TWO Ballets over Christmas!

Over the holidays, I got to see not one but TWO ballet performances. How awesome is that!

The first one was when my friend and I saw the Sarasota Ballet and their "Masters of Movement" performance at the Sarasota Opera House. This was the second show of our subscription, and we both agreed we liked it better than the first one we saw. The "Masters of Movement" performance was a nice mix of class ballet and modern dance (and I usually don't care for the latter).

Image found here (photo credit: Frank Atura)

Divertimento No. 15

This first piece was choreographed by George Balanchine, a legend in the ballet world, and set to music by Mozart. It premiered in New York City in 1956, so it's been around for a long time. I totally forgot that I had seen the piece years ago at the Kennedy Center, that time performed by the New York City Ballet (read that blog post here). There is no story or plot, but rather is just meant to appreciate the "elegant and inventiveness" that is "playful, refined, and surprising" (notes from the program). I tried to watch it just to appreciate the movement of dance and the inherent fun in dancing. I really liked it!

While the video below features the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, you can get a taste of the piece:

Mozartiana

The second piece was also choreographed by Balanchine, and while the dancing is set to Tchaikovsky's Suite No. 4, that music is actually the Russian's orchestration of works by Mozart (so I guess kind of like a medley or remix?). This was also a classic piece, and the Sarasota Ballet's version featured some child dancers, too. This one felt a little less fun than the previous, but still just as beautiful.

This video was filmed in 1983 soon after Balanchine's death (he choreographed the piece in the early 80's just a few years before he died). But this is the full thing, so you can really appreciate it.

Image found here (photo credit: Frank Atura)

Jazz Calendar

Even though this was the modern dance piece, my friend and I liked it the best! It was so fun, so creative, and just very different! Sir Frank Ashton choreographed the piece in the late 1960's and based it on the nursery rhyme, "Monday's Child," creating a dance for each day of the week set to jazz music from the era. I had actually seen the Friday dance at the Sarasota Ballet's gala last year, but I didn't know that at the time! So it was cool seeing it again along with all the other "days." The music, written by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, is so lively, and each part was exciting with all the colorful costumes. It kind of reminded me of the "sweets" featured in the Nutcracker: each one is unique but just as fun as the others.

Here is a preview video from the Sarasota Ballet so you can see the awesome costumes and some of the artwork/structures that went along with the dancing:

What a great show! The next performance from our subscription isn't until March, so I'm glad I got to see another ballet show so soon. Just a few days later, my mom and I saw the Sarasota Ballet School perform The Nutcracker (I LOVE the Nutcracker and had not seen it the past two years, so I was really looking forward to it, especially because I got to see it with my mom!). 

There were 130 students (!) in the production from multiple studios, and we were so impressed! Their ages ranged from teeny tiny girls, maybe four years old, to the Sugar Plum Fairy (played by Kerry Shannon, a new member of the Sarasota Ballet Studio Company, and she was SO good!), who is probably in her early 20's. Because there were so many dancers, they had to get creative with the roles. For example, the Arabian Coffee dance (what they called the "desert dance" for some odd reason) featured three boys and three girls (six dancers total), when usually that piece is performed by only women or is featured as a pas de deux. But it's so nice that all the students could be included. 

Along with Shannon, we also thought Violet Olson, who played Clara, and Gregory Dempsey, who played the Nutcracker prince (Nathaniel?) did a great job as well. It was nice that, because they are both teenagers, they seem age-appropriate as a couple, as opposed to the traditional Nutcracker in which Clara, a young girl, is with a grown man prince. 

Here's a little video from a few years ago. These kids are really talented!

And you can check out this article in The Sun about this year's production, too!