`AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY' MAYTE'S WAY.Byline: Laura Bleiberg Orange County Register Mayte Garcia Mayte Jannell Garcia (b. 12 November 1973), better known as simply Mayte is a dancer and singer, best known as the former wife of pop-star, Prince. Born on a military base in Alabama, Garcia's parents (who are of Puerto Rican ancestry) relocated throughout the United States had just joined rock star Prince's concert tours as a dancer when the Joffrey Ballet Joffrey Ballet, one of the major American dance companies. It was founded in New York City in 1954 by the dancer-choreographer Robert Joffrey. From 1956 to 1964 it made yearly tours of the United States. debuted its full-length ``Billboards'' to music by the pop musician. She liked it well enough, but couldn't help thinking: ``I would have done this differently.'' Now she has. ``Around the World in a Day'' is a three-act dance produced and directed by Mayte, who's married to the Artist Formerly Known as Prince and known by her first name only. ``Around the World in a Day'' had been in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of a scattershot scat·ter·shot adj. Covering a wide range in a random way; indiscriminate: "his habit of scattershot comment on whatever issue catches his eye" Howell Raines. , barely publicized tour since mid-October. The group was in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. during the weekend and was supposed to come to the Wiltern Theatre The Wiltern Theatre and adjacent 12-story Pellissier Building are an Art Deco landmark located on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The entire complex is commonly referred to as simply the Wiltern. in Los Angeles on Friday. Late Tuesday afternoon, however, Mayte postponed the concert because ``the business side has been less than fruitful.'' It was not known when it would be rescheduled. Like ``Billboards,'' all the music in this show is by the Artist, from different phases of his career, and the group of dancers is called NPG NPG Nature Publishing Group (Macmillan Publishers, Ltd) NPG National Portrait Gallery (UK) NPG NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards NPG New Power Generation (Prince) Dance Company, after his band, New Power Generation. In a phone interview on Monday, Mayte (pronounced MY-tay) said: ``To see a classical ballet company (the Joffrey) was great, but I wanted to do it differently. `Billboards' inspired me to do it differently. (The songs) are diverse musically, so it needs to be (danced) the same way.'' Mayte hired a slew of choreographers and encouraged them to use many styles. ``Around the World'' utilizes ballet, hip-hop, jazz, modern dance and Broadway- and MTV-style hoofing. It also features guest artist Desmond Richardson, star of American Ballet Theatre's ``Othello'' and formerly with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. One thing unites the work, though: Mayte's mandate that the dances respond directly to the songs. ``I think in each song there is a story. Working with my husband, I learned to be very literal with him. To see dancing with no meaning is useless to me. If he's singing about something, we should be dancing about that.'' |
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