Ballet Academy East ~ Spring Performance 2016

Friday May 20th, 2016 – Students from Ballet Academy East’s Pre-Professional Division took the stage at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater tonight to dance a mixed program marking the end of term.

Alan Hineline’s ravvishing ballet Sans Nuages opened the evening, and as soon as it ended my companion Claudia Schreier and I agreed that we wanted to see it again…right away. It’s that wonderful. The ballet is set to the Serenade for Strings in E, Opus 22 by Antonín Dvořák and is danced by an ensemble of fifteen, including a principal couple and female soloist; we had seen a preview of it in March.

With the girls in sumptuous creamy tutus, the ballet has a romantic swirl to it. The structure and musicality of Mr. Hineline’s choreography – and the way it showed the dancers always to best advantage – make it a ballet that companies everywhere should want to acquire. Excellent dancing from Petra Love in the soloist role and Yuki Takahashi and Alejandro Andrade in the central pas de deux; the entire cast in fact danced beautifully, clearly inspired by the lovely Dvořák score.

Darla Hoover created two brief ballets for the youngest dancers from BAE; in setting the works to Salieri (Une Petite Introduction) and Bach (Un Petit Menuet), Darla wisely sets a standard of musical choices that will hopefully inspire these youngsters both in their dancing and in their lives. (The Bach melody, incidentally, was borrowed for a 1960s pop hit, Lover’s Concerto, by The Toys; it was later taken up by The Supremes.)

Slightly older dancers took the stage for Jenna Lavin’s Gossec’s Gavotte, to music composed by François-Joseph Gossec. Central to this piece was a a solo turn for the petit danseur Tristan Massa; his charming performance won the hearts of the audience. 

Following an intermission, TO BE CONTINUED…, Jenna Lavin’s second work on the program, found five of the advanced dancers backed by a younger corps de ballet. Ms. Lavin gets an extra  bouquet of roses for choosing music of Henry Purcell, a composer whose work simply cries: “Dance!”

In this “blue” ballet, Alejandro Andrade gave a truly impressive display of male bravura dancing; he also partnered each of the four main girls in well-constructed duet passages. Mr. Andrade’s performance brought down the house.

Alan Hineline’s de l’innocence brought forth pianist Steven Mitchell to perform Franz Schubert’s 16 German Dances. This very pretty ballet featured spacious dancing from Tallison Costa, four soloists, and a corps de ballet of ten. Mr. Hineline’s choreography flows nicely on the music here, as dancers in varying combinations sweep on and rush away in a succession of finely-shaped vignettes. Once again, the choice of music contributed greatly to the overall enjoyment of the program.

To close this evening, the third act of Coppélia, choreographed ‘after Petipa’ by Roger Van Fleteren (Alabama Ballet’s Associate Artistic Director) was performed by the BAE dancers with handsome sets and costumes on loan from Alabama Ballet.

Every time I hear music from Coppélia, I recall my own very brief ballet career. Watching this evening’s re-creation was actually quite a nostalgic experience for me: I found myself wondering where my dancing mates from so long ago are now, especially TJ.

The large cast, skillfully deployed by Mr. Van Feteren in the limited stage space, all entered into the spirit of this naive, musically brilliant ballet. Mary Watters built a real character as Swanhilda, her bridal bouquet trembling in her hands until Franz said “I do.” The ballerina showed lovely musicality in her solo, with its musical hesitations mirrored by subtle pauses in her dancing. Mr. Andrade, in addition to his commanding virtuosity, showed himself to be a real stage creature with his easy, affable stage demeanor. Petra Love’s lyrical dancing as Dawn and the poetic reverie of Yuki Takahashi’s Prayer both reflected lovingly on the music, and Joseph Marlborough was the authoritative Burgermeister.

As the unstoppable joy of the Delibes finale propelled the dancers on to the finish line, Ms. Watters reeled off an attractive set of fouettés whilst Mr. Andrade leapt and swirled about the stage with unabashed vitality.