Close to 30 Loyola Ballet dancers will bring the Roussel Hall stage to life Friday as the only dance company in the Greater New Orleans area to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Ballets Russes.
The Loyola Ballet, directed by Laura Zambrano, will feature Act II of “Swan Lake,” excerpts from “Gaîté Parisienne” and the Polovetsian Dances from “Prince Igor.”
According to Zambrano, director of the ballet program within the College of Music and Fine Arts, the three selections are vastly different.
“Swan Lake is work en pointe; it’s all classical. Gaîté Parisienne and the Polovetsian Dances are character dances, so this is a big difference in itself,” Zambrano said.
The Komenka Ethnic Dance Ensemble brings variety to the show as well. They are a local dance group that does character works from around the world.
The evening of dance will include accompaniments from the Loyola Symphony Orchestra, a tradition started last fall.
The symphony is directed by Professor Jean Montès of the College of Music and Fine Arts. The performance will also include a chorus directed by Kate Arthurs, something the Loyola Ballet has not included since Zambrano was a student dancer, 20 years ago.
The historic Ballets Russes was a dance company formed in Paris 100 years ago to accommodate the large number of Russian immigrants in Paris at the time.
The troupe toured the United States between 1930 and 1962, thus having a drastic impact on American dance. Swan Lake is one of the performances in the Ballets Russes repertoire.
“Swan Lake … is the epitome of ballet. It is probably the most demanding of the core. It’s an exhausting piece,” said dancer Kelly Amstutz, history senior.
According to Amstutz, all three dances require serious preparation. “It’s a lot of memorizing and it’s really physical, it’s truly mind, body and soul,” said dancer Clara Baldwin, psychology sophomore.
The dancers began rehearsal in early September, shortly after the semester began. For biology junior John Bushnell, though, the hard work is paying off.
“For me, it’s like I’m learning more stuff than just starting out when I was a freshman … I’m getting more important roles in ballets coming up, so it’s really exciting,” he said.
For Zambrano, the extensive rehearsal process is also difficult, but necessary.
“Its a progressive process, first we learn what the steps are involved, then we start to incorporate more than that. Who are they representing, how do they convey the story?” she said.
The Loyola Ballet runs Friday, Nov. 20 and Saturday, Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. in Roussel Hall. Tickets and information can be found online at http://cmfa.loyno.edu/montage
Melanie Ziems can be reached at [email protected]
