Dancers Young and Old
If you say, “Sleeping Beauty” to a non-ballet audience, they will think of the familiar fairy tale; but a ballet audience automatically thinks of the Tchaikovsky score and the Petipa choreography as the occasion for an All Star, Extra Innings Blow-Out in which everybody, dancers young and old, costumers, and set designers get their turns at bat. Ballet Theater of Ohio’s version covers both bases, with – as far as we can tell from here in Cleveland — a clear, family-friendly retelling of the story and plenty of production values and delicious dancing.You can see for yourself. Go to You Tube and search for ‘Ballet Theatre of Ohio’ or go to www.ballettheatreohio.org, click on their Photo Gallery and click on the You Tube videos. In BTO’s SLEEPING BEAUTY highlights video, notice the handsome palace set designed by Jack Gwinn and constructed by North Coast Theatricals, and backdrops painted by Ruth Lohse. There are 165 costumes in this production, all designed by Meneer and constructed by the BTO costume shop, so the palace scenes have the necessary throngs of courtiers.
Despite all the people on stage and the static camera set way back from the stage, you can really see the important aspects of the story, the spinning wheel on which Princess Aurora pricks her finger, for instance.
Petipa’s choreography for SLEEPING BEAUTY marked a high point in ballet technique and style, and learning steps and combinations from Petipa’s SLEEPING BEAUTY is part of the training of every advanced ballet dancer. But how very beautifully BTO’s women’s corps de ballet performs these familiar steps. Again, in the highlights video, we notice the clean unison dancing of the corps and their beautiful arabesque failles – their smooth transitions from arabesque to step forward. These high school age preprofessionals may prove our favorite part of this SLEEPING BEAUTY.
Ballet tradition and the Tchaikovsky score dictate the outlines of the plot, which centers on the Princess Aurora, who is baptized as an infant, comes out as a 16-year-old, and falls into the prophesized deep sleep. Years later the Prince Desiree shows up, bestows the magic kiss, and a happy wedding celebration ensues, including fairy-tale characters among the guests.
In the central roles of Princess Aurora and Prince Desiree are Andrea Blankstein and Damien Highfield, both well known to local audiences. Six other professional guest artists fill out the roles of the evil fairy, Cavaliers, and wedding guests.
Now, dear reader, remember what we said about ‘dancers young and old,’ for among the professional guest artists, Jerry Burr is listed as the Storyteller. When we spoke to Christine Meneer, the founder of Ballet Theatre of Ohio on the phone, we asked her about Burr.
Cool Cleveland: Jerry Burr? Surely this is not the same guy that I (Vic) took some ballet classes from in the 70’s.Christine Meneer: The same Jerry Burr. He’s 80-something. He plays the role of the Storyteller in our production.
Pantomime is a traditional part of all the old story ballets, but we don’t see it done much any more. How does Jerry make it work, exactly?
CM: Pantomime is a dying art, which is why I treasure his work with us. We have all learned so much from watching him. He first came to help us in Coppelia. He looked at the steps and he said, “Do it this way,” and his hand gestures and his facial expression was absolutely dead on, exactly what I wanted the movement to say. Tiny changes made all the difference. He’s a very gifted entertainer. Behind the scenes he’s the acting coach.
We see that you have followed in the footsteps of Petipa and ignored the advice of W C Fields by including children in your production.
CM: The children, students in our ballet school, have been rehearsing since January. They portray small animals in the woods, pages in the castle, and Carabosse’s urchins. The choreography is designed to illustrate their talents and bring out their youthful charm. I believe it’s the young children who make the show so unique.
SLEEPING BEAUTY at Akron Civic Theatre, 182 S. Main St., Akron 443208. Sat 5/1 at 2PM and 7PM, Sun 5/2 at 2PM. Phone BTO for best discount available, 330-688-6065 or http://www.ballettheatreohio.org or Civic Theater Box 330-253-2488.
From Cool Cleveland contributors Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas. Elsa and Vic are both longtime Clevelanders. Elsa is a landscape designer. She studied ballet as an avocation for 2 decades. Vic has been a dancer and dance teacher for most of his working life, performing in a number of dance companies in NYC and Cleveland. They write about dance as a way to learn more and keep in touch with the dance community. E-mail them at vicnelsaATearthlink.net.