performances

Following Fanfare – Prepping for Broward

Post by Rebecca King, Corps de Ballet

Since opening weekend of the 25th Anniversary Season, Miami City Ballet has not again hit the stage, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy! Although we are focused on other up-coming ballets, Program I is always in the back of our minds. Many nights when I am trying to fall asleep, choreography is running through my head like a broken record. Often, I take this time to review steps in order to challenge myself by remembering ballets we haven’t worked on in awhile, or to re-enforce something I learned recently. What has been my choreography playlist recently? Fanfare. As we prepare to take this ballet to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, one thing I am always thinking about is the orchestra.

Dancing with a live orchestra is such a great pleasure and a welcome treat, but along with our newly-revived luxury comes a few challenges. When rehearsing and performing to a recording, we have become accustomed to hearing the exact same notes, with the exact same tempo every time. With live music, that all changes. The dancers really need to be on their toes (no pun intended) by listening closely to the music, as the tempo is never exactly the same. Also, with the orchestra in the pit, many times we hear different notes played by different instruments that we never noticed in the recording. Recordings can never completely capture the full effect of live music, which is why it is so important for us, as dancers, to understand the musicality of the choreography and constantly count the music. Dance is an illustration of the music; in order for us to represent the music as the choreographer intended, we need to hear each and every element of the music.

If you haven’t seen Miami City Ballet’s company premiere of Fanfare, accompanied by the Opus One Orchestra, you still have two weekends to choose from: Program I is showing November 12-14 at the Broward Center for Performing Arts, or November 19-21 at Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

Company B is coming to the Barre

The first program of the Open Barre Dance Series is almost here! On Friday and Saturday you’ll get the chance to sip on complimentary wine and then watch the dancers perform in our intimate 200-seat studio theater. Paul Taylor’s Company B and Twyla Tharp’s “The Golden Section” will be the featured ballets this weekend.

Zoe Zien recently chatted with us about her role in Company B, “Rum and Coke,” and about dancing in the intimate setting that is Open Barre.

If you haven’t been to an Open Barre performance, you don’t know what you’re missing! Click here for tickets.

Following Fanfare – The Premiere!

Post by Rebecca King, Corps de Ballet

Opening weekend was a huge success as everyone anticipated. I took some footage on the Flip camera to bring you behind the scenes of Fanfare. Hearing the orchestra in the pit again for the first time in two years was an exhilarating experience that was felt by every person on stage and in the audience. I hope you enjoy. Until next time…

Bugaku Girl Talk

Wigs, robes, tutus, and bikinis in a dressing room can only mean one thing: Bugaku! The Company is performing this George Balanchine piece in Program I of the 25th Anniversary Season which opens today! Sara Esty, Zoe Zien, Ashley Knox, and Leigh-Ann Esty had a chat about what it’s like to dance in the corps of this erotic ballet, and who was present during rehearsals.

Don’t miss the first program of the most exciting season yet, which also includes Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare and George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations.

Following Fanfare – Back in the Theater

Post by Rebecca King, Corps de Ballet

Here we are! Day one in Adrienne Arsht Center, kicking off our 25th Anniversary Season! We just completed our first, of two, dress rehearsals. It is taking a little bit of time to get back into the swing of things; like not having a mirror, wearing costumes, and having stage lights shining down on us. The Fanfare costumes are so beautiful and full of color! We are looking forward to debuting this ballet for our Miami fans tomorrow night!

I took a few photos to bring you behind the curtain on our rehearsal day.

Looking out on the house from the stage.

It has been so long since we have seen seats in the pit! The orchestra will be here tonight!

The dancers practicing choreography after class, before rehearsal.

Stay tuned for some video footage I have taken, coming soon!

Edward and Allegra: The Originals

We are so fortunate to have the very person on whom George Balanchine choreographed many ballets as our artistic director — Edward Villella.  The dancers often talk about how amazing it is to learn and rehearse a ballet with him because of all the insight he has and, of course, because he is the original! For Bugaku, the company had a double wami! Not only did they rehearse with Edward, but also with Allegra Kent, who was Edward’s partner when Mr. Balanchine choreographed the piece.

The original principal dancers in Bugaku, Edward and Allegra, sat down for a chat and reminisced about being a part of history.

Miami City Ballet will perform Bugaku in Program I of the 25th Anniversary Season – October 15-17 at Adrienne Arsht Center, November 12-14 at Broward Center, and November 19-21 at Kravis Center. For ticket information click here.

Following Fanfare with Rebecca King

Post by Rebecca King, Corps de Ballet

The dancers of Miami City Ballet are very excited to be preparing for the 25th Anniversary season, which kicks off in just a few days.  Among the exciting elements of this opening weekend is the return of the Opus One Orchestra.  Miami City Ballet has been without an orchestra for two years now, so we are bringing them back in style.

Leading off Program I is Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare, which was created especially to “introduce you to the instruments of the orchestra,” as the narrator explains before the ballet begins.  The orchestra has four different sections: the strings, the woodwinds, the brass, and percussion.  As you can imagine, the ballet has a large cast that fills the stage with bright colored costumes as the curtain rises.  Former New York City Ballet dancer Ben Huys set this ballet on the company in April, at the end of our 2009-2010 season.  When we were learning the ballet, the premiere seem so very far away, and here we are, already in October with opening night just around the corner.  Mr. Huys returned last week to put some final touches on the ballet before we debut it for our Miami audience.

I really enjoy this ballet; not only do I find it fun to dance, but I love the choreography and the picture it creates for the audience.  In my opinion, the best part is the last section of the piece.  One may call it a finale, but because this piece is all about the orchestra, we call it “the fugue”.  In terms of music, a fugue is when two or more instruments play based on a theme.  The theme is introduced at the beginning and reoccurs throughout.  In our fugue, the instrument to introduce the theme is the piccolo.  One by one, the instruments join in, building upon that theme.  All the dancers enter the stage, at the same time as their instrument does in the pit, and dance a variation on the theme steps.  After every section has entered, the stage becomes split among the men and the women.  Now, the orchestra plays one slow melody underneath a fast, spritely melody.  The men dance to the slower melody with completely different steps from the women, who are quickly and precisely dancing to the other melody.  All the dancers again split into their different sections to create a final picture as the curtain comes in.

I am happy that MCB has again asked me to bring you a behind the curtain view of opening weekend.  I will be taking the Flip camera with me to bring you some footage as this exciting night approaches.  Stay tuned for more about Fanfare as Miami City Ballet continues to prepare for this exciting company premiere!

Baker’s Dozen with Jeanette Delgado

The exciting company premiere of Twyla Tharp’s Baker’s Dozen will be performed as part of Program II. We will follow principal dancer Jeanette Delgado on MCB Blog as she prepares for opening night in January.

Post by Principal Dancer Jeanette Delgado

Learning a ballet that is new to our repertory is always a very exciting process! It is a fresh opportunity to expand artistically without any preconceived ideas of how it is “supposed” to look.  Elaine Kudo, Twyla Tharp repetiteur, was here in June working with us on Baker’s Dozen which will premiere during Program II. My sister Patricia and I both worked with Elaine when we spent summers at the ABT school so it’s always really nice to reconnect with her! She was a ballerina with ABT as well as a dancer for Twyla’s company, so she knows how to explain Twyla’s steps to ballet dancers. We have to almost undo some of our ballet technique in order to grasp the movement because it is very different from what we’re used to! It takes us a while and we came out of those rehearsals bruised and sore in strange places!

By now we have become more familiar to this style from all the Tharp ballets we’ve conquered; however, we’re used to dancing her more intense and powerful choreography and the feeling in Baker’s Dozen is very different. It’s a lot lighter and more playful but still has very grounded and dynamic movements. It’s definitely a challenge trying to be explosive and energetic but in a subtle and kind of nonchalant way! When it’s done right it is an awesome ballet!! Funny and playful and of course, like all the Tharp ballets, full of ENERGY!

Jeanette Delgado in Baker’s Dozen. Photo © 2009 Lois Greenfield.

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.

Elaine is back!

Twyla Tharp Repetiteur Elaine Kudo returned to MCB in June to stage the highly-anticipated company premiere Baker’s Dozen. Having worked with us last season on “The Golden Section” as well several other pieces in the past, Elaine is part of the MCB family and we are always happy to have her here. Baker’s Dozen differs from the high energy works you come to expect from Tharp. We chatted with Elaine about what we will see in this ballet.

Baker’s Dozen premieres in Program II. Tickets are on sale now.