forming groups of four and moving past each other.

Flow and Ebb, choreographed by Soloist Cindy Case, moves like a fast-running stream to Claude Debussy’s “Finale” of Piano Trio in G Major. Destiny Billot spins and extends her arms as if reaching for something, while Arielin Anderson, Samantha Apgar, Kristen Faraclas, Gabrilla Femia, Karen Fleming, Ellie Goods, Meredith Hardin, Emma Lane, Audrey Martin, Emily Moreland, Katheryn Muscarella, Eliza Sell, Rachael Spicer, and Victoria Walpole spin in circles, lean into each other, and push off each other.

Sapphire Romance, with choreography by founding Artistic Director Edward Stewart, is an energetic romp to Rachmaninoff’s music. The Pas de Six of Amanda Cobb, Hannah Hanson, Cassandra Hope, Madison Sweeney, Rowan Treece, and Catherine Welch leap across the stage in twos and threes. The Pas de Quatre of Lindsey Bell, River Byrd, Emily Carey, and Alexander Collen spin each other around with lovely leg extensions. Sarah Jung and Ryan Massey as a Pas de Deux lift and carry each other across the stage, moving with grace and power.

Hijinks and Lullabies, with movement impressions and original story by guest choreographer Keith Lee, is a colorful piece of humorous dance. Chickadees Caroline Anderson, Carrie Cornelius, Anne Gutcher, and Sarah Jung, led by Lauren Martinez, move across the stage like chickens, swaying and even clucking. Isaac Martinez leaps and spins, but also rolls on the floor and lip-syncs to the music of Gustav Mahler. River Byrd spins a ship’s wheel while extending his legs. Emily Carey glides across looking forlorn. While the ballet’s subject matter is difficult to understand, it is full of funny moments and lovely movements.

Costume Designers Karissa Kralik, Caroline Anderson, Amanda Cobb, Sarah Hoffman, Clara Molina, Isabella Warshaw, and Karen Kralik have different outfits for each piece. Les Sylphides puts the dancers in white dresses, while Flow and Ebb has them in various shades of blue, and SapphireRomance uses dark blue outfits. For Hijinks and Lullabies, Alyssa Taylor’s costume design perfectly distinguishes each dancer as a particular character. Lighting Designer Stacie Johnson-Leske bathes the stage in swiftly changing blue, green, and purple light for Sapphire Romance, while keeping the lights low for Hijinks and Lullabies.

Each ballet is different, but linked by beautiful, creative dancing. It would have been lovely if the Londontowne Symphony Orchestra could perform the music for all four pieces. Still, the performances make for a wonderful evening and an auspicious beginning to the new season.

Running Time: Approximately 2 hours, including a 15-minute intermission.

Les Sylphides and Other Works plays Saturday, October 8, 2022, at 7 PM and Sunday, October 9, at 2 PM at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts – 801 Chase Street, Annapolis, MD. Performances may also be viewed online through live streaming. For tickets ($30–$50), call the box office at 410-224-5644 or purchase online.

The online program is available here.

Covid Safety: Masks are optional inside the building and theater.

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Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s production of Coppélia is a colorful blend of dancing and comedy. With choreography by Artistic Director Emeritus Dianna Cuatto, based on Arthur Saint-Leon’s original 1870 choreography, and music by Leo Delibes, the ballet tells the story of young Swanhilda, engaged to the flirtatious Franz, who finds himself drawn to the mysterious Coppélia. Performed at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts and available for live-stream viewing, it is a wonderful way to end the season.

Emily Carey gives a wide range of emotions as Swanhilda, from fear and anger to love and curiosity. She pushes away Franz (Ryan Massey) as he flirts with other women, and gingerly pokes Coppélia (Olivia Fohsz) in the workshop. Pretending to be another mechanical doll, she can be mischievous, walking robotically before “pounding” on Dr. Coppelius’s (Alexander Collen) back. She has lovely leg extensions and spins, and her duets with Massey are beautiful to watch as he lifts and dips her. Ryan Massey plays Franz with a youthful energy, leaping across the stage and carrying a ladder to spy on Coppelia. His duet with Carey in Act III is full of graceful power.

Anne Gutcher, Sarah Jung, Lauren Martinez, Brenna Mazzara, Marjorie O’Hearne, and Karissa Kralik dance perfectly in unison as Swanhilda’s friends, circling around Swanhilda and Franz, or gliding across the stage. They also have great comic timing; as they tiptoe into Dr. Coppelius’s workshop, one has to be pulled forward. Confronted by Dr. C, they cower and turn their bodies away before sliding through his legs.

Alexander Collen plays Dr. Coppelius with an air of mystery and slight menace. Stooped over and using a cane, the Village Boys (Aaron Bauer, River Byrd, Isaac Martinez, and Michael West) lift him up and carry him before he chases them off. He chases Franz around the workshop before seducing him with drink.

Olivia Fohsz plays Coppélia perfectly, staying completely still even with people poking her. When she moves, she does so mechanically. The other dolls (Isaac Martinez, Cassandra Hope, Michael West, Clara Molina, Hannah Hanson, Rowan Treece, and Gabriella Femia) also stay perfectly still, often in comically difficult positions. Dancing in place, they capture the different flavors of each dance while moving mechanically.

The Mazurkas (Caroline Anderson, Carrie Cornelius, Celia Merritt, Madison Sweeney, Aaron Bauer, River Byrd, Isaac Martinez, and Michael West), led by Cindy Case, are vigorous and full of energy, stomping out a rhythm on the ground. Michael West as the Lead for War and Peace swings a sword around the stage, leaping and spinning.

The sets and costumes, designed by Brian Walker, Calder Taylor, Meagan Helman, Alyssa Johnson-Taylor, Karen Kralik, Karissa Kralik, and Aaron Bauer, are simple but effective. Acts I and III have two buildings on either side of the stage, one with an open window for Coppélia to look out on. Act II has tables, benches, and platforms for Dr. Coppelius’s workshop, with the various dolls covered by sheets. A curtain in the back allows for hiding and a quick change. Swanhilda begins in a white peasant skirt and brown vest, later changing to a white wedding-like dress. Her friends dress alike in pink dresses, while the Mazurkas wear orange dresses.

Lighting Designer Stacie Johnson-Leske uses lighting effects to help the mood, with Dr. C’s lab dark and mysterious. Act III is brightly lit and cheerful. Dianna Cuatto’s choreography is full of lovely movements and comic moments. The dancers are all expressive, their emotions showing through their faces and steps. Before the ballet begins, a narrator sets the scene by dramatically reading a synopsis while surrounded by attentive Villagers. In Coppélia, Ballet Theatre of Maryland closes its season with a production full of comedy and touching scenes as well as beautiful dancing and music.

Running Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes, including two intermissions of 10 and 15 minutes.

Coppélia played on April 22, 2022, at 7:30 pm and April 23 at 1:00 pm and 4:30 pm presented by Ballet Theatre of Maryland performing at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, 801 Chase Street, Annapolis, MD, and simultaneously live-streamed.

The Coppélia program is online here.

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As the apotheosis of classical ballet, Swan Lake has captivated audiences for more than a century. With its achingly poignant Tchaikovsky score and its resonant themes of the transformative power of love and the power of memory, accompanied by images of white tutu’ed ballerinas in swan-like formations, for many Swan Lake is the definitive ballet.

As frequently as this ballet is performed, nothing about producing Swan Lake is easy or ordinary. The Washington Ballet, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2019, just tackled its second production of this epitome of ballets. Under the company’s founder, the late Mary Day, it developed as a small chamber-sized troupe specializing in 20th-century contemporary ballet. Without the breadth or depth of a large troupe of classically trained dancers, Swan Lake wasn’t an option for the company until artistic director Septime Webre, who took the helm from Day, staged a Swan Lake coup in 2015. Webre’s production attracted worldwide notice for featuring Misty Copeland and Brooklyn Mack as the first African American Odette and Siegfried in a major company.

Under the direction of retired American Ballet Theatre ballerina Julie Kent, The Washington Ballet’s second production of Swan Lake — lovingly and carefully staged with the assistance of Victor Barbee, the company’s associate artistic director (and Kent’s husband) — had been planned for 2020, but the pandemic halted performances.

Ballet lovers would likely call The Washington Ballet’s latest Swan Lake, which runs through Sunday, February 13, at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater, respectable, if uneven. The demands on the ballerina, who plays the dual role of Odette, the Swan Queen, and Odile, her evil imposter, are akin to playing Hamlet — outsized. On Thursday, the opening night cast featured Eun Won Lee, a ballerina with imperious technical abilities, among them clean and precise footwork and a purity of line, making her an obvious choice and Kent favorite. Yet the challenges of playing Odette demand more than technical excellence. Odette must reveal her soulful side, but also her longing and her hesitancy. She stands at the helm of a band of women like her cursed to be swans by day and humans at night. Their abode? A lake filled with her own mother’s tears. The only way to release the curse is a pure declaration of true and forever love.

The ballet opens at Prince Siegfried’s castle — in this production not the grandest, but a stately edifice with imposing steps that cramp the Eisenhower Theater stage. The opening celebratory atmosphere of the ballet — Siegfried has come of age and friends and courtiers arrive at the castle grounds to celebrate. Yet here he’s not the most popular of princes, his entourage, hangers-on, and friends are few and the stage feels far less busy and filled than in many productions. The Act One pas de trois featuring Ayano Kimura and Ashley Murphy-Wilson along with Ariel Martinez displayed precision and technical facility and allowed each dancer a moment to shine.

As Siegfried, Gian Carlo Perez captures that wavering moment between boy and man, uncertain of how he can take the next step and choose a bride and his desire for a boys’ night out – in this case hunting by the lakeside. Sona Kharatian, one of the company’s senior dancers, portrays his mother with dignity and high expectations — yet seems too young for the role, even clad in heavy brocades. Some of the most natural moments of the evening are those between mother and son, when he turns to her with an “oh, Mom” look or when he seeks her comfort. Perez displays his finesse and ballon — ability to jump with ease — and as a partner, he’s unfailing.

Lee and Perez frequently dance together, yet their partnership felt surprisingly bereft of electricity and passion. Lee projects a cool and calm presence on stage — I’d say more of an ice princess than a hot-blooded dancer — so that first meeting between Siegfried and Odette in Act Two takes a while to warm up. Lee is far more reserved than many of my own past favorites in the role, among them Gillian Murphy, Nina Ananiashvili, and the gorgeous Russian-trained Natalia Markova.

As woman-turned-swan, Lee, alas, is more human than swan-like. Among the edifying choreographic moments in the ballet, here Kent and Barbee draw from the Petipa/Ivanov 1895 version the wing and bird-like arm gestures, undulating from the shoulders effortlessly and magnificently through to the fingertips. Lee, alas, doesn’t initiate from deep in the scapula, thus the arm-torso connection is not as evident, and her Odette finds less expression in the torso and shoulder girdle — ballet folks would call it epaulement.

In the climactic third act, as Odile, the sinister Black Swan meant to lead Siegfried astray, Lee uses her icy demeanor to advantage. Her brilliant and brittle technique is meant to mesmerize, and here Perez as Siegfried is completely taken in, vowing his love for the wrong woman — and dooming his true love to an eternity as a swan. It’s an exacting and technically difficult set of sequences of high-powered precise leaps, balances, and turns — featuring applause-garnering fouettes, whipping turns on one leg — that Lee pulls off without a blink. And behind her, whispering in her ear, lanky Stephen Nakagawa uses his stature to embody an imposing Von Rothbart, the sorcerer who cursed Odette.

Act Three is also filled with a series of European cultural dances representing Spain, Hungary, Poland, and Italy — think of them as postcards from abroad, recalling that when the ballet was cerated in St. Petersburg 125 years ago, these locales seemed exotic. Each of these lively variations was well-performed, but again, the smaller stage space lent a less celebratory air to the act yet also felt more intimate.

In recreating this Swan Lake, Kent called on Russian ballet scholar Natalie Rouland, who dug into the history of the iconic work and drew from archival notations from the Harvard Theatre Collection and Russian librettos at the St. Petersburg Theatre Library. With these historic gleanings and the body-to-body legacy of the Petipa and Ivanov choreographies, The Washington Ballet’s production feels notably authentic and even includes a few surprises. Among them, in Act Four, in addition to the corps de ballet of 18 white swans, an additional six cygnets, clad in gray feathery tutus accompany their grown sister swans. As well, the beginning of this final act felt far brisker and bouncier than many versions, though I’m not certain if that was a musical change or just tempos. And, while the corps de ballet danced valiantly striving for uniformity, it was not always attainable. Blame it on the pandemic pause, when dancers couldn’t work together in the studio, or the small company roster with roles filled out by second-company members, but the ideal of a group of 18 dancers balancing, swaying, and even breathing in absolute unison hasn’t quite been attained.

Throughout the storytelling through ballet, mime was keenly articulate — not always the case for American companies — but Washington’s dancers have put much care and attention to conveying the dramatic meanings thus furthering the plot with ease. The ballet, which clocks in at a solid two hours and 45 minutes, was accompanied by a live orchestra led by conductor Charles Barker. The sets, from Ballet West in Utah, were serviceable and avoided outlandish updates or changes to the libretto, although they did feel tight on the Eisenhower stage.

With a mostly satisfying, if not exceptional, production under her belt, Julie Kent continues to mold The Washington Ballet into something that more closely resembles large mainstream repertory companies, particularly Kent’s former home base, American Ballet Theatre. The question arises, though, with the resources and national stature of The Kennedy Center, where at least one Swan Lake lands every year, does Washington need its own swan-filled production?

Running time: About two hours 45 minutes with two intermissions.

The Washington Ballet’s Swan Lake plays to February 13, 2022, in The Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater, 2700 F St NW, Washington, DC. For tickets ($45–$165), call (202) 467-4600 or go online.

COVID Safety: Proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 is required to attend all indoor performances and events at the Kennedy Center. Masks are required regardless of vaccination status. Kennedy Center’s complete COVID Safety Plan is here.

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Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s production of The Nutcracker is a treat of lovely dancing. Artistic Director Nicole Kelsch, who has guided the company so well in these challenging times, finding alternative, creative performance spaces when Maryland Hall was closed due to the lockdown, spoke on opening night of the joy in returning to their home stage. The audience shared in this pleasure. And with technological advancements, all performances will also be live-streamed. With choreography by Dianna Cuatto, Tchaikovsky’s beloved holiday classic comes to vivid life.

Emily Carey brings a youthful innocence to Clara. She floats across the stage at the party, charming everyone. When Fritz (Sarah Hoffman) stabs the nutcracker doll, her anguish comes across powerfully, as does her joy when it’s repaired. Her solos are gorgeous to watch, as she spins, twirls, and extends her legs beautifully.

Isaac Martinez plays the Nephew with great charm, gliding effortlessly at the party. He gives a refined power to the Nutcracker Prince, leaping and jumping in his solos. With Carey, he provides a solid support, holding her as she spins and carrying her in his arms.

Richard Link gives a magical ease to Drosselmeier. He directs much of the action, carrying the Ballerina Doll (Lindsey Bell) offstage and placing the Cookies (Ella Cochrane, Cassandra Gebbia, and Marissa Weller) onto the stage. Near the end, he waves everyone off by moving his hands.

Sarah Hoffman brings a mischievousness bordering on toxic as Clara’s brother Fritz. She waves a sword around and rushes with it towards Carey several times. While probably not intentional in this production, it is interesting that what was considered “boys being boys” in the 19th and 20th centuries today seems threatening.

Lindsay Bell gives an elegant precision to the Ballerina Doll, while Catherine Welch and River Byrd bring high energy to the Tarantola Doll and Russian Doll, Byrd jumping and tumbling across the stage.

Amanda Cobb plays the Rat Queen with a powerful grace. Her swordfight with Martinez is great fun, especially her comically extended death scene.

Lindsey Bell and Ryan Massey give an elegance to the Snow Queen and King. They dance beautifully together and during their solos, spinning, extending, and lifting each other. Caroline Anderson and Ryan Massey give great flair to the Spanish Girl and Guy. Victoria Siracusa and River Byrd bring incredible flexibility to the Arabian Lead and Guy, as do Clara Molina, Hannah Hanson, and Marjorie O’Hearne as the Arabian Sides, writhing and folding into each other. The Chinese Sticks (Gabriella Femia, Markella Gatanas, Gabrielle Gross, Krystina Lilly, Shivan Mutreja, and Chloe Myers) beat out a rhythm as Chinese Lead Cassandra Hope and Sides Amanda Cobb and Mia Kohshansky jump and spin across the stage. Russian Lead Michael West and Sides Anne Gutcher and Madeline Pautier give full athleticism, leaping and jumping tremendously.

Brenna Mazzara and Aaron Bauer give a lightness to the Merliton Girl and Guy, gliding across the stage. Elizabeth Shin and Ana “Gisele” Gooz as the Tambourine Girl and Boy, along with the Tamburelli (Isabel Damian-Lopez, Lara Dugdale, Kendeal Fowler, Charlotte Jones, Sarah McCone, and Benta Owino), captivate the stage with their tumbling, leaping, and tambourine shaking. Madeline Jones is a visual hoot as Mother Tarantola, spinning around in a giant dress (with Richard Link controlling the bottom). At the end, the dancers disappear under the skirt. Cindy Case plays the Dew Drop Fairy with a quiet, careful grace.

Dianna Cuatto’s set design emphasizes the ballet’s fantasy elements, with the backdrop a gorgeous ballroom, complete with a Christmas tree and grandfather clock that both grow to tremendous size. In the first scene, the front part of the stage becomes Drosselmeier’s workshop, with tools and shelves. The Snow King and Queen’s realm has snowy woods, while candy cane wallpaper and lollipop trees fill out the later scenes.

Costume Designers Karen Kralik and Alyssa Johnson-Taylor have created colorful outfits that help distinguish the many characters. Clara begins in a blue and white dress, later changing into a pink tutu, while the Nephew starts in a tux and dons a red military jacket for the Nutcracker. Drosselmeier looks like a sorcerer in a purple-lined cape and black eyepatch. The Tamburelli and Tambourine Girl wear blue tops and orange and yellow skirts, while the Mother Tarantola is in a long green dress.

Lighting Designer Stacie Johnson-Leske adds to the feeling of magic. A spotlight covers Drosselmeier in his workshop, while the lights remain low for the party in the background. As Drosselmeier enters the party, blue light bathes the stage. Blue light also covers the Snow King and Queen’s dancing.

Dianna Cuatto’s choreography, after the Christensen brothers and Petipa’s staging, creates scenes of beautiful movements. The dancers work well together, navigating one another and the stage while dancing with high energy. While some missteps and spills are inevitable in live performance, they quickly bounce back. This production captures the spirit of the season, a joy to watch in person or online. Only one weekend remains, so catch it while you can!

Running Time: Approximately 2 hours, with a 20-minute intermission.

The Nutcracker plays through December 19, 2021, at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts – 801 Chase Street, Annapolis, MD. The performances are also available to be live-streamed. For in-person tickets ($47 adult, $28 senior/child/student, $38 military) and virtual tickets ($28.16), visit Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s website.

COVID Safety: Audience members are required to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status at Maryland Hall performances.

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Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s production of The Little Mermaid is a beautiful celebration of dance and storytelling. Performed at the Westin Annapolis Hotel to a mask-wearing, limited audience, with the dancers masked as well, each performance is also livestreamed, allowing for audiences to view it anywhere. With choreography by Dianna Cuatto, it demonstrates the talent and resilience of BTM’s dancers and technicians.

This review covers Cast 2. Victoria Siracusa plays Pearl, the title character, with great emotion. In her first scene with Prince Patrick (Isaac Martinez), she stays on the floor, moving her legs like a tail and suspended by Martinez. One of her best solo performances has her trying out her human legs for the first time, dance-stumbling and swaying until she gets the hang of it. She recoils in horror at Melusine’s (Lindsey Bell) proposition, held back by the villains. In a highly emotional scene, she throws up her arms in despair, twirling about the stage until she rolls to the ground.

Isaac Martinez plays Prince Patrick with great energy. He leaps and spins across the stage, full of movement. He connects with Siracusa beautifully, constantly lifting her up or holding onto her, sometimes turning her upside down, while she folds herself into him. Toward the end, he emotionally tries to block Siracusa’s exit.

Marjorie O’Hearne gives Atalanta, queen of the mermaids and Pearl’s mother, a commanding authority, entering the stage carried by two masked dancers. Her argument with Siracusa is dramatic and fluid, ending with a shocking act.

Lindsey Bell dominates the stage as the sea witch Melusine, leaping and twirling.  Richard Link gives a sinister air to Melusine’s underling Aqualion, holding back Siracusa and moving Lorelei (Clara Molina) around the stage like a chess piece. Clara Molina has great range as Lorelei, the ashray temptress, passionately leaping across the stage in the beginning, then, while seducing Martinez, dancing delicately, gracefully, ensnaring him. Sarah Hoffman, Audrey Martin, Madeline Jones, Olivia Fohsz, and Isabella Warshaw play the other Anemones with great energy, spinning across the stage.

Brenna Sweeney plays Fathom, Pearl’s friend, with an airiness, gliding across the stage. Invisible, she dances with Martinez, twirling and pulling him where he needs to go. She places herself between Siracusa and O’Hearne as their argument starts to escalate, trying to stop things. She also has great comic timing when hiding from the humans by putting a lampshade over her head or diving under the bedsheets.

Sarah Jung gives Ellspeth, the Prince’s tutor, a quiet, noble strength. She is an observer for much of the ballet; even while dancing with Martinez, she seems to be on her own, gliding off at the right time. Celia Merritt gives the Queen of Air a lightness, carefully dancing throughout the stage. Her Air Sylphs (Mia Koshansky, Ansley Mater, Samantha Boteler, Hannah Hanson, Lena Easter, and Julie Smith) have a delicate air to them, as though they might float away.

The set, constructed and painted by Susan Johnson, Calder Taylor, and Aaron Bauer, is simple yet effective. A large, colorful rock gives a place for the Prince to rest and Pearl to hide behind. The Prince’s palace has a bed in one corner and a small table and chairs in another, while Melusine’s lair has a large mirror in one corner. One scene has Pearl and the Prince in a boat that moves across the stage. Costume Designer Alyssa Johnson-Taylor creates distinctive outfits for each character, for some of them more than one. Pearl begins in blue leggings, later changing to a tan dress and then a blue dress. The Prince starts in a white shirt and black pants, changing into a silver shirt and white leggings. Fathom wears a pink dress, while Melusine, Lorelei, and Aqualion all wear dark green full body suits, later changing to dark blue outfits. The Queen of Air and the Air Sylphs wear silver dresses and carry silver balloons.

Lighting Designers Nicole Kelsch and Alexander Collen help emphasize the changing atmosphere of each scene through bathing the stage in purples and blues. The lights fade in between scenes. Videographer Ted Atsinger keeps the action in frame with close-ups and pan-outs. Dianna Cuatto’s choreography is full of lovely movements that are beautiful to watch and help tell the story all without words. This production highlights the versatility of ballet, showing that it can be performed in any location and still enchant audiences both in-person and online. Only one performance remains, so be sure to catch it!

Running Time: Approximately one hour, with no intermission.

The Little Mermaid is available for livestreaming one more time—at 2 pm ET Sunday, February 28, 2021—on the Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s website. For tickets and information on this and future BTM performances, please visit their website.

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“For never was there a tale of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

Who doesn’t know the tragic ending of star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet? Yet we continue to be besotted by the Shakespearean tragedy. Choreographer/Director Matthew Bourne’s 2019 restaging in movement follows the bones of the original story, but updates and re-envisions aspects reflecting contemporary societal problems and generational rifts. This production, filmed in exquisite detail by Ross Macgibbon, also borrows from West Side Story’s trope of delinquent youths, and homes in on issues of abuse, neglect, violence, and overmedication of teenagers.

Bourne has become a master of reinventing classics that speak to today’s audiences. He reconfigured the pinnacle of classical ballet, Swan Lake, with a muscular all-male corps de ballet and an embellished plot that makes Siegfried’s quest one of discovering his sexuality, not finding a princess. He set Cinderella during the London Blitz, with bombs and fires and a prince with PTSD. In an all-dance-theater version of Edward Scissorhands, he took a tale of horror and love and made it into a haunting elegy to the outsider. In every Bourne work, he utilizes his cadre of exquisitely trained actor-dancers who move with supreme ease through the warp and weft of his choreographic permutations to weave a compelling and pulse-raising tale.

This filmed version, which was available for viewing on the Kennedy Center website via a Vimeo link, fares quite well in the new virtual performance world dance and theater companies are still acclimating to. Bourne, an OBE with the official title of Sir in his native England, has spoken many times (including to me) of his love for classic Hollywood musicals as a progenitor to his evolution as a choreographer. That shows in the often cinematic methods he uses in productions, including flashbacks and flashforwards, dream scenes or dreamlike sequences, and harsh realism, as well as a touch of Chaplinesque comedy on occasion. In any case, this Romeo and Juliet, filmed before an audience and with multiple cameras at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, is itself like a complete artistic endeavor, not merely a pandemic afterthought recording with a camera plopped in place in an empty theater.

The piece opens, as other Bourne works have done, with the final snapshot: the young couple wrapped in a heart-shaped embrace. As the camera focuses in, it becomes apparent that their closed eyes aren’t sleep and those dark patches on their white costumes are blood. Then the incongruity of a school bell shatters the silence as the curtain reveals a stark white-tiled space surrounded by wire fencing and catwalks above. A sign reads: “Verona Institute.” A corps of young men and women enter in lockstep as Prokofiev’s score punctuates the silence. Clad in white uniforms and Keds, they form regiments as they parade like a doomed battalion of surly teen recruits. We see formidable Nurse Ratchett types dispensing pills and an ineffectual doctor in a frantic group therapy session. Verona Institute is a somber and frightening juvenile correctional facility and an imposing uniformed guard — imposing Dan Wright as Tybalt — keeps everyone in line.

In this Spartan Verona penitentiary, the conflict is not familial but generational: the teens rebel against the discipline and punishment meted out by the adults. A pair of wealthy, uninvolved parents drags a reluctant Romeo (Paris Fitzpatrick) — hyperactive, fresh, and sullen — in for admittance. But not until the parents increase their check is the lad let in. Enter Mercutio (jocular Ben Brown) and Balthasar (Jackson Fisch), who strip him out of his schoolboy jacket and tie and into the uniform.

Bright auburn-haired Juliet stands out from the phalanx of teen girls marching through their paces in her combination of deep longing, delicacy, and a sense of inner toughness. Tybalt, who towers over the petite Cordelia Braithwaite as Juliet, uses and torments her — an off-stage rape is suggested. The star-crossed pair meet at a boy-girl dance arranged by Reverend Bernadette (Daisy May Kemp), who is kindly but as ineffectual as her forbear Friar Lawrence.

The passionate duet captures the young lovers embracing with the desperation that only teenagers feel. They tumble into each other’s arms and share what Bourne calls possibly the longest kiss in theater history and it feels intoxicating. Oh, to be young and in love… It proves a breath of fresh air in this colorless world designed with foreboding clarity by Lez Brotherston. As in other productions, like Swan Lake, Bourne goes to the source score, in this case Prokofiev’s with its marches, waltzes, and swooning flourishes. This version features a new orchestration by Terry Davies that sometimes uses different instrumentations and sometimes snips and tucks to the score. It lends a new nervous energy at times to this Verona’s stolid environs.

The fight scene eschews swashbuckling swordplay for hand-to-hand combat, guns and knives. It plays out more like West Side Story’s Dance at the Gym, as a drunken Tybalt stumbles in to see his chosen Juliet enamored of Romeo. With the group enraged, together they take Tybalt down — an outcry against their tormentor. Romeo, though, is the one with blood on his hands. As they struggle with the severity of their deed, we see Romeo and Juliet writhe, emotionally distraught over what they have witnessed and wrought. The ending is as blood-drenched as expected as the pair — Romeo, then Juliet — die their dramatic and dreadful deaths.

As the curtain falls, they lie alone in that same opening embrace, bloodied and battered.

In updating Shakespeare’s tragedy for our time (or really 2019’s pre-pandemic period), Bourne allows the tale to embody new forms and pose new questions: about how our supposedly highly developed society raises and cares for troubled teenagers with overmedicalization and diagnosis of behavioral problems, and also about sexual and physical harassment and abuse. This isn’t the first time Bourne has touched on either and we’ve seen mental institutions in his works before. This time though he’s set forth some thought-provoking issues that are mostly kept behind closed doors — institutional care for the mentally ill. Not a topic one would expect from a dance company.

Bourne has again reinvigorated a classic to feel consequential right for now.

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet was available February 19–21, 2021, from The Kennedy Center as an on-demand streaming presentation in partnership with Center Theatre Group’s Digital Stage.

The Kennedy Center will next make available an at-home screen version of Matthew Bourne’s production of The Red Shoes March 19-21, 2021. Tickets go on sale March 3 online.

SEE ALSO:

Updated for the 21st century, ‘Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures: Swan Lake’ soars at The Kennedy Center review by Jane Franklin

‘Cinderella’ at The Kennedy Center Opera House review by Lisa Traiger

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Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s production of Dracula is the perfect Halloween show, even in these scary times. Viewing the performance outdoors, on the grass lot of the future Maryland Theatre for the Performing Arts building, audiences stay masked and far enough away from each other and the stage (bringing their own blankets and folding chairs), yet still enjoy the marvelous dancing, thematic music, and creative lighting. Choreographed by BTM’s late founding Artistic Director Edward Stewart and staged by current Artistic Director Nicole Kelsch, Dracula is a faithful, beautiful adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic novel.

Set Designers Alexander Collen and Nicole Kelsch have used the available stage effectively, a small platform against the wall of the lot. A purple curtain at the back pulls back to reveal a coffin, while small tables, candles, and a cot are brought on, as necessary. Smoke effects add to the atmosphere.

Emily Brenan gives Mina a youthful innocence. She spins and twirls gracefully, first alone, then with Jonathan (Isaac Martinez), who tenderly embraces her. Pursued by Dracula (Mark McCormack), she dances away from him, until he catches her, forcing her on her knees. Under his control she writhes in emotion, extending her arms in agony, and the final scene has her contorting in amazing ways while on the floor.

Isaac Martinez plays Jonathan with great physicality, communicating emotion through his body. Pursued and seduced by Dracula’s Brides (Victoria Siracusa, Sarah Jung, Karissa Kralik, and Lauren Martinez), he leaps across the stage trying to escape them, swaying as they pull him in different directions. After Dracula has kidnapped Mina he jumps in frustration and fear before grappling with Dracula in a beautifully stylized fight. At the end he falls to ground, the pain clear in his body.

Mark McCormack gives Dracula great commanding presence and power. Finding the Brides feeding on Jonathan, he makes an angry gesture, and they withdraw from the stage. He wraps himself in his cape and extends it so that it looks like bat wings. He leaps across the stage, twirling and spinning. He lifts Mina and Lucy (Cindy Case) over his head, dipping them before “biting” them, and carries off Mina while she extends her leg. He plays with the Brides, spinning them and having them embrace him before pushing them away. In the fight with Jonathan he throws him across the stage.

Cindy Case gives a sensuality to Lucy. Even before encountering Dracula she stalks the stage, extending her long legs and slowly moving across the stage. Her duet with Dracula is powerfully physical, entwining her arms and legs with him as he dips and lifts her. It is a wonderfully dramatic seduction.

Victoria Siracusa gives the Lead Bride with great forcefulness, leading Sarah Jung, Karissa Kralik, and Lauren Martinez as the other Brides in taking charge. They pop up behind Jonathan’s bed, grabbing him and pulling him towards them, even stripping off his shirt. They embrace Dracula, grasping him and twirling around him, falling back as he pushes them away. They stoop down low in obedience when he commands them to stop pursuing Jonathan. At the masquerade they move sensually, writhing in passion and victory.

Destiny Billot, Carrie Cornelius, Olivia Fohsz, Hannah Hanson, Sarah Hoffman, Audrey Martin, Ansley Mater, Celia Merritt, Marjorie O’Hearne, Julie Smith, Brenna Sweeney, Madeleine Pautier, and Isabella Warshaw play the Vampire Women with eerie precision. They move like clockwork, slowly, carefully, helping to create an atmosphere of suspense. At the beginning of Act III, they move frenetically, jumping alongside Jonathan as the action speeds up. At the end they return to slow motion, lying on the floor and carefully lifting their legs and heads in unusual moves.

River Byrd and Lelan Lewis combine power and gentleness as the Suitors, leaping across the stage and twirling. Caroline Anderson, Lindesy Bell, Amanda Cobb, Anne Gutcher, Cassandra Hope, Clara Molina, Marjorie O’Hearne, Madeleine Pautier, Brenna Sweeney, Madison Sweeney, Rowan Treece, and Catherine Welch give the Masquerade Women a joyfulness as they crowd the stage, spinning and extending.

Costume Designers Karen Kralik and Alyssa Johnson-Taylor have created outfits that help distinguish the character and show their journey. Mina starts out in a purple dress then moves to a white one, like the white dresses of the Brides and Vampire Women. In Act II, the Brides wear silky, black dresses. Dracula wears a black cape and a long white shirt, and at times a demon mask. Lucy wears a long red dress and a red feather headdress at her first appearance, changing into an orange and black dress. The Masquerade Women have red tops and short white skirts, while the Suitors wear black pants and plaid vests.

The lighting effects add to the chilling atmosphere, bathing the stage in purples and reds to highlight the Vampire Women, Brides, and Dracula. The prerecorded music by Goldenthal, Kilar, and Prokofiev reflects the dancing and the story, playful and romantic at times, dramatic and spooky at others. Nicole Kelsch has done a wonderful job staging this production. The dancers navigate the stage and each other perfectly, combining graceful and powerful movements to translate Edward Stewart’s choreography into lovely scenes that tell the frightening, tragic story of Dracula. Ballet Theatre of Maryland is proof that great art can be done on any stage. Go see it and have a spooky time!

Running Time: Approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes, with no intermission.

Dracula plays through October 31, 2020, at the Maryland Theatre for the Performing Arts – 3 Park Place, Suite 4, in Annapolis, MD, and is also available for streaming. For tickets or information on future performances, please visit BTA’s website.

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Dianna Cuatto, artistic director of the Ballet Theatre of Maryland (BTM), recently announced she would retire in June after leading the company for 17 years. She answered DC Theater Arts’ questions about her time at BTM, her long career and her plans for the future.

DCMTA: BTM’s current season included productions of Snow Queen and Swan Lake, as well as The Nutcracker. How do you choose the ballets for each season?

Diana Cuatto: Every two years, I ask our patrons to vote on the new and returning works they most want to see for upcoming seasons. The Snow Queen won this season, and Swan Lake, the most famous classical ballet, was an excellent choice as a counterpart.

The Nutcracker is probably the most popular ballet in America. My mentor William F. Christensen, who presented the first American version in 1944 at the San Francisco Opera House, began the process that turned it into an American holiday tradition.

Our patrons also chose many of the original ballets I have crafted. They have a diverse range of preferences, and it is important to balance out a season with works that resonate with each other as well as with the patrons’ preferences. Some prefer family-friendly fairytales, like The Snow Queen or The Nutcracker; others prefer classical, literary, and historical works like Swan Lake; and some like the edgy, contemporary work in our final production, Innovation 2020.

What have been some of your favorite productions?

Swan Lake is my personal favorite of the classics, and I added innovative touches while preserving important components of the ballet’s history in America. I am proudest of Sleeping Beauty, as I set out to make a version that would not bore mainstream audiences or disappoint classical enthusiasts, and audiences claim I succeeded. For a three-hour ballet, it flew by quickly, and adding an enormous dragon near the end was highly successful.

My favorite original full-length works are: Excalibur, for the Arthurian Legends and for incorporating Maggie Sansone’s authentic period music into the story; The Scarlet Letter’s powerfully stark, early American themes; An American Southwest Carmen, which tells the true stories of three American women living at Fort Pueblo during the Mexican-American War, merging Flamenco and native Southwest rhythms with classical ballet; and The War of 1812, probably my most creative historical work, as Hollywood composer David Arkenstone allowed me to use his music for the score, depicting the burning of the White House, the battle at Fort McHenry, and the relationship between Dolly and James Madison. The special effects and choreography for both the water battles and the burning of Washington turned out better than I could have hoped for!

My favorite contemporary works are Savoyan Nights, capturing the flavor of the Savoy Hotel in its heyday with swing dancing, ballet, tango, and mambo, which the Army Jazz Ambassadors played live; Primal Dreams, a jazz-based ballet showing a character making meaningful changes on their journey around the Native American Medicine Wheel of Life; Shades of Blue, a stunningly beautiful neoclassical work inspired by the meanings of blue; Tango Dramatico, fusing tango and ballet together to reveal the drama and passion inherent in the relationships between people often simmering below the surface; and Vortex, the driving power of Marc Galiber’s music working with the contemporary, circular nature of my choreography to capture the powerful energy inherent in the five most famous vortexes in Sedona, Arizona. I am heading there in retirement, and exploring the vortex energy while expressing it through dance was an enlightening process.

How do you keep classic ballets fresh?

Some of the dancers change roles or are new to the work, so they bring their uniqueness to bear. I also challenge them, especially if they have done the role before, with new coaching, new motivations, different challenges to “grow the role,” so that they continue to evolve their athleticism and artistry. And I make fresh changes to the choreography. For example, I re-choreographed four of the variations in Act I of Swan Lake, as well as portions of the waltz to make them better, more alive. With Nutcracker, I make many small changes every year.

What do you hope your legacy at BTM will be?

My legacy will live on through the dancers, students, and patrons that my work and tenure has impacted for good. It will live on in their memories, their passion for the arts, their quest for beauty, or in their life’s journey. My successor will preserve the healthy environment we have created for the dancers and students, which includes diverse body types as well as a nurturing environment for dancers and students alike while creating high-level art.

I’m very grateful to have had the honor of being BTM’s artistic director. My dancers have a lot of heart and soul, and my greatest joy is watching audiences responding to them and to my work.

I always wanted to inspire people and create powerful works of art that bring beauty and transformation into the lives of others. I wanted to make dance accessible to all and create a company that does works speaking to the best human values. I have been able to do that for audiences, dancers, and students alike for 17 years, and making an impact in other people’s lives is how I measure my personal success. That’s what I value and have been able to achieve through all these years with my talents and passions. Being artistic director gave me this freedom and opportunity. Life doesn’t get any better than that.

Ballet Theatre of Maryland performs Innovations 2020 Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18, 2020, at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts – 801 Chase Street in Annapolis, MD. For tickets, call the box office at (410) 280-5640 or purchase them online.

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