ROMEO, JULIET AND GEORGE AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE BRINGS CLASSIC LOVERS' TALE AND A DANCE TRIBUTE TO LATE BEATLE TO L.A. STAGE.Byline: Vicki Smith Paluch Correspondent As a child, Xiomara Reyes Xiomara Reyes is a Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre. Born in Cuba, Reyes trained at the Cuban National Ballet School. After graduation, she danced as a soloist with "La Joven Guardia," an offshoot of Cuba’s National Ballet. loved acting as much as she loved music. When she discovered she could use her body to express herself in both, the little girl knew she wanted to be a ballerina. Talented and determined, she studied at Cuba's National Ballet School The National Ballet School of Canada is located in Toronto, Ontario. The National provides a full-time program which combines classical ballet training with academic education from Grades 6 through 12 at its boarding school. , where she learned how to put passion into classical ballet Noun 1. classical ballet - a style of ballet based on precise conventional steps performed with graceful and flowing movements ballet, concert dance - a theatrical representation of a story that is performed to music by trained dancers . Now a principal ballerina with American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre, one of the foremost international dance companies of the 20th cent. It was founded in 1937 as the Mordkin Ballet and reorganized as the Ballet Theatre in 1940 under the direction of Lucia Chase and Rich Pleasant. , the petite Reyes will be portraying Juliet in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's masterpiece, ``Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers die as teenagers. [Br. Lit.: Romeo and Juliet] See : Death, Premature Romeo and Juliet archetypal star-crossed lovers. [Br. Lit. ,'' when the company returns to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center (which is one of the three largest performing arts centers in the United States). The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. on Thursday. ``MacMillan has an amazing way of telling dramatic stories,'' said Reyes, 31, who joined ABT ABT About ABT Abteilung (German: Department) ABT Abbott Laboratories (stock symbol) ABT American Ballet Theatre ABT Associação Brasileira de Telemarketing ABT Abort ABT Availability Based Tariff as a soloist in 2001 and was appointed a principal last year. Prior to joining ABT, she danced with the Royal Ballet of Flanders in Belgium for seven years. The ballet's score by Sergei Prokofiev and MacMillan's choreography not only sweep the audience away, they also deeply affect this dancer. ``You can very easily see how Juliet is feeling, how this very little girl is becoming a woman,'' she said during a recent telephone interview from her home in New Jersey. MacMillan's ballet based on Shakespeare's tale of star-crossed lovers was created in 1965 for Royal Ballet stars Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable, but it was danced at its world premiere by the legendary Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, who also starred in the 1966 film of the ballet. Nine of American Ballet Theatre's principal dancers will lead casts of ``Romeo and Juliet.'' Paloma Herrera and Marcelo Gomes will portray the star-crossed lovers on Sunday and April 9, Ashley Tuttle and Angel Corella on April 8, Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky on April 10, and Alessandra Ferri and Corella corella Noun a white Australian cockatoo on April 10. While ABT is world famous for its productions of full-length, narrative ballets, it also has a remarkable repertory of one-act narrative works and contemporary ballets. The breadth and depth of ABT will be on display when the company returns to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Thursday through April 10 with works that range from ``Romeo and Juliet'' to the Calvin Klein-clad tribute to the late George Harrison, ``Within You, Without You.'' American Ballet Theatre will open its engagement with a mixed bill featuring Jiri Kylian's ``Petite Mort'' and ``Sechs Tanze,'' Antony Tudor's ``Pillar of Fire'' and ``Within You, Without You,'' featuring pieces by four choreographers set to the recordings of George Harrison. ``I think it is a very good repertory we are bringing to Los Angeles,'' said Reyes, who will be dancing Juliet opposite Ethan Stiefel's Romeo for the gala performance Saturday night. During the company's engagement, she will also perform in the mixed repertory, including dancing the role of the flirtatious flir·ta·tious adj. 1. Given to flirting. 2. Full of playful allure: a flirtatious glance. flir·ta younger sister in Tudor's 1942 ``Pillar of Fire, a psychological drama about Hagar, a frustrated woman on the desperate fringe of spinsterhood Spinsterhood Forsyte, June jilted by her fiance, becomes an old maid. [Br. Lit.: The Forsyte Saga] Grundy, Miss prim and proper schoolteacher, continually vexed by her students’ antics. that hasn't been seen in Los Angeles for decades. `` 'Pillar of Fire' was very much ahead of its time,'' she said. ``It's a very hard work for me because the emotions are so restricted. It's all under the surface.'' With his firebrand fire·brand n. 1. A person who stirs up trouble or kindles a revolt. 2. A piece of burning wood. firebrand Noun style, 22-year-old Herman Cornejo will light up the stage as Romeo's jovial (Jules' Own Version of the International Algebraic Language) An ALGOL-like programming language developed by Systems Development Corp. in the early 1960s and widely used in the military. Its key architect was Jules Schwartz. friend, Mercutio, and will dance in ``Petite Mort'' and ``Within You, Without You.'' At the age of 16, Cornejo was a soloist with Julio Bocca's Ballet Argentino and became the youngest gold medal winner in the history of the International Dance Competition in Moscow. He and his sister, Erica Cornejo, joined ABT in 1998. Herman started with ice skating and switched to ballet at age 8 after watching his sister in ballet class. Now his dream is to dance ``every principal role'' and to become a star, although the slightly shy dancer stopped short of saying the word. Cornejo opted to say, ``I want people to know my name.'' Kylian's 1991 ``Petite Mort'' includes six men, six women and six foils, which serve as dance partners and, at times, seem more unruly than a partner of flesh and blood. Aggression, sexuality, energy, cultivated senselessness and vulnerability are explored. His 1986 ``Sechs Tanze'' uses six seemingly nonsensical acts that are dwarfed in the face of the ever-present troubled world, Kylian explained. The mixed bill will conclude with the feel-good ballet ``Within You, Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison.'' Artistic director Kevin McKenzie told each choreographer about the proposed tribute and allowed them to pick whichever Harrison songs they would like to choreograph. Amazingly, no one tripped over the other by seeking another's choice. Stanton Welch, now the artistic director of Houston Ballet, picked Harrison's ``Something'' - one of the most popular Beatles' ballads - and ``Isn't It a Pity,'' while Natalie Weir selected ``I Dig Love'' and what became the ballet's title piece, ``Within You, Without You.'' Tony award winner Ann Reinking wanted to create a passionate pas de deux pas de deux (French; “step for two”) Dance for two performers. A characteristic part of classical ballet, it includes an adagio, or slow dance, by the ballerina and her partner; solo variations by the male dancer and then the ballerina; and a coda, or for her favorite Harrison song, ``While My Guitar Gently Weeps,'' and the man who had New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of dancing in the streets for the millennium, David Parsons, picked ``My Sweet Lord.'' Herman Cornejo had not heard the music of Harrison until the company began working on the dances. ``The audiences love it. It is attracting younger people to the ballet,'' he said. The choreographers' selections strike a personal chord, yet they showcase the various facets of Harrison's brilliance. Known as ``the quiet Beatle,'' Harrison introduced the sound of the sitar sitar (sĭtär`), fretted string instrument with a gourdlike body and a long neck, similar to the lute. It has from 3 to 7 gut strings, tuned in fourths or fifths (or both), and a lower course of 12 wire strings that vibrate sympathetically with to the Beatles as well as a sense of spirituality. His music also expressed his keen sense of irony. ``Kevin came up with a great recipe (for the George Harrison tribute), and he selected the best, the freshest ingredients,'' said modern dance choreographer Parsons. ``People want to see dances set to the music of their time. It has been a hit that connects everything through the power of the vision of the four choreographers.'' AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE What: Program One: ``Petite Mort,'' ``Sechs Tanze,'' ``Pillar of Fire'' and ``Within You, Without You.'' (Thursday, Friday and April 6 and 7). Program Two: ``Romeo and Juliet'' (Saturday, Sunday and April 8, 9 and 10). Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or . When: Thursday through April 10. Tickets: $25 to $85. (213) 972-0711; www.musiccenter.org. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Xiomara Reyes and Carlos Molina are one of the pairs to perform the leads in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's ``Romeo and Juliet.'' Marty Sohl (2) Erica Fischbach, left, Reyes and Molina are among the American Ballet Theatre dancers slated to perform in Antony Tudor's ``Pillar of Fire.'' Rosalie O'Connor |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion