On November 15th and 17th the Movement Arts Collective presents Ballet Unbound at the Performing Arts Center’s Spanos Theatre. This annual Fall Season of ballet classics, evocative modern dance, and contemporary ballet highlights the best of concert dance on the Central Coast. This year’s iteration includes three original works works which focus on the theme of overcoming barriers.
In Harlequinade, a one-act restaging by Catherine Barnickel of Petipa’s classic ballet, love conquers all as classic Comedia Dell’Arte characters Harlequin, Columbine, Pierrot, and Pierette engage in comedic scenes and lively dance sequences. With dancers Jaydn Dowler and Eliana Tabarez, Silver Medal winners at California Dance Classics San Francisco Competition, in the lead roles bolstered by a cast of 30, this production showcases refined ballet technique, pointe work, an orchestral score, and storytelling that is fun for audiences of all ages.
Second on the program is a world premiere by Maartje Lawrence-Hermans, titled Uprooted. Based off of her own experiences emigrating from the Netherlands to the United States 8 years ago, this emotionally driven work features 6 dancers and live multi-instrumentalist musician Logan Castro with an original score. A conceptual piece, the audience glimpses the complexity of leaving ones homeland and the emotions associated with finding home in another country. Bolstered by the Psychology Masters Thesis entitled Immigration: Exploration of the Liminal Space Betwixt and Between Cultures by Maria Elena Castellano-Hsia, herself an immigrant to the Central Coast from Argentina, the author and choreographer discussed ways in which their own personal experiences may be universal. Together the choreographer and dancers worked to establish a movement language that could be both lost and found in the swirling mental and physical landscape inhabited by many immigrants.
Finally, Ryan Lawrence will present a new work made as a co-production with Festival Mozaic. Set to two of Bach’s famed cello suites, In the Middle Range, explores the co-existent and polar forces of creation and destruction with movement influence by classical ballet, baroque dances, and dance theater. Lawrence used as research material biographical information on Bach and the famed cellist Pablo Casals, and juxtaposes the two seminal figures, their lives, and the unique desire in Bach to highlight divinity in the creation of his music and Casals to discover the humanity between the notes.
Performance Details:
What: Ballet Unbound presented by The Movement Arts Collective
When: Friday November 15th at 7:00pm and Sunday November 17th at 2:00pm
Where: The Performing Arts Center, San Luis Obispo, Spanos Theatre
How: Tickets available at www.pacslo.org or by calling the box office at (805) 756-4849