Dancers

Ratmansky Wrap-Up

“And in this century another choreographer,
Alexei Ratmansky, has arrived to revitalize ballet.”
—The New York Times

It was a rigorous but rewarding week at Miami City Ballet’s studios.  The renowned choreographer from Russia Alexei Ratmansky visited the company to prepare his work Symphonic Dances for its return to the stage in Program III: The Masters.   During his first visit to Miami last season, Ratmansky set out to create a new ballet — using the dancers as instruments that through various movements, formations, musical cues, and emotions would bring his artistic vision to life.  After a three whirlwind weeks of artistic creation, Ratmansky gave us Symphonic Dances, which enjoyed a one-night only gala premiere at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami.

When Ratmansky returned this past week, his mission was entirely different.   He was here to fine-tune and perfect his creation, shaping it into the masterpiece he envisioned.  “This time, he is paying attention to the all of the smallest details,” said corps dancer Nathalia Arja who landed a leading role in the ballet.  Principal Jeanette Delgado seconded Arja saying that our dancers are being “pushed out of their comfort-zones.”  Ratmansky changed dancers’ roles, experimented with different casts, and persistently demanded more out of each unique dancer.

Principal Ballet Mistress Roma Sosenko and Ballet Mistress Joan Latham observed rehearsals and shared the following comments on their experience, “We love having Alexei back in Miami working on Symphonic Dances.  He is so committed to the work and we love watching his quality of movement.  He is so generous and giving and his coaching is as expansive as his heart.”

We are sure that our dancers’ hard work will pay off when the curtain rises on Symphonic Dances during Program III: The Masters, opening February 22 at Kravis Center, March 1 at Broward Center and March 8 at Adrienne Arsht Center.

Alexei Ratamansky’s Symphonic Dances is made possible in part by the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as part of its Knight Arts Challenge.

Christina Spigner guests on Instagram!

Company Apprentice Christina Spigner is eager to get behind the lens for our Instagram feed this week, as the in-demand choreographer from Russia, Alexei Ratmanksy, will be in our studios! This will be Christina’s first time working with the critically-acclaimed artist, as he prepares our dancers for their performance of Symphonic Dances in Program III.  We can’t wait to see all of the action caught on camera!

Fun fact about Christina: Not only does Christina dance, but she also plays piano.  When she was younger, she played a piano double in a small film!

No Place Like Home

Post by Michael Sean Breeden, Corps de Ballet

When I joined Miami City Ballet in 2006, I was overwhelmed by the embarrassment of artistic riches before me. I was trained at the School of American Ballet, where my fellow students and I would obsessively watch videos of Farrell, McBride, Martins and Villella, longing to be a part of that era. I didn’t know until I came to this company that the vibrancy, musicality and beauty of those dancers and the wonderful ballets was still so vividly alive. MCB was dancing the most sophisticated repertoire with the utmost respect to the wishes of the choreographers whilst imbuing it with their own sense of daring, rhythm and joy.

Making the decision to leave all this to work for another company last season was one of the most difficult I have ever made. After just a brief time away, however, I found making the decision to come back to be one of the easiest I have ever made.

Being away from Miami City Ballet gave me fresh perspective and appreciation for everything we do in this company. I realized that the qualities I thought to be great in this company are also unique to it. There are some things that no audience member will ever really know; our willingness to help and cooperate with one another to achieve the best artistic product, the comradery among the dancers, the extra care and time we spend learning the history of the ballets, seeking extra information that might enhance our performance. But there are the many, many things which our audience is privy to every evening MCB takes the stage; the richness and quality of movement, the speed and musicality, the detail and nuance that each performer in our company brings to their roles.

Last year I was fortunate enough to be brought back to MCB as a guest in the pas de trois of Ballet Imperial. The experience of performing the ballet was wonderful in all the ways that performing a great ballet with your closest friends promises to be, but it was watching the ballet from the front on my show off that was the more revealing experience.

I could have picked out any one of the 24-strong corps de ballet to watch for the duration of the ballet and it would have been wholly satisfying. Yet, watching them all together, immersing themselves in Tchaikovsky’s beautiful music and Balanchine’s pristine and elegant steps, took me to a place I have never experienced in live theater. Leading the charge was Jeanette Delgado, in her debut in the role, energizing the corps de ballet and setting fire to the famously virtuosic and tricky steps. Famed dance critic Arlene Croce was also in the audience and she told me that, having seen many of the ballet’s performances in its more than 60 year history, she thought this to be the definitive performance of its entire existence.

After all those years wishing I could have been dancing in an era long gone, it was watching this performance that I finally gave in. The only time I want to be dancing in is the present, with this company, alongside my wonderful friends and peers.

There is a wonderful season ahead of us that I can’t wait for our audience to see. Les Patineurs challenges its dancers with stamina-pushing classicism, Piazzolla Caldera promises to showcase the individuality and versatility of our company and Apollo is classic Balanchine that MCB can pull off like no other company. Having now witnessed their magic for myself, I’m so grateful to be back dancing with these incredible artists. I know that the transcendent experience I had watching Ballet Imperial is a gift the company will be giving again and again throughout this year.

Program I: Fire and Ice will be performed at Broward Center on October 26-28, and on November 30 – December 2 at Kravis Center. Click here for more information.

Jennifer Lauren in Pointe Magazine’s The Hardest Role

Soloist Jennifer Lauren is featured in the October/November issue of Pointe Magazine!

© Gio Alma

In the feature The Hardest Role, Jennifer discusses how she overcame challenges in her role as the Sleepwalker in George Balanchine’s La Sonnambula.

“Our eyes are such a big part of dancing, and then you have this role where you’re not supposed to use them. It felt like I was dancing blind.”

Click here to read the entire article.

Sara Esty in Pointe Magazine

Soloist Sara Esty is featured in the August/September issue of Pointe Magazine!

In an article titled “It Can Happen In An Instant,” Sara discusses being an understudy and how to be ready to perform at a moment’s notice.

“What began as a routine company class a few years ago for Miami City Ballet’s Sara Esty turned into anything but when a principal ballerina landed badly from a tour jeté. Then in the corps de ballet, Esty felt all eyes turn to her as people realized that she – the dancer’s understudy – would now be starring in both Twyla Tharp’s The Golden Section and George Balanchine’s Valse Fantaisie. Opening night was less than 24 hours away. It was a terrifying, and an exhilarating, moment.

Two years later and one glowing New York Times review later, Esty is a soloist.”

To read the entire article, click here.

Promotions!

As Program IV begins, we can’t help but look ahead to all the exciting things the 2012-2013 season will bring. We are especially excited to announce the dancers who have been promoted for the new season!

Please join us in congratulations the following dancers!

Promoted to Principal Soloist:

Callie Manning in In The Upper Room © Choreography by Twyla Tharp. Photo © Kyle Froman.

Kleber Rebello in La Sonnambula. Choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo © Kyle Froman.
Renan Cerdeiro in Square Dance. Choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo © Kyle Froman.


Promoted to Corps de Ballet:
Chloe Freytag
Kara White
Lexie Overholt

Inside Alexei Ratmansky’s Rehearsals

Post by Jeanette Delgado, Principal Dancer

“If it’s not about the port de bras, then it doesn’t make sense.” -Alexei Ratmansky.

As dancers we speak with our bodies. At times we get so consumed with how our legs and feet are working that we lose sight of the significance of our upper body. Alexei Ratmansky has reminded us of the importance of each gesture and has helped me visualize movement in a completely new way. He offers fresh concepts, things I’ve never really thought of before and it has expanded my creativity and hopefully my dancing!

Symphonic Dances is very balletic but there are so many unique qualities to each movement. Ratmansky is so specific about exactly how your body should move and what your intention should be that it looks and feels like a completely different style of dance.

In an interview with Dance Magazine, Ratmansky says that “every movement could be done in a hundred different ways.” Here are some of the challenging and exciting intricacies of movement he has shared with us! Of course, our artform is visual and it’s tough describing movement with words, but I will do my best…

– Improvise with your coordination. For instance, making the transition of our port de bras slower than the legs; soft with our arms while quick with the legs and finishing the movement with the arms still reaching softly. Or moving our head and shoulders last, after our feet, hips, and body move to create suspense.

-Paint lines in the air with your hands to make movement more interesting!

-Before running somewhere, feel your upper body falling out, out, out… Reach forward longer than your legs & the last thing to finally fall forward is the leg that’s behind you. This is where the impulse to run forward comes from.

– Play with the shifting of your weight and when to do it. This is one of my favorite things and also the hardest! An example is in a jump called a pas de chat, where he asked us to begin the jump traveling forward and then midway through travel backwards. Normally the jump would  continue moving forward. You also continue reaching forward with your arms as you would normally, another contrast between upper and lower body coordination!

-Think of your legs starting from higher up, from the waist to make your line longer. Also keep your hips croisé more, in other words, never let your body get too flat to the front. This helps to keep a three dimensional quality which is very important on stage.

Keep an eye out for these individual qualities in Symphonic Dances! Hopefully it will be as interesting and exciting to watch as it has been to learn and to dance!