Dress rehearsals are underway as dancers, composer, and choreographer put final touches on Narnia. The original ballet debuts this weekend with four shows at the Fredericksburg Theater Company’s Steve W. Shepherd Theater. Photo by Phil Houseal
Details:
Nutcracker & Narnia opens with four performances at the Fredericksburg Theater Company’s Steve W. Shepherd Theater this weekend - Friday, November 19, 7:30 p.m.,; Saturday, November 20, matinee at 2 p.m. and evening performance at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, November 21, matinee at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students, and are all general admission. Tickets are now on sale and available from any ballet student. They can also be purchased at Ms Rhonda's School of Dance, 202 E. Creek St, Fredericksburg, Monday through Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. Requests for tickets can be made by calling 830-998-0785, by leaving a message at 830-997-0756, or via email at foxcanyon@live.com.
| Do you have a musical artist, event, or topic you would like featured in this column? I love to hear from readers. Send comments to: phil@ fullhouseproductions.net. To be included in the free listing of live music events, send details to: Articles published weekly in the Permission granted to reproduce articles and photos with credit to: |
Tradition & Treachery: Part II
by Phil Houseal
Nov 17, 2010
Last week (read article) we witnessed the conception and gestation of Narnia, an original ballet scored by Mark Hierholzer and choreographed by Lisa Bohnert. This week the rehearsals are underway, and the creators consider what they have made.
So what happened when Lisa Bohnert’s choreography met Mark Hierholzer’s music?
“This is first time I have ever seen dancing to my music... ever!” said Hierholzer at an August rehearsal. He admitted he didn’t have high expectations as to what he would see in these early stages. “One of my concerns was how well the story would be conveyed by dance and music.”
Then the students danced.
“It was immediately stunning to see how the musical vision had turned into movement o f bodies,” he said. “All the various emotions in the music were beautifully portrayed by the dancers. It was done so beautifully, so clearly. These girls are not dancing; they are acting. It was very impressive, almost frightening at times.”
Frightening?
“The story itself involves some pretty horrific things,” Hierholzer explained. “What Lisa is trying to get them beautifully to do is not a character but real emotion so the audience can live in it and be a part of it. I think she is doing that remarkably well.”
And what did Ms Lisa think of her dancers after those early rehearsals?
“They have been impressive,” Bohnert said. “This ballet is so not what they are accustomed to. This is way more diving into the dark emotional side of art. For them to put aside pretty and technically clean for raw emotion is a real different thought process. It’s all about the acting.”
That energy, emotion, and drama flows first from Hierholzer’s score.
“Mark’s music is incredibly expressive,” Bohnert said. “He has got layer upon layer of expressiveness going on all the time. We are trying to pull out all these different elements in his music, so it becomes embodied, literally, in the dancers. So the audience - while hearing it - is also seeing it. It is a double effect.”
Ultimately, everything comes through the dancers.
“There is never a second in this where they are ‘just dancing,’” she noted. “If they are just dancing, they are not delivering. It has to be intense feelings. The feelings come first, then the steps. Choreography communicates those feelings, not the other way around.”
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this Narnia project is the opportunity it gives the dancers to participate in something original and alive. This project is challenging them in ways beyond learning first position and pirouettes.
“This is not your typical choreography,” Bohnert confirmed. “It is not your typical music, either. This music has a lot of arrhythmic and interesting meters that are very hard to translate into dance; but once translated, they are very interesting.”
Hierholzer understands. “During one break, I asked if they were thinking primarily of technique right now or emotion? One girl answered, when it’s really working, it’s all one thing. And that is right - you don’t have to compartmentalize.”
Through his Chorale work and composition, Hierholzer has long espoused using the community to create art rather than just consume it.
“This is exactly what I talk about when I talk about hopeful things for this community,” he said. “This is definitely building a creative community.”
And what will that community experience at Narnia?
“This is way more than your typical Christmas performance,” Bohnert said. “It is designed to put the audience on the edge of their seats, musically, and therefore, dramatically. We are moving from the eventual to the immediate. It is really fresh and exciting. The reality is beginning to occur.”