Last week the company jumped into rehearsals for Sir Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella.  Ashton’s version of Cinderella was first performed in London, 1948 (Sir Frederick played the little sister).  After we perform, The Joffrey in Chicago and Ballet West will be the only companies in the US to have danced Ashton’s Cinderella.  Ashton’s work has a very specific style that challenges us a lot and broadens our repertoire of movement.  The last Ashton ballet the company danced was The Dream in the fall of 2009.

Haley Henderson Smith rehearsing the Fairy Godmother

Wendy Ellis Somes and Malin Thoors flew into Salt Lake from England and Paris, respectively, to stage Ashton’s work.  Both ladies are great to work with.  They are really nice people and they know the ballet and style extremely well.

Wendy Ellis Somes

Wendy Ellis Somes was born in Blackburn, England.  After training at the Royal Ballet School, Wendy joined The Royal Ballet in 1970.  There she became a soloist in 1975, then a principal in 1979.  After retiring in 1990, she worked closely with late husband Michael Somes (former danseur noble and Assistant Director of The Royal Ballet) through 1994, staging and producing Ashton’s Symphonic Variations and Cinderella, and is now their owner and custodian.  Wendy is in high demand around the world because she is regarded as an important link in passing down the Ashton tradition.  Wendy has staged Ashton’s work in Tokyo, Stockholm, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Amsterdam, London and now Salt Lake City.

Malin Thoors

Malin Thoors was born in Vantör (Stockholm) Sweden.  From 1976-1984, Malin danced in the corps de ballet and as a demi-soloist with The Royal Swedish Ballet.  Malin has freelanced, staging ballets for many companies overseas.  Since 2003, Malin has been an assistant ballet master at the Paris Opera Ballet.  Wendy Ellis Somes and Malin Thoors first worked on Sir Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella together at The Dutch National.  Now they work together, staging Cinderella around the world.  They make an awesome team, I might add (I just did add it, so there).

Easton Smith at a costume fitting for the “big” step sister

-Beau

This last week we brought The Nutcracker to The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.  Despite a few bumps in the road, the trip was extremely successful.  We performed seven shows for sold out crowds, usually on their feet for the curtain call.  We received a great review from Sarah Kaufman of the Washington Post, who came to the opening night performance.  Click here to read the review.

The Lincoln Memorial

The Washington Monument

Alex MacFarlan showing some love to Utah at the National World War II Memorial

The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial with the Washington Monument

The Korean War Veteran’s Memorial

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial

Alex MacFarlan, Emily Adams, Adrian Fry & Ron Tilton having fun in DC

Emily Adams at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Nine of the dancers, including myself, arrived in Washington on Monday evening.  On Tuesday we were blessed with beautiful weather as we visited the famous monuments and memorials in D.C.  That evening, the nine of us took class and worked through the ballet at the theater, mainly to familiarize the local kids with the party parents, mice, prince, etc.  The children had been working on the ballet in D.C. for a while, though not with any of the company members, of course.  The rest of the company and BWII arrived that night around 11pm with a tough day ahead of them.  Wednesday consisted of ballet class, a dress rehearsal in the afternoon, then our opening night show that couldn’t have gone better (well, I suppose the show could always be better, but it was pretty darn good).  We only had one show each on Thursday and Friday but our afternoons were consumed with class and rehearsals in one of the Kennedy Center studios.  We closed out the long weekend strong with two shows each on Saturday and Sunday.

Principal conductor Terence Kern with associate conductor Jared Oaks

The lobby of the Opera House inside The Kennedy Center

The view of the Opera House from the stage

Adam Sklute talking with Terence Kern

The John F. Kennedy sculpture in The Kennedy Center

One of the nicest things about touring is performing for a crowd that love what you do, even though they don’t know you and haven’t ever seen you dance.  After the shows, local audience members told me that they have seen many companies come through the Kennedy Center performing The Nutcracker year after year, but Ballet West’s Nutcracker is their favorite.  Being able to bring our company to such a prestigious venue and receive such amazing compliments after every show is truly a testament to the caliber of the company.

Dancers of the company and BWII taking a nap

Katlyn Addison in Mirlitons

Paige Adams in Waltz of the Flowers

The company and BWII (Rex Tilton and Emily Adams not shown)

SOLD OUT!

-Beau

Despite performing four school shows, a corporate viewing show and three regular shows in Ogden, tonight is opening night!  The company spent last week, minus Thanksgiving day, in Ogden.  There, we performed our annual Ogden Nutcracker shows for packed crowds.  From my view on stage I didn’t see many empty seats, which is great!  This week in Salt Lake has been dedicated to performing school shows and readying less experienced casts.  I will update more next week from DC!  Oh, by the way, we’re performing The Nutcracker at The Kennedy Center next week, woo hoo!

Beckanne Sisk, Katie Critchlow & Adrian Fry in Spanish

Thomas Mattingly in the Grande Pas De Deux

Chase O’Connell as a mouse in the battle scene

Tyler Gum with the men of Russian

-Beau

The Lottery program closed Saturday night and the Nutcracker will be on stage before you can say, “IT’S NOT FAIR!”  I wanted to give But Never Doubt I Love (Hellen Pickett), The Lottery (Val Caniparoli), and Bolero (Nicolo Fonte) a proper farewell (for now) with a post of pictures.  So, here are pictures I took from the wings to capture the dancers up close and personal.

Arolyn Williams & Christopher Sellars in BUT NEVER DOUBT I LOVE

Katherine Lawrence & Ronnie Underwood in BUT NEVER DOUBT I LOVE

Arolyn Williams & Christopher Sellars in BUT NEVER DOUBT I LOVE

Emily Adams in THE LOTTERY

Owen Gaj & Company in THE LOTTERY

Emily Adams & Company in THE LOTTERY

Jenna Rae Herrera & Rex Tilton in THE LOTTERY

Emily Adams & Christopher Ruud in THE LOTTERY

Jacqueline Straughan in THE LOTTERY

Emily Adams in THE LOTTERY

Christiana Bennett & Adrian Fry in THE LOTTERY

Emily Adams & Christopher Ruud in THE LOTTERY

Katie Critchlow & Thomas Mattingly in THE LOTTERY

Allison DeBona & Trevor Naumann in THE LOTTERY

Katherine Lawrence in BOLERO

Alex MacFarlan & Company in BOLERO

Christiana Bennett in BOLERO

-Beau

Hello everyone,

This is Peter Christie giving you a short update on our Education activities going on this past week.
Ballet West II and Ballet West Academy Trainees have hit the road this past week bringing a newly costumed Ballet West for Children.  A huge thank you goes out to David Heuvel, Cindy Farrimond and the Ballet West costume shop for the beautiful costumes.  This year’s production of Ballet and The Nutcracker has begun its first week visiting elementary schools throughout the state of Utah.

Jeff Rogers, Cati Snarr and I are leading groups that are spanning from Vernal to Grouse Creek!  My group on Wednesday drove nearly 400 miles in one day, leaving from Salt Lake City at 5:45 in the morning.  We visited three schools in north-eastern Utah, with Grouse Creek Elementary only having 6 students and 2 teachers! You can see the group performing in the picture below.  What a great school! … and so appreciative of us driving all the way to visit them in their school.  We were treated to one of the students (Heston) performing on the piano for us afterwards, sharing his talent with us as well.  Our group has also hit Morgan, North Summit, Nebo and Tooele Districts.

Artists of Ballet West II and the Ballet West Academy

Cati Snarr has been visiting schools up and down the Wasatch front with great reactions from the schools.  Jeff traveled with his group to Uintah, Duchesne and Daggett Districts as well and has been reporting in with great responses from the students and teachers as well.

In this one week alone, we’ve visited 15 different districts, 40 elementary schools and nearly 18,000 students and teachers … and had a great time along the way.  We’ll be going out again in the second week of January, and the last week of February.  Our goal is to bring our program to 120-125 schools this year!

Paige Adams & Chase O’Connell

I’m blogging from my dressing room before getting ready to go on stage.  After all the preparation, The Lottery is finally here!  I thought the ballet came together really well as I watched the dress rehearsal last night.  One thing that is cool about the ballet is that as the audience watches in anticipation for who will draw the mark, so do all the dancers back stage who aren’t in The Lottery that show.  We all cheer on the dancer who is about to be stoned to death because the stamina heavy solo you have to dance makes you feel like you’re actually going to die by the end of it.  The ballet is beautiful and creepy and intense and emotional … Val Caniparoli hit this one right on the mark (get it? “the mark”).  The Lottery is getting a lot of attention because it is a world premiere but the ballet is paired with Helen Pickett’s, But Never Doubt I Love; and Nicolo Fonte’s, Bolero – both really nice ballets.  This is a great way to start off the season with an entertaining triple bill.  I took some pictures from the last couple tech and dress rehearsals on stage.

Arolyn Williams & Christopher Sellars in BUT NEVER DOUBT I LOVE

Christiana Bennett in BUT NEVER DOUBT I LOVE

Christiana Bennett & Christopher Anderson in BUT NEVER DOUBT I LOVE

Beckanne Sisk & Christopher Sellars in BOLERO

Thomas Mattingly & company in BOLERO

Christopher Ruud in THE LOTTERY

Katie Critchlow & Thomas Mattingly in THE LOTTERY

Sayaka Ohtaki & Owen Gaj in THE LOTTERY

The company in THE LOTTERY

Katie Critchlow & Thomas Mattingly in THE LOTTERY

Emily Adams & Christopher Ruud in THE LOTTERY

Owen Gaj & company in THE LOTTERY

I should have captioned that picture, “Owen Gaj is about to die” because it rhymes … and it’s true, look at their faces!

-Beau

I’m stepping back and reflecting on our two latest tours: both different and each filled with good memories… 

New York, WOW, I didn’t realized I missed dancing in a big city! It’s funny because we were only away for four days and let me tell you, it felt like weeks apart. Thinking back, it all started out dancing with “Dance Theater of Harlem,” having a teacher yelling, “What are ya’ll waiting on? Go for it!” Then, “Take that risk, you know you need to take!” Personally, dancing in New York was invigorating. Then, travelling to “Steps”  another morning to take a wonderful class from Elena Kunikova, who set Paquita on us, followed by the perfect warm-up class from Jane Wood (our ballet mistress) before our first performance, it just set the tone for the NYC tour. Not only were some of us allowing ourselves to get an outlook on how versatile individual styles are in New York, we were able to get a feel of different movement by surrounding ourselves with dancers from all over as well. The program in NYC had us dancing first, then, a very organic artistic piece by two former Alvin Alley dancers full of creative and free movement. The performances concluded with one final company dancing a very stylistic Russian character dance, with plenty of stomping and clapping; it was really interesting and rather delightful to watch!  Sometimes we don’t realize how much we can learn from watching other individuals move and dance.

 Touring to NYC felt like a breath of fresh air…even though the air as we all know isn’t that fresh in NYC. There’s so much we can each gain from being on tour and the challenge lies with what we do with it. Personally, NYC gave me that jolt, or a gentle reminder of how being different, an individual, breathes freedom for your desires. The four days were shear inspiration, motivation, and a reminder of how beautiful we all are as individuals.  As cheesy as that sounds, it’s true. Sometime we get so used to a certain lifestyle, the way things are day to day and we forget about our similarities and also how different we are from the person standing beside us. It’s crazy how receptive New Yorkers are to everything: our mannerisms, our personal styles, life choices; anything you can imagine, New Yorkers accept!  There are so many individual styles and personalities in New York, and this wonderfully craziness brought a lot of excitement the entire time.  As excited as we were, our shows were a little nerve racking too.  We knew former dancers, directors, editors, critics, you name it, were out there watching for both of our Sold Out performances.  Every one of us just wanted to go out there with all the qualities of beauty and grace we possess, and to just take the risk and DANCE!

 Vegas may not have given us as much freedom to perhaps explore the sights, but it definitely provided another opportunity to learn from one another. A combined, three ballet company effort to each perform one section of George Balanchine’s masterful three-part Jewels (Balanchine) was a great experience for all three companies.  One of the dancers from Nevada Ballet was speaking with me and said, “It’s wonderful dancing and working with other dancers from different companies its somewhat like ‘show and tell’.” At first I hesitated because I wasn’t sure what was meant. I hated show and tell in school, someone would spend 10-15 minutes just boring us to death bragging! But, after I thought about it, I realized what she said was true: each of us was there to do just that, show our stuff!

 We wanted to show our stuff, learn and grow as artists. It’s funny, because the first couple of days each company remained separate from one another. It reminded me of school in the sense that we’ll have our clique and no one wanted to open up at first and let anyone else in. As the weekend went on and we all started taking classes together and talking with one another we realized this isn’t a competition we’re here to dance together to support each other and put the pieces of Jewels together.  By the time the last performance came around all three companies we’re cheering one another on and supporting each other as much as we could! George Balanchine Jewels (Balanchine) is such a beautiful Balanchine ballet and I’m so honored that Ballet West is going to be able to perform it in its entirety for our home audience next April!

 Many of us come away with different experiences while on tour.  And I think each of us have learned from the NYC and Vegas tours about finding that creative individual within us, one which will make us become even more of that stronger and unique dancer we each hope to be. This new fresh infusion and outlook is great for energy that we’re all looking forward to putting into our performances during The Lottery!

 Here are a few photos of Ballet West Artists, photos by BW Soloist Beau Pearson.

 ~ Kat ~

Katherine Lawrence in Helen Pickett BUT NEVER DOUBT I LOVE

Haley Henderson Smith and Easton Smith in Jiri Kylian’s PETITE MORT

Owen Gaj in Nicolo Fonte’s BOLERO

Christopher Ruud and Arolyn Williams in Jiri Kylian’s PETITE MORT

Christiana Bennett and Beau Pearson in DIAMONDS  George Balanchine (c) The George Balanchine Trust
(Photo taken by Amy Potter)

Tonight we open our 2012-2013 season in Salt Lake City with our annual Gala.  I think this is one of the best Gala programs compared to any other year that I’ve been with the company.  The show opens with the Ballet West Academy performing Defile, then Ballet West II performs Christopher Ruud’s new work, Without Fall.  The main company closes the evening with the second half of Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort, La Esmeralda pas de deux, the pas de deux from George Balanchine’s Diamonds, and Nicolo Fonte’s Bolero.  Thanks to Amy Potter for taking a picture of me and Christiana during last night’s dress rehearsal.

Ballet West II in Christopher Ruud’s WITHOUT FALL

Elizabeth McGrath, Haley Henderson Smith & Sayaka Ohtaki in Jiri Kylian’s PETITE MORT

Beckanne Sisk in ESMERELDA PAS DE DEUX

Christiana Bennett & Beau Pearson in DIAMONDS by George Balanchine (c) The George Balanchine Trust

Katherine Lawrence & Michael Bearden in Nicolo Fonte’s BOLERO

Emily Adams, Jacqueline Straughan & Allison Debona in Nicolo Fonte’s BOLERO

-Beau

The tour to Sin City was extremely successful.  We continued to put the Ballet West name on the map through our dancing.  I think people continue to be surprised by the quality of dancers Ballet West has, coming from a city that isn’t a New York or a San Francisco.  The audience responded extremely well to us.  It’s always a nice feeling to share your art, and for your work to be appreciated in places other than your home.  Not only did I enjoy dancing, I really liked meeting and supporting the other companies.  It was really a privilege to share the stage with such amazing artists.

Adam Sklute rehearsing Emily Adams and Adrian Fry in EMERALDS by George Balanchine (c) The George Balanchine Trust

Our days typically consisted of ballet class and a rehearsal.  In the evening we either had a dress rehearsal or a show with the exception to Sunday since we had a matinee.  Our down time was mostly spent eating and relaxing.  Some found their way to the strip or around the neighborhood for some entertainment.

Ballet West dancers in a tech rehearsal for EMERALDS by George Balanchine (c) The George Balanchine Trust

Reynolds Hall is a beautiful theater, seating 2,050 patrons a night.  The design of the theater provides an intimate feel because of the five tiers that wrap around the room.  An unfamiliar theater can present many challenges for dancers on tour.  The floor can be slippery, or the house can be too dark, or the lights can make us feel like left is right and up is down.  Luckily, we didn’t have to deal with any of that, which is a real luxury.  For more info on The Smith Center, click here.

The dancer’s view in the Reynolds Hall

-Beau

Last week, the cast of Paquita traveled to New York City to perform at City Center.  Elena Kunikova was with the dancers to run rehearsals and watch the shows.  Alastair Macaulay of The New York Times writes: “The staging of Marius Petipa’s choreography is by Elena Kunikova, who has animated the all-female corps de ballet with verve and charm; I have seen more illustrious troupes dance this with less color.”  Go Ballet West!

Yesterday, the Emeralds cast arrived in the city of lights (and loud slot machine noises), Las Vegas.  Along with Pacific Northwest Ballet and Nevada Ballet Theater, we will be performing Balanchine’s Jewels.  Ballet West will open the evening with Emeralds, NBT will then perform Rubies and PNB will close the night with Diamonds.  I’m really excited to be a part of this opportunity; three companies, collaborating together to perform Jewels as a whole has never been done before.  This big event was put together to celebrate NBT’s opening season at their brand new theater, the Smith Center.

Last night, the three companies gathered for a meet and greet at the Vintner Grill.  It was really nice to meet the dancers from the other companies and to connect with friendly faces I don’t see very often.  NBT actually has five previous Ballet West trainees in their company, not to mention former Ballet West II artist Kaleigh Schock.  After the meet and greet, a few of us made our way to the strip for a bit of entertainment and dinner.  The rest of the week will be spent doing what we do … dancing!  Cirque De Soliel, you’ve met your match (sarcastic evil eyes).

Ballet West Gals with Adrian Fry & Liz Murphy outside our hotel

-Beau