MCB Insider | Miami City Ballet

The Road to City Center

MCB has been invited to New York City Center to make our debut in the 2010 Fall for Dance festival. The Company returns to City Center after a critically acclaimed, triumphant debut in 2009. The dancers will perform Twyla Tharp’s energetic “The Golden Section” on September 28th and 29th. Fall for Dance, running September 28th – October 9th, 2010, will showcase 20 dance companies and choreographers from across the United States and around the world.

Corps de ballet member Sara Esty will be one of the dancers traveling to New York for the debut. She will be keeping a digital diary on MCB Blog as we follow her on the road to City Center! Her first few entries touch on the early stages of rehearsals.

MCB’s Road to City Center – by Sara Esty

I have always loved dancing and performing Twyla Tharp’s pieces. From In the Upper Room, to Push Comes to Shove, she is constantly challenging her dancers’ brains and pushing their boundaries. That is what I find so fascinating about it: it feels impossible when you first learn it, but by the time you get around to performing it, it feels almost natural to you. When I first learned “The Golden Section”, I thought to myself “Seriously? I’ll never be able to do this.” Not only did I surprise myself, but it is now one of my favorite things to perform. Dancing her works is such a gratifying and self fulfilling experience, one that I wish every dancer could experience and feel. Because honestly, you have got to feel it to believe the power of it.

June 7, 2010
The first day back to work is always a bittersweet one. This particular layoff was exactly what everyone needed: short but sweet, 4 nice weeks of rest and relaxation. I walked into the studios feeling refreshed and ready for whatever might be up on that bulletin board. There was a memo from company manager Abram Best that caught my attention…It explained to us that we would be taking Twyla Tharp’s “The Golden Section” to NYC this September and would be performing it in New York City Center’s Fall for Dance festival. How exciting!! To be included in such a large festival is definitely an accomplishment for our company. Crista Villella (our ballet mistress who primarily handles all of Twyla’s works here) had been in touch with Twyla, who showed much interest in being included to make the piece its best. Crista sent DVDs to Twyla of our performances of the piece, and she in turn offered her corrections and advice. So the cast got to work, taking her criticisms and applying her knowledge. I could feel the energy growing from everyone; just knowing Twyla wanted to help and be a part of it was enough motivation for everybody!

June 17, 2010
Today is our first progression filming of Golden Section to send to Twyla. I know everyone is a little nervous, and I can feel the tension in the room. I am freaking out just a little bit! Even though most of us got to work with Twyla a few years ago on her world premiere of “Nightspot” (choreographed on MCB), she is still such a big deal to all of us. We want to do her piece justice, and to make her proud of her work. Here goes nothing!

June 24, 2010
Phew!! Twyla was pleased with our progress. She sent an email to Crista, who read it aloud to us. “Good job, Crista. Already so much better.” Thank goodness…she went on and broke down the piece for specifics. It was so interesting to hear her take on things, and exactly what she wants from certain parts. This is already such an incredible experience; I have always admired her and her philosophies of dance. Elaine Kudo (who used to be one of Twyla’s dancers) is here setting another one of her pieces on us for the upcoming 2010-2011 season (Baker’s Dozen), and has offered to help with the corrections.

Stay tuned!

(Photo by Leigh-Ann Esty)

MCB School’s little bright stars

Miami City Ballet School runs year round – we never stop! Friday will mark the end of the two-week summer program (a program for dancers who are still too young for our five-week intensive program). A presentation will take place on that day to showcase what these little bright stars have learned over the past couple weeks. Rafi Maldonado, the head of our jazz department, recently chatted with us about the program and the kids.

Our summer in one sentence

The dancers have officially been back for one week! Now that the summer layoff is over, some of them share a one-liner about their time off.

“I cleared my mind.” –Bradley Dunlap

“I helped set Swan Lake on the Summer Program’s Advanced Two dancers.” –Rebecca King

“I traveled to NYC, Canada, and lastly Los Angeles where I went to go see/support former MCB dancer, Alex Wong, on So You Think You Can Dance!” –Cindy Huang

“I married my best friend.” –Callie Manning

“I taught for the MCB Summer Intensive.” –Jennifer Kronenberg

“I taught at the Miami City Ballet School Summer Intensive and rested in Miami with family and friends!” –Patricia Delgado

“I spent time with my family up north and celebrated my grandma’s 90th birthday!” –Ashley Knox

“This summer I ate tons of lobster and enjoyed being home in Maine with my family!” –Sara Esty

“I began studying to get a Florida real estate license.” –Carlos Guerra

“This summer I ‘staycationed’ here in Miami and taught inspiring little ballerinas at the MCB summer course!” –Jeanette Delgado

“I celebrated my one year anniversary with my husband this summer!” – Jennifer Lauren

“I spent my summer becoming familiarized with the subway lines running in and out of Brooklyn.” –Zoe Zien

“This summer I danced in Miami and Seattle, and went home to Southern California to visit my family.” – Chase Swatosh

“I went to Italy and Switzerland and had the best food and wine!!” –Tricia Albertson

“This summer I became the ambassador for the non-profit organization called Stop Child Trafficking Now, and organized a walkathon for October 2, 2010 on South Pointe Park! Come out and walk to raise awareness and put an end to child sex trafficking!” –Amanda Weingarten

“I went to Europe… and Dollywood!” –Michael Breeden

“This summer I spent my layoff with my wonderful family and friends at home in St. Petersburg, FL.” -Nicole Stalker

“Over the summer, I followed a deer into the woods and found a rare white deer to photograph as well!!! It was AWESOME!” –Leigh-Ann Esty

Sisters, and principal dancers, Patricia and Jeanette Delgado vacation together in Acapulco!

Hear all about it

You’ve seen the August/September issue of Pointe Magazine…now hear straight from cover girl (and principal dancer) Patricia Delgado what it was like to shoot it! Find out who chose the costumes, how she prepared for the shoot and what part of her feature story made her emotional.

Strike a pose

Our very own Patricia Delgado graces the cover of Pointe Magazine’s August/September issue! The feature includes gorgeous photos (the cover costume is from red-hot In The Upper Room) and some interesting background on her personal and professional life. Patricia, the principal dancer who practically grew up at Miami City Ballet, says this in the feature: “I’ve never thought of what I do as ‘a career.’ I’ve always wanted to dance wonderful roles. And one of the great things about Miami is that we don’t perform anything but the best choreography.”

Go out and get your copy to find out how she and her sister Jeanette ended up working together at MCB, why Patty had a bone removed from her foot, and why Edward Villella thinks she’s perfect!

Added bonus: catch a glimpse of corps member Sara Esty in the “Step Up Your Training” piece to read about her experiences at Miami City Ballet School intensive programs!

MCB love birds tie the knot

Congratulations to principal soloist Didier Bramaz and soloist Callie Manning on their new life as husband and wife! The newlyweds tied the knot on July 10 during a beautiful outdoor ceremony in the village of Gruyeres, Switzerland (Didier’s home country). For Valentine’s Day, we interviewed Callie and Didier on the love series on MCB Blog. Click here to watch.

Photo by Nina W. Melton