By Elsa Johnson & Victor Lucas
We had always identified Beck Center for the Arts with theater as opposed to dance but when we heard about their Coppelia, the comic ballet about a dancing doll, we took it as an opportunity to learn more about dance at the Beck. We spoke on the phone with Melanie Szucs (pronounced “Zooks”), associate director of Dance Education at Beck Center.
Cool Cleveland: How would you describe your dance program at Beck? Is it a professional company, a pre-professional training program, or a community program?
Melanie Szucs: I think it’s all of the above. We offer seven levels of ballet so we encompass beginners as well as girls who are going on to established programs after they graduate from high school. For instance, the two high school seniors who are dancing the lead role of Swanilda in our upcoming Coppelia both want to become professional dancers. Taylor Gerrasch is going to New York to be part of the Joffrey jazz and contemporary program. Julia Horner is still auditioning but she’s already been offered a scholarship to Mercyhurst, one of the top ballet training institutions in the country. So we can take our students pretty far.
How would you describe the goals of the dance program at Beck?
We have different goals for different levels. I think with the children we try to inspire love of movement and self-confidence through movement. We have over 140 early childhood dance students.
A big early childhood program!
We also have a lot of adult classes, classes for adults who want to take a class for the pure enjoyment of it.
What are some of the different kinds of dance you offer?
Our program is built on ballet. Ballet is the basis for everything and the bulk of our classes are in ballet but we also have jazz, tap, contemporary, hip hop, gyrokinesis, a Body Beautiful class which is a tone and stretch class for adults, children’s dance classes starting at age 2, and four levels of pointe. 60 classes a week. I think we have something for everybody, every kind of dance at every level, for every age — for the casual dancer and the serious dancer as well. Most dance schools just do one of those things but I’m pretty proud that we do everything well. We have 10 great dance instructors teaching in our three studios and I’m very fortunate to work with teachers who care so much about our students.
How and when should people sign up for classes?
They’d be registering for summer and that should be online the week of Easter, early April. Of course in summer we also have children’s dance camp and two ballet intensives.
So how and why did you choose Coppelia for your spring concert?
Coppelia has always been a favorite of mine, fun to dance and fun to watch. And I’m always looking for ballets that appeal to families. We condense it down so that children can see live dance up close but in a time span they can sit through.
The music for Coppelia by Leo Delibes has always been one of my favorite ballet scores. Whose choreography are you using?
I used the Petipa version, but I added a lot of dancing dolls to give more people a chance to dance and I changed the story a little to make it more family friendly.
So you have the traditional Spanish dolls, the Scottish dolls…
We have a Russian doll that’s not in the original and a Chinese doll. And of course there’s the traditional czardas and mazurka.
— —
Dancing the part of Franz, the male lead, is Beck dance faculty member Jason Wang, who has danced professionally for a number of regional ballet companies. Local audiences will remember him for his performances with Verb Ballets. Professional theater actor – and tap student – Timothy J. Allen plays the pivotal role of Doctor Coppelius.
Beck Center Dance Education presents Coppelia Sat 3/16 at 4pm and 7pm, and Sun 3/17 at 1pm and 4pm, featuring the Beck Center Dance Workshop and select dancers. In the Recital Hall of the Music-Armory Building at Beck Center for the Arts, 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood. Reserved seats $10 children and $12 for adults and seniors. Purchase tickets online or call 216.521.2540, ext. 10. Free onsite parking is available.
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.