Here, new inventive ideas are embraced and applauded .
There are things in life that always try to pull us back?? parents, lack of money, the U.S. Government. Sometimes, it even seems that the art world is at a pause while waiting to receive approval from philanthropists and lobbyists. One exception to this time travel is Ballet Florida's Step Ahead 2004 , which previewed seven new works on June 15 th and 16 th at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens. Step Ahead races head-on into the modern arena of choreography and theatrical design. At Ballet Florida , students are encouraged to explore innovative ideas in dance. The program's dancers, choreographers and production staff all fulfill their expectant parents' dreams.
Formed in 1996, the Step Ahead Choreographic Workshop has given dancers the opportunity to grow within their very own developments in the art of dance. Here, new and inventive ideas are embraced and applauded. Due to its theological popularity, the program has expanded to include theatre and theatrical design students in the artistic process. Students included come from both Palm Beach Community College and Palm Beach Atlantic University. As winner of the National Endowment for the Arts' Access Grant , Ballet Florida ensures there will be new works for future dancers to perform and that there will be an experienced production and technical team to help present the composition.
Step Ahead's 2004 line-up was made up of talented choreographers, including Cristina Hampton , Janine Harris , Gary Lenington , Tracy Mozingo , Amy Beth Patton and Cameron Smith . This time around, past choreographer Jerry Opdenaker directed the ballet piece Absence of White , inspired by the paintings of local artist Roland Kerns . Set with a background of black draperies resembling a massive drip of charcoal-acrylic paint, the dancers juxtapose their bodies inside this real-life canvas. Dancers Christina Hampton and Mauricio Canete carry out the mood established by the lighting, and expose their passions and feelings via the primary-colored scenes.
The program's variety began with the ballet One is Never Enough . This playful piece highlights a lighthearted mime enchanted with several females; some already taken. He is engaged into a familiar journey at whose end, it is sometimes best to leave the girls alone. After all, they can only cause trouble! Arranged to the music of Mozart ' s Symphony #25 , it is the most comical work in the show.
Another captivating moment is between dancers Smith and Mozingo in Bodhimanda , the spot under the Bodhi tree where the Buddha attained nirvana. In this dance, their bodies create a series of geometric angles—one almost constructing a 30-degree area between Monzingo and the stage floor. The notes in Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven help to define the slow changing of shapes illustrated by the ballet artists as they reach Zen.
The show hit a lively musical peak with its third ballet, Adiemus . Colorful, conceptual landscapes become home to dancers as they pay homage to a mythical being, Adiemus , literally translated, means “we will draw near.” With arms and hands raised to the air, gazing up at the sky, the cast appears to be calling on some sort of guidance from above. Layering, rag-like skirts worn by the dancers ( Trina Jennings , Markus Schaffer , Jennifer Cole , Yuan Xi , Idael German and Lenington) add the perfect touch to the swaying and undulation involved in this choreography.
Two cross-cultural works, Tango to Evora and La Rosa Roja , presented modern dance with a tribute to the celebrated art of the tango. Tango to Evora demonstrates the difficult positions the body must conform in order to present this style of dance properly. Ending with a Middle Eastern-style melody, the tango is offered as a worldly art with much respect.
La Rosa Roja is a dedication to the late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo . Three giant picture frames are adorned side by side on the stage. Through them, three dancers, Jimenez, Deborah Marquez and Smith, make their entrances. At one point, the ballet focuses on an intense moment in the life of the artist—symbolized by a deflowered rose, a dancer documents the miscarriage Kahlo had early in her life.
The final ballet in this sequence was Bodies of Water . Choreographed by expectant mother Harris, this piece is dedicated to her son due in August. It is a journey from birth to life to joy. The voyage begins with a human mountain of 10 dancers laying over each other center-stage. Then it concentrates on two couples, man and woman. Two dancers, on opposite sides of the platform, initiate coming together at a midpoint. Before they meet, the performers decelerate by the flash of colored lights going on and off. Each instance in where the lighting returns after a brief blackout, the dancers are closer than before. Bodies of Water is fiery and reminiscent of human love and life.
The 2004 Step Ahead dance program was one with plentiful entertainment for the audience. It traveled through several human emotions and conditions. Further, it solicits us to reach inside for spirituality, love, religion, laughter and continuity. If you passed on this year's Step Ahead by Ballet Florida, don't make the same mistake of missing out next time around in June of 2005. With its reputation for sensation, Step Ahead guarantees to be just as fantastic again in about a year's time.
Registration for 2004/2005 season classes: August 23 – September 3. Classes go from September 8, 2004 through May 28, 2005. Children and teens: ballet, jazz, tap and modern. Adults: ballet, jazz, tap, aerobics, step, exercise and Pilates Mat.
Kick off the 2004-2005 Ballet Florida season with Three Preludes: End of Time , Musette and Libertango at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens October 8 – 10.
For more information on future programming and classes, please visit www.balletflorida.com or call 561/659.1212. Ballet Florida is located at 500 Fern Street in West Palm Beach.