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PITTSBURG —
The Midwest Regional Ballet will present the classic “Swan Lake” for the first time in the Joplin-based dance company’s history.
Performances are slated for 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium, and again at 8 p.m. June 9 and 2:30 p.m. June 10 in the Coleman Theatre, Miami, Okla.
“I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but it’s such a big corps show and has a lot of guys involved,” said Kaye Lewis, MRB director. “I’ve always had one or two who could do it, and as a whole I’m comfortable with the cast I have now.”
Music for the ballet was composed in 1875 by Tchaikovsky, but the work was not successful until later, when it was re-choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.
“We are doing about 75 percent of the choreography by Petipa and Ivanov,” Lewis said. “I did tweak some of the repetition. I don’t like repeating the same step combo in a whole dance.”
The story tells of lovely maidens who have been turned into swans by an evil sorcerer, Von Rothbart. They swim in an enchanted lake formed from the tears shed by their parents. A handsome prince comes upon the lake and sees a swan wearing a crown who later turns into her human form, a beautiful woman named Odette.
The prince falls in love with her, which would break the spell, but the sorcerer tries to trick the prince into marrying his own daughter, Odile, by transforming her into Odette’s likeness.
The dancers portraying Odette, the white or good swan, and Odile, the bad or black swan, are seniors who will be going off to college.
“Their favorite ballet is ‘Swan Lake,’” Lewis said. “But Allison Black always played bad girls in our productions and I have her dancing the role of Odette. Taylor Mann, who was always the good girl, is Odile.”
The switch has been a bit of a challenge for them.
“It’s really hard being soft,” Black said.
Then there’s the movie “Black Swan,” which brought Natalie Portman an Oscar for her portrayal of a gifted but psychotic dancer who dances the roles of both Odette and Odile.
“I’ve got a lot of looks when I said I was doing the black swan,” Mann said. “But I think more people are excited to see the ballet now because of the movie.”
The Midwest Regional Ballet will present the classic “Swan Lake” for the first time in the Joplin-based dance company’s history.
Performances are slated for 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium, and again at 8 p.m. June 9 and 2:30 p.m. June 10 in the Coleman Theatre, Miami, Okla.
“I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but it’s such a big corps show and has a lot of guys involved,” said Kaye Lewis, MRB director. “I’ve always had one or two who could do it, and as a whole I’m comfortable with the cast I have now.”
Music for the ballet was composed in 1875 by Tchaikovsky, but the work was not successful until later, when it was re-choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.
“We are doing about 75 percent of the choreography by Petipa and Ivanov,” Lewis said. “I did tweak some of the repetition. I don’t like repeating the same step combo in a whole dance.”
The story tells of lovely maidens who have been turned into swans by an evil sorcerer, Von Rothbart. They swim in an enchanted lake formed from the tears shed by their parents. A handsome prince comes upon the lake and sees a swan wearing a crown who later turns into her human form, a beautiful woman named Odette.
The prince falls in love with her, which would break the spell, but the sorcerer tries to trick the prince into marrying his own daughter, Odile, by transforming her into Odette’s likeness.
The dancers portraying Odette, the white or good swan, and Odile, the bad or black swan, are seniors who will be going off to college.
“Their favorite ballet is ‘Swan Lake,’” Lewis said. “But Allison Black always played bad girls in our productions and I have her dancing the role of Odette. Taylor Mann, who was always the good girl, is Odile.”
The switch has been a bit of a challenge for them.
“It’s really hard being soft,” Black said.
Then there’s the movie “Black Swan,” which brought Natalie Portman an Oscar for her portrayal of a gifted but psychotic dancer who dances the roles of both Odette and Odile.
“I’ve got a lot of looks when I said I was doing the black swan,” Mann said. “But I think more people are excited to see the ballet now because of the movie.”
She plans to attend Kansas State University.
“I will definitely dance in college, though I don’t know how far it will take me,” Mann said. “I’ve been dancing since I was 3. I can’t not dance.”
Jared Mazurek, recent St. Mary’s Colgan High School graduate who dances the role of the prince, said that he was going to Friends University to study dance and physical therapy.
"I do have to earn a living,” he said.
Black will attend the University of Missouri - Kansas City, but is not sure if her career path will include dance. However, she’d like to still be involved with Midwest Regional Ballet when she has the time, and so would Mann.
The cast also includes Austin VanBecelaere, another recent SMC graduate, as the wicked Von Rothbart, and Michael Bowen, Pittsburg, as Von Rothbart II, John Mazurek as the prince’s tutor, Danny Phillips as Benno and Lisa Gerstenkorn as the queen.
The swans, who wear white leotards instead of classic tutus, are Jenna Garretson, Hanna Wade, Margaret Kellenberger, Meredith MacQueeney, Marriah Darnell, Charlotte Stout, Hannah Osborn, Madeline Osborn, Lyndsey Bowen, Molly Kellenberger, Makayla Draeger and Tory Hollingsworth.
The prince’s friends are Josh Velazquez, Thomas Scheurman, Sage Brown, Jake Forsythe, Seth Harley, Brock Goben, Devin Corbin and Michael Bowen.
Tickets will be $10 for adults, $8 for senior citizens and those under 13 and $5 for balcony seats.
