EVERETT — Olympic Ballet Theatre will perform its Fall Program only on Saturday and only at the Everett Performing Arts Center.
A mainstay of the Snohomish County arts scene, the Edmonds-based Olympic Ballet School and Theatre continues its longtime emphasis on classical ballet.
However, artistic directors Mara Vinson and Oleg Gorboulev, former Moscow Classical Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers, since taking over the school have introduced many new works to their students and their audiences.
A reconstructed “pas de deux” from Griffes’ “The Kairn of Koridwen” has the dancers in bare feet and their hair down, in this ballet set to the early 20th-century abstract musical piece by Griffes.
“It shows off the diversity of our dancers,” Vinson said.
Another piece, a premiere for Olympic, is a 10-minute neoclassical ballet set to a Rossini overture.
“It’s a nice little gala piece we saw performed at a choreography festival,” Vinson said. “We had the choreographers, Nicole and Jason Cisler, come teach it to nine of our dancers.”
The “pas de trois” from “Swan Lake” is to be performed by Kyle Davis, a corps de ballet member at Pacific Northwest Ballet, along with OBT’s Grace Armstrong and Claire Christensen.
“They are very excited to be dancing with Kyle,” said Vinson.
Armstrong and Christensen have competed in national youth ballet competitions.
Under Vinson and Gorboulev’s direction, OBT pre-professional dancers have been accepted into and have attended prestigious national schools such as Boston Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Los Angeles Ballet School and others.
A highlight of the mixed-repertoire Fall Program is sure to be excerpts from “La Bayadere,” a ballet seldom performed in the United States.
“It’s certainly brand new for us,” Vinson said. “And it will be great to be accompanied by the Olympic Ballet Theatre Orchestra under the direction of David Alexander Rahbee.”
Set in ancient Royal India, La Bayadere is about eternal love, mystery, fate, vengeance and justice. The ballet tells the story of a temple dancer (bayadere) named Nikiya, who is loved by Solor, a noble warrior. She is also loved by the High Brahmin, but does not love the royal in return.
Composed by Ludwig Minkus and choreographed by the great Marius Petipa for the Russian Imperial Ballet at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theater in St. Petersburg, the ballet premiered on Feb. 4, 1877.
Excerpts have been performed by various professional companies in the past century, but the complete ballet was not performed in the U.S. until 1980 when Natalia Makarova produced it for American Ballet Theatre.
Chessa Chalmers, 17, a Running Start student at Cascadia Community College in Bothell, said Olympic dancers will perform the first act of the ballet.
“Perhaps the reason the entire ballet has not been performed by a lot of U.S. ballet companies is because it has a sad ending,” Chalmers said. “I think we’ll do a good job. In the first act, the palace people come in and dance for the royalty.”
Like many of her fellow students at Olympic, Chalmers plans to audition with ballet companies this year as well as apply for college.
“Olympic Ballet is definitely one of the best ballet schools in the area,” she said. “The training is phenomenal.”
The Fall Program was an addition to the regular OBT season.
“It’s been very busy. A big undertaking,” Vinson said. “For example, our costumers worked hard all summer to make nearly 40 new costumes.”
In addition to Olympic’s Beaux Arts fundraising dinner auction Oct. 18 at the Lynnwood Convention Center, OBT performs excerpts from “The Nutcracker” Nov. 15 with the Cascade Youth Symphony at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. Nutcracker performances also are scheduled in December in Everett and at the Edmonds Center for the Performing Arts.
“We like to perform in Everett,” Vinson said. “With the Fall Program, we hope to reach out to Everett community and garner some new fans.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
OBT Fall Program
Olympic Ballet Theatre’s Fall Program, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Oct. 11, Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave. For tickets, $25 to $35, and for more about the company’s season and its fundraiser, go to www.olympicballet.com or call 425-774-7570.
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