Happy Birthday, Pennsylvania Ballet

03/01/2013 13-14, Features

The Inquirer
by Peter Dobrin
 
To ring up the curtain on its 50th-anniversary celebration, Balanchine-centric Pennsylvania Ballet will mount its first complete performance of a major gem in the master's crown: George Balanchine's Jewels.
 
Later in the 2013-14 season, it will premiere new works by important contemporary choreographers Trey McIntyre and Matthew Neenan.
 
In a nod to its own artistic lineage, the company will bring in pieces old (Balanchine's Serenade) and new, by former artistic directors Christopher d'Amboise and Robert (Ricky) Weiss.
 
And to satisfy small E.T.A. Hoffmann aficionados and aficionadas, Pennsylvania Ballet will once again dispense magic and bring dolls to life in productions of Coppélia and The Nutcracker.
 
Artistic director Roy Kaiser said he wanted the season to honor the company's heritage - he performed some of these works when he was a dancer - while moving the art form forward.
 
"Many of the ballets [on for next season] molded the company," he said. "On the other side of it, I wanted to show what people can expect to see from the company and look to the future with these two world premieres by Neenan and McIntyre. These are the young men who are creating today."
 
Jewels opens the season Oct. 17-27, at the Academy of Music. The Feb. 6-9 program at the Merriam features the company premiere of Petite Mort by Jirí Kylián to music of Mozart; Jerome Robbins'Afternoon of a Faun (Debussy); Balanchine's Serenade (Tchaikovsky); and the "Pas de Deux" from Margo Sappington's  1976 fantasy on Alexander Calder , Under the Sun (Michael Kamen). John Butler's Carmina Burana (Orff) and Balanchine's Stravinsky Violin Concerto - a company premiere - share the bill March 6-15 at the Academy.
 
The Nutcracker is put up on its usual holiday perch Dec. 7-29. Coppélia is given three performances at the Academy on March 8 and 16.
 
On a "Director's Choice" program May 8-11, Balanchine acolyte Weiss is represented by the company's first performance of his Grieg: Piano Concerto, and d'Amboise by his popular Franklin Court(Bach), joining a world premiere by Trey McIntyre.
 
June 12-15, at the Merriam, In the middle, somewhat elevated by William Forsythe is paired with two titles by Neenan: At the border, set to John Adams' Hallelujah Junction, and a new work - his 15th commission for Pennsylvania Ballet.
 
Neenan, 38, the ballet's choreographer in residence, says that at this point he has made few decisions about the work he is to create - only that it likely will be for two to four dancers. Typically, he starts with a piece of music, but he has not even chosen that yet, though he is listening all the time.
 
"A lot of it is intuition. I would say most of it. OK, all of it is intuition," he said. "Music is so important to me, even if there's no music. I've been working a lot lately with silence, and to me, even that's music."
 
He expects to start working with dancers in December, in Nutcracker season. "It's always nice for the dancers to do something else at that time," he said.
 
In a way, the appearance of Jewels completes a long-delayed journey. Of the three acts - "Emeralds" to scores of Fauré, "Rubies" to Stravinsky, and "Diamonds" to Tchaikovsky - Pennsylvania Ballet has performed only "Rubies." A scheduled company premiere of the entire work in 1990 was canceled after artistic turmoil prompted the Balanchine Trust to revoke permission to mount it and other Balanchine works.
 
Kaiser says he believes Jewels was programmed and withdrawn other times because of budgetary reasons. It's a large work, a full-length one without a story.
 
"The musical choices he made are in my opinion perfect, and it's a work that when it was done was successful initially, but it is also very different," said Kaiser. "A lot of people were maybe not such fans of it - a full-evening ballet without a narrative. How do you do that? This is about music and movement and beautiful costumes. Pretty pure."
 
Read at philly.com >>

Pennsylvania Ballet, Behind-the-Scenes

12/02/2012 Features, 12-13

Philadelphia Style, December 2012

Barbara Weisberger still speaks fondly of the tree that became known to some as “Barbara’s Folly.”

When the founder and former artistic director of Pennsylvania Ballet staged the company’s first production of The Nutcracker back in 1968, the centerpiece was a huge Plexiglas tree, in keeping with Weisberger’s desire for an original and modern take on the story. “I would not have any candy canes or anything like that,” Weisberger recalls—though her desire to also have Plexiglas stalagmites onstage was shot down when her staff pointed out, “[Those could] kill someone!”

That tree serves as a fitting metaphor for Pennsylvania Ballet’s journey with the holiday classic. For one thing, notes Weisberger, since Plexiglas was manufactured by a local company, Pennsylvania Ballet got a healthy corporate donation for that first production.

The pas de deux between art and commerce and between tradition and change runs through the Pennsylvania Ballet’s history with The Nutcracker. The company, which celebrates its golden anniversary in 2013, also marks 25 years this holiday season with George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker—the crown jewel in the canon created by the legendary choreographer and founder of the New York City Ballet. From December 8–30, Pennsylvania Ballet presents 23 performances of Balanchine’s gem at the Academy of Music.

The Pennsylvania Ballet is one of only seven companies worldwide licensed to perform the Balanchine version, which premiered at NYCB in 1954. But like the magical toy itself, there have been a lot of transformations for Pennsylvania Ballet’s Nutcracker over the years. Even though Weisberger was a Balanchine protégée and the first child dancer he ever trained—“he was my professional father and I adored him,” says Weisberger—the company didn’t start using his version in full until 1987, after she had left Pennsylvania Ballet.

One thing that remains constant is ticket sales. Though the terms “bovine” and “ballet” are rarely mentioned in the same sentence, few ballet companies would deny that The Nutcracker in any form is a cash cow. Pennsylvania Ballet executive director Michael Scolamiero says that 44 percent of the company’s annual earned income (which includes investments from endowments and revenues from the School of Pennsylvania Ballet, along with ticket sales) comes from The Nutcracker. Last year, the show sold 37,568 tickets, adding $2.175 million to the company coffers. For a company that operates on an annual budget of $11 million and is gearing up for a January move into the $17.5 million Louise Reed Center for Dance—a new facility on Broad Street that brings the administrative, rehearsal, and school facilities under one roof—The Nutcracker provides a lot of fiscal sugarplums.

Given its popularity, one might expect that The Nutcracker also serves as a cultural gateway drug, turning families into repeat annual audiences for the show and into patrons for other offerings. But Scolamiero says that over half the audience for Nutcracker is new every year, and many of them don’t see other shows in the season. “It’s great that there’s this churn, and you get a lot of new faces coming into the theater,” he says. But, he adds, “when the [children] reach a certain age, especially boys, they stop looking at ballet as an option.”

To counter that tendency, the company promotes family matinees for other shows, such as their upcoming production of Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in March. For The Nutcracker, the company also offers add-on options, such as teas with the Sugar Plum Fairy herself. Scolamiero acknowledges that patron information captured through Nutcracker ticket sales “is a nice list to take advantage of, but we need to do more with it.”

Changes in choreography and design have kept patrons and artists on their toes over the years. The 1968 version mostly used the Balanchine second act, but the first act was more streamlined and included work by Robert Rodham, a student of Weisberger’s, who created the pas de deux for the Snow Queen and King, as well as the dance of the Snowflakes.

Budgetary concerns played a role in that first Nutcracker. Weisberger felt that the company’s smaller budgets might not allow for the “grand, elegant” Balanchine aesthetic that audiences familiar with NYCB expected. By 1987, then-artistic director Robert Weiss, a longtime dancer with NYCB, decided it was time to go the full Balanchine.

Current artistic director Roy Kaiser, who danced The Nutcracker with the Pennsylvania Ballet every year from 1979–1992 before assuming his current role in 1995, identifies two enduring strengths of the Balanchine version. First, the principal children’s roles are performed by child dancers, rather than youthful-looking adults. Says Kaiser, “It is kind of a children’s story, one told through ballet. The original story [by E.T.A. Hoffmann] is kind of dark, but the way it has evolved as a ballet is as a children’s story, so I think it’s appropriate to have the children in it.” And, adds Kaiser, “The other thing is that Balanchine was such a musician. His choreography came from music. And the [Tchaikovsky] score is just fantastic. Thank God it is as good as it is.”

Ongoing seasonal hits like The Nutcracker also generate high revenues because they don’t require building costumes and sets from scratch every year. But even classics need face-lifts.

In 2007, Pennsylvania Ballet unveiled a new look for the 20th anniversary of the Balanchine Nutcracker, with sets by Canadian-born designer Peter Horne and costumes by Judanna Lynn (herself a former dancer). The focus was on a regional flavor, so Horne’s set suggests a Federal-style mansion familiar to Philadelphia audiences. It didn’t come cheaply—the company spent $950,000 on the redesign, which included 185 costumes. The most expensive costume Lynn designed in the show belongs to Mother Ginger, who wears an 40-pound dress—big enough to accommodate the children who scamper out from underneath it—that cost $10,000. Luckily, that redesign came before the economic collapse of 2008. Scolamiero says, “When we unveiled the new production in 2007, we expected it to do really well that year and then fall back a little, and it did; 2009 and 2010 were a little off, and that’s because of the economy.”

For dancers, a different kind of transformation and stamina is required, since many of them perform multiple roles. Principal dancer Ian Hussey, who has been dancing in the Pennsylvania Ballet’s Nutcracker since age nine, has played nearly every male role. He now dances the Sugar Plum Fairy’s Cavalier. “It’s very difficult when you’re doing the third show of the day on a three-show Sunday. It’s mentally and physically tough,” says Hussey. But he also notes “The guys have it a lot easier. The girls have it rough. It’s a lot of dancing, and very grueling.”

For soloist Gabriella Yudenich, dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy is a childhood dream come true. Her parents, Barbara Sandonato and the late Alexei Yudenich, both danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet—her mother was in fact the first dancer hired in 1963—and her older brother danced the prince the first year they did the Balanchine version. “I watched him do it and I wanted to be in the party scene so badly, but I was too little,” says Yudenich. Now, when she dances the Sugar Plum Fairy herself, Yudenich says “The choreography is so breathtaking and the music…. I always go into it feeling fresh. I never think ‘Oh, this again.’”

Weisberger, who has seen The Nutcracker more times than anyone else associated with Pennsylvania Ballet, attributes its enduring appeal to the fact that, though the music is “so familiar and beloved,” the dancing itself transforms with the unique physical poetry the performers bring.

“Unlike other performing arts, even theater, dance is so ephemeral,” says Weisberger. “It’s there, and then it’s not. You can see the same ballet, but it is a completely different thing when you see [a new] dancer.”


Read at phillystylemag.com. >>

It's Last Dance For Pennsylvania Ballet's Arantxa Ochoa

10/24/2012 Retirement, 12-13, Giselle, Features

When a great athlete retires from the game, we always hope they go out on a high note. Ballet dancers are no exception; they are as much athletes as they are artists. And like many a pro quarterback who doesn’t know when it’s time to quit, many dancers conclude their careers after their skills have been diminished due to age and injury.

Happily, this is not the case with local legend Arantxa Ochoa. A performer with the Pennsylvania Ballet since 1996 and principal dancer for the last 12 years, Ochoa is transitioning from the stage to classroom. Since September, Ochoa has been leading the faculty of the School of Pennsylvania Ballet; in January, the recently opened school is scheduled to move into the Ballet’s new home at the Louise Reed Center for Dance on North Broad Street. While beginning her tenure as a teacher, Ochoa is simultaneously bringing down the final curtain on her on-stage career this weekend with a farewell performance as the title character in the company’s magnificent production of Giselle at the Academy of Music. (Performers are subject to change, but Ochoa is scheduled to perform Oct. 28.)

“I had already made the decision to retire [before the company announced its 2012-13 season], and then I found out that Giselle was going to happen, and I thought how perfect that was,” says Ochoa. “When you are a little girl dreaming of becoming a ballet dancer, you dream of playing Giselle. From the music to the story to the steps, there is so much in the role, and there is a lot of opportunity for acting, which I enjoy.”

Her acting ability is one of the elements that separates Ochoa from other dancers. Roy Kaiser, Pennsylvania Ballet’s artistic director, refers to her as a “full artist.” “Arantxa is a wonderful technician,” he says, “but she also has the ability to fully immerse herself in a role, and there is a presence about her on stage that is completely engaging.”

Ochoa, who is married to former principal dancer Alexander Iziliaev, now Pennsylvania Ballet’s photographer and videographer, says she enjoys the acting challenges that come with “story ballets” like Giselle, a far cry from the shorter works that the Pennsylvania Ballet also stages. “I love the two- and three-act ballets like Romeo and Juliet and Sleeping Beauty. I love to act. People want to see the steps, but I love to develop a character that I can fully express on stage.”

Her decision to retire from it now, she confesses, is hard to put into words. “It’s the right time. Other performers always say that you will know when the time comes. I never thought that I would, but then something clicks, and you just know it’s time to move on and try other things.” And while she’s had her share of injuries—including breaking her fifth metatarsal—she says that the physical demands of ballet are only one factor in her decision to retire. “It’s a little bit of everything. It is your mind, as well as your body. I’ve had a wonderful career. And it is just the right time.”

What will she miss most? Ochoa mentions the audience first, but says she’ll also miss the arduous rehearsals. Despite the grueling hours—9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday with performances on the weekend—she admits, “I will miss the work you do with your partner before you go on stage.” It is this work ethic that Ochoa stresses with her students. “I think people don’t realize how much hard work is involved because they just see the beautiful part. There are a lot of things that a dancer needs, but I tell my students that hard work is most important,” she says.

Perhaps the most gratifying thing about Ochoa’s retirement, says Kaiser, is that she’s still in her prime as a performer. “It’s always sad to see a dancer’s performing career end, but in Arantxa’s case, she’s doing it of her own choice. She’s not retiring because of an injury or something else,” he explains. “It’s her decision, which is always a very positive thing for a dancer.”

And, as Ochoa’s performance in Giselle proves, she’s still at the top of her game.

Featuring Adolphe Adam’s lushly romantic score, the Pennsylvania Ballet’s production is visually stunning (John Hoey’s lighting design is wondrous) and emotionally affecting. In the title role, Ochoa’s dancing is precise and elegant, and she truly captivates in a performance that is both subtle and breathtakingly passionate.

As Kaiser observes, “there is a natural evolution in a ballet company. Will one dancer step in and fill (Ochoa’s) shoes? No. But a number of dancers will step in and bring their qualities to the repertoire we perform.” 

Through Oct. 28. $30-$125. Academy of Music, Broad and Locust sts. 215.893.1999. paballet.org

Oct. 24, 2012
By J. Cooper Robb
Philadelphia Weekly

Read at PhiladelphiaWeekly.com.

Free to Dance

04/25/2013 Features

Every morning of his work week, Alexander Peters leaves his home in Center City for a 20-minute walk to his job at the new Louise Reed Center for Dance a few blocks north of City Hall.
 
The 22-year-old performer uses the first few minutes of walking to clear his head and ready himself for a day of class and rehearsals, most recently for the company’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” in which he danced two leading roles.
 
Days of strenuous physical and artistic labor have become easier since the company moved to its new headquarters after several years’ temporary residence in a studio complex in the distant northwest Philadelphia neighborhood of East Falls.
 
For Peters and his colleagues, the days of carpool distractions, waiting for buses or trains, long side journeys to the gym and fighting to stay awake on the way home are over.
 
The new building means professionals don’t have to share a bathroom with kids from the company school. Visiting choreographers get a small changing room with a locker instead of a closet packed with company videos, as in East Falls.
 
Most of all, the pressure of commuting is taken off dancers and staff, many of whom live in Center City and don’t drive or even own cars.
 
“The benefit of no longer having to rely on a carpool or a regional rail schedule gives you a kind of independence,” says Peters. “You can do what you want during the day now.”
 
The Louise Reed center, named for a donor and former board chairman, occupies a renovated garage at North Broad and Wood streets that once housed armored trucks.
 
The glass-fronted $17.5 million building is the first phase of a planned complex to include a studio the size of the stage at the Academy of Music, the ballet’s home theater, and a building to house the company’s administrative staff.
 
The project is part of an ambitious slate of goals the ballet lists on its website that includes adding works to the company repertoire, hiring seven more dancers, beefing up the string section of its orchestra and establishing a satellite school in the suburbs.
 
The new center has five studios versus two in East Falls, which frees up  management of space for the artistic staff, but, because the studios are smaller, also constrains performers.
 
Tamara Hadley, a top ballerina with the company from the 1970s through the 1990s and now ballet mistress, favorably compares her light and airy workspace with a dark, wood-paneled studio in East Falls nicknamed “the cave.”
 
When guest choreographers were in residence, Hadley offered them her usual space and “lived in the cave,” she recalls. “I’m not missing that.”
 
The company started working in the new center in January and is still getting to know its new digs.
 
“We all sort of still feel in a transitory state,” Hadley says. “It sure is a breath of fresh air to be in a place of our own that’s not being rented ... it’s so easy to have three or four rehearsals going at once, and it’s impossible to schedule when you only have the two rooms.”
 
On a recent weekday, Hadley worked with three pairs of dancers rehearsing the divertissement pas de deux from the second act of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
 
As the couples moved through the stately adagios of George Balanchine’s choreography in the main studio, a different pair rehearsed some wildly modern moves for “Shut Up & Dance,” a charity benefit, in a smaller room down a hall carpeted in serene gray.
 
While the new center favors diverse rehearsal opportunities, it’s snug at times for the 40-member company, according to Hadley, who with the rest of the troupe eagerly anticipates the planned stage-sized rehearsal space.
 
While they’re waiting — no timeline for the new studio has been announced — dancers feel the pinch.
 
“Even on small steps, I see the dancing is small,” Hadley says. “The boys aren’t able to fly to their capacity to make their jumps. It affects their style and their movement greatly. ... You really have to have space, to feel like you’re moving through air, vast movements, you’re not squished.”
 
The facility has improved life for the company in other ways. The floors, though still being broken in, are not the overly loose work surfaces that applied in East Falls.
 
There, the floors were “too bouncy,” says Hadley. “We had a lot of stress fractures happening. (The old floor) jumps back, and slaps your feet.”
 
The new headquarters offers more resources to prevent and deal with injuries by placing the staff physical therapist in a bigger room with space for more conditioning equipment. The gym at South Broad and Walnut streets where the dancers have company memberships is a 10-minute walk.
 
Centralizing the ballet’s location has paid off not only in time saved, but in the kind of psychological management required by anyone in a creative profession.
 
Peters says the end of carpooling also means the dancers are spending less time anguishing over each other’s experiences, injuries and moods, as frequently happened when they were jammed into cars for twice-daily 40-minute commutes.
 
Now, interactions are on a professional level and produce less anxiety, the performer says.
 
“It gives people more independence, it gives you a fresh perspective on what you’re going to go in and do every day,” he says. “Every person can go in and be fresh every day, instead of letting everything pile up.”
 
Recently at stake for the young artist was the chance to dance both the impish Puck and the stately Oberon in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” roles for which he was elevated from the corps de ballet.
 
Of six performers cast in the roles, he is the only one who danced both.
 
Shifting back and forth required more than usual concentration, as when he heard Puck’s music while waiting to enter as Oberon.
 
“ ‘Oh, wait, am I supposed to be onstage?’ ” he recalls thinking. “There was that weird multiple personality going on in my head.”
 
The company will perform “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” next year at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., which Peters says will allow the company a chance to “revisit” their work.
 
“The steps are already in your body, but you can go out and approach the whole thing differently,” he says.
 
The Pennsylvania Ballet season continues with “Carnival of the Animals” May 9 through 12 and “Forsythe & Kylián” June 13 through 16, both at the Academy of Music. More information: www.paballet.org.
Published by: Bucks County Courier Times, Sunday March 24, 2013Written by Gwen Shift
Read more at phillyburbs.com>>

Dancer Spotlight: Hight Flyer

04/16/2013 Features

With two lead roles to his credit, Alexander Peters’ career is in liftoff.
 
Pennsylvania Ballet corps member Alexander Peters is only in his third year as a professional dancer, but his short career has already had more than its share of twists and turns. And while the twists have been surprising—including dancing the lead in two full-length ballets—the turns have been impeccable. “The first thing you notice about him is the technique,” says PAB artistic director Roy Kaiser. “He has one of the cleanest, purest classical techniques that I’ve seen on anyone.”
 
Peters began building that technique early, starting with gymnastics, then following his older sister into dance. Tap and jazz at 7 led to ballet at 10, with one small hitch along the way. “I remember skipping my first ballet class after I found out that I had to wear tights,” says Peters. “I called my mom and had her come pick me up.” Fortunately, he returned, and within a few years, he made ballet his focus. By the time he reached the School of American Ballet, he was a force. He won the school’s coveted Mae L. Wien Award and a Princess Grace Award, among others.
 
After graduation, he headed west to join Kansas City Ballet. He spent the 2010–11 season learning the ropes, and creating the lead in Tom Sawyer. The new full-length was slated to open the company’s new venue, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, in October 2011. But for Peters, another event would come first.
 
He returned home to Pennsylvania for a break and took some company classes at PAB. Kaiser offered him an apprentice contract on the spot and Peters jumped at it. He had long loved PAB’s Balanchine-heavy rep and been a fan of the company since childhood. But there was a lot riding on Peters back in Kansas City. With Kaiser’s blessing, he returned to dance Tom Sawyer—and danced it brilliantly. As Alastair Macaulay wrote in The New York Times: “Tom, marvelously danced by the young redhead Alexander Peters, is life-enhancing.”
 
Ready for the next chapter in his career, he joined PAB in time for The Nutcracker. He hit the ground working, impressing as much with his quiet determination as his natural ability. When he was cast in the title role of Trey McIntyre’s Peter Pan, he was still an apprentice—for a day, anyway. Kaiser watched his first rehearsal and gave him a corps contract. And the role, which included being strapped into a harness and executing moves in midair, was another soaring success.
 
Peters has achieved these heights without, well, notable height. “Technically, I’m 5' 6",” he says. “At first I felt like my height prohibited me from doing things, but it has actually enhanced my career. It’s made me more of an individual.” He adds, “Being short doesn’t have to limit you. If anything, it makes me want to dance bigger.” 
 
One potential difficulty: partnering. Soloist Evelyn Kocak danced opposite him in Peter Pan last spring. “We are roughly the same height, so that posed some interesting challenges for us,” she says. “But he is one of the most focused, hardworking people I’ve ever danced with. He brought a lot out in me. It was very inspiring!”
 
Kaiser sizes Peters up this way: “He’s unique, in size and physical appearance. He has that bright red hair. There’s no doubt who that is when he comes out on stage.” In Peters’ case, he says, that’s a good thing. “He’s tremendously likable. When people see him, they want to follow him, to go down that path with him.”
 
So where will that path lead next? “For Alex,” says Kaiser, “it’s wide open.”
 
 
At a Glance
Alexander Peters
Age: 22
Training: Allegheny Ballet Company, School of American Ballet
Dream role: Male lead in Balanchine’s “Rubies”
Favorite performance: The Gigue from Balanchine’s Mozartiana

 
Published in the April/May 2013 issue of Pointe Magazine.
By: Michael Northrop
Read at pointemagazine.com>>

Secret Health Obsessions

04/04/2013 Features

Secret Health Obsessions
Six dancers confess their quirks.

It takes more than training to make a great dancer. What powers those grand jetés? What helps a dancer unwind? Professionals constantly fine-tune their wellness regimens to discover the snack, the roller or hobby that will help them to achieve artistic and technical feats night after night.

REBECCA KROHN
New York City Ballet
Rank: Principal
Power elixir: Low-fat chocolate milk. “I learned about the recuperation powers of chocolate milk from the Olympic athletes. Now it’s my go-to drink after a hard show.”

Pre-performance habit: A 15-minute snooze three hours before show time. “It’s like hitting the restart button: It gives me a moment of peace so I can focus later.”

Go-to meal: Kale salad with brussels sprouts and almonds. “I make a big one to last the week and nibble on it all day long. Kale’s so healthy, full of iron and fiber. And it’s really filling, too.”

 
ALLISTER MADIN
Paris Opéra Ballet
Rank: Sujet
Go-to breakfast: Two pieces of dark Côte d’Or chocolate with a praline nut center. “I don’t like to eat too much before the day starts.”

Stress relief: Bach Flower Rescue Remedy. “I put a few drops under my tongue to calm down and focus. I use it every year before our internal competition for promotion, which is more stressful than any show.”

Favorite R&R strategy: Using Nexcare cold packs. “I put them on my Achilles tendons for 5 to 20 minutes. It’s the first thing I do in the morning, and I repeat in the evening.”

Power elixir: Starbucks’ Java Chip Frappuccino, with extra chips. “I can’t get through the day without it. I drop by a Starbucks near the Palais Garnier every afternoon for a venti. It’s my daily sugar boost since we have to watch what we eat, and it’s so filling it also calms me down.”Mental booster: Etiopathy. “I’ve been seeing an etiopath, a type of bonesetter, for four years. He can tell a lot just from someone’s pulse, and he’s articulated things that were unconscious for me. It helps with mental blocks or underlying issues, and it’s like a catalyst—it’s helped me mature.”

 

LAUREN FADELEY
Pennsylvania Ballet
Rank: Principal
Rehydration treat: Frozen ZICO Chocolate coconut water. “I put one in the freezer overnight. It’s a delicious way to hydrate my body.”

Foot release: Bouncy ball. “It’s a toy, but it does wonders for my big-toe tendon.”

Favorite gadget: Trigger Point Performance Therapy’s The GRID roller. “It looks crazy, a bit like a tire, but it’s great for rolling out the IT band. I don’t go anywhere without it. When in doubt, roll out everything.”

Favorite R&R strategy: “Cuddling with Emmett, my 170-pound English mastiff.”

MEGAN ZIMNY GRAY
Dutch National Ballet
Rank: Second soloist
Go-to breakfast: Oatmeal or porridge with raw hemp seeds and chia seeds. “I’m a vegetarian, so I have to find little ways to get protein. The seeds really help with that, and they keep my energy level up.”

Pre-performance habit: Role-specific mantras. “They depend on the qualities I want to project that night. I don’t share them with anyone; they’re quite personal. But I repeat them to myself to calm my nerves and put my head in the right place.”

Favorite supplements: New Chapter organic multivitamins and vitamin D (to help her body absorb calcium). “Living in Amsterdam, we hardly ever see the sun!”

Recovery sessions: Mensendieck therapy. “Whenever something hurts, our company’s Mensendieck therapist looks at my alignment to figure out why. She analyzes how I’m moving to get to the root of the problem.”

JOSEPH WALSH
Houston Ballet
Rank: Principal
Power elixir: Strawberry kombucha. “I drink it before, after and sometimes during performances. It’s alkaline, which is so good for cell regeneration.”

Recovery sessions: Trigger-point massage. “It manipulates the fascia, which can get in knots from scar tissue. I might cry during the sessions, but I will walk out the office pain-free.”

Go-to snack: Kale and avocado smoothie. “This is a dairy-free way to feel great. It really improves my stamina. I add chia seeds for extra punch.”

Favorite R&R strategy: Reading mental_floss magazine. “I love the quizzes. It really pushes you to think, which is great for getting your mind off dance.”

Published in the April/May 2013 issue of Pointe Magazine.
By Nancy Wozny and Laura Cappelle

Read at pointemagazine.com >>

Surviving "Nutcracker"

12/10/2012 Features, Nutcracker, 12-13

Pointe Magazine, December 2012
 
Dancers have a love-hate relationship withNutcracker. For many, it was the first ballet they saw; for even more, it was the first they ever performed. But, despite the nostalgia, December’s relentless marathon of shows takes a toll. If Nutcracker music is starting to make you a little loopy, you’re not alone!  
 
Abigail Mentzer
Soloist at Pennsylvania Ballet
 
 
First roles: Angel and Soldier in The Nutcracker movie with Macaulay Culkin
 
Favorite role: Lead Marzipan and Sugar Plum
 
Performances per season: About 30
 
All-time favorite Sugar Plum: Darci Kistler
 
How do you stay sane during Nutcrackerseason? I sew. It takes my mind off the day. And my gym is across the street from our theater, so in between shows—some Saturdays we have three in a day—I’ll go to the hot tub. 
 
How do you keep up your stamina? I swim laps about three times a week. It loosens up my joints. I always feel much more open and taller afterwards. 
 
What goes through your mind when you hear Nutcracker music in a store? Honestly? Anxiety. 
 
Favorite holiday traditions? Icing my feet! And I love to escape to New York City, because that’s where I grew up. 
 
Biggest Nutcracker nightmare? In my first year doing Sugar Plum, my shoe came off near the end of my variation! I had to do the whole greeting scene with it practically off my foot. I thought nothing could go wrong after that—but the next day, my partner was horribly sick, and in the pas when we did the no-handed fish, he didn’t feel me start to slide down. My belly was basically lying on the floor!
 
Read more at PointeMagazine.com. >>

A Swan Song For A Prima Ballerina

11/02/2012 Retirement, Radio, Features, 12-13

Jim Cotter speaks with Pennsylvania Ballet Principal dancer Arantxa Ochoa.  After 16 years with the company, 11 of those in leading roles, Ochoa will retire from the stage after dancing the title role in Giselle, the ballet’s season-opening production.

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October 20, 2012
WRTI

Artistic Director Roy Kaiser Weds Melissa deRuiter

08/13/2012 Features, Roy Kaiser

By Kellie Patrick Gates
The Inquirer
August 02, 2012

In early 2003, Melissa, now the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts' executive vice president of development, was grants manager at the Pennsylvania Ballet. She was seeking a hugely important Dance Advance grant to fund Christopher Wheeldon's Swan Lake. Needing to learn as much about the production as possible, Melissa made an appointment with the ballet's artistic director, Roy.

Before the interview, Melissa and Roy knew of each other. Roy had unknowingly gotten Melissa in trouble, when she followed his example of wearing jeans to work. But the interview was the beginning of a workplace friendship. The ballet won the grant.

In 2004, when Melissa was acting director of development, they worked together on the ballet's first capital campaign, raising $12 million for new repertoire and the endowment.

Melissa decided in 2005 to take her current position at PAFA, the organization where her career began right after college, and where she had previously served as membership director. The West Chester native gave the ballet a month's notice, so it could find her replacement.

"Are you still here?" Roy would joke whenever he saw her in the halls.

During that month, Melissa, who is now 40, and Roy, now 54, both attended an event at a board member's home, and Melissa heard the board member ask Roy if he would like to be set up on a date.

Roy had separated from his wife about a year before. His colleagues knew it hadn't been an easy time, but no one asked about such things at work.

When she overheard the conversation about dating, Melissa thought to herself, "I guess Roy is ready to begin moving on with his life."

It was the first time she ever thought about him in a personal way.

The fund-raising and philanthropy world of Philadelphia is small, and Melissa's mentors at both institutions had taught her to foster contacts. Plus, she found herself really wanting to know more about Roy as a person. "I very collegially asked him if he would want to go have a drink, and shoot the breeze about my time at the ballet."

Roy's schedule, both professionally and with his kids, Roy III, now 21, and Cristina, now 16, was difficult. But on the evening before Melissa's last day, they went for drinks at the London Grill in Fairmount.

The evening was supposed to be about strengthening ties and establishing a friendship that would last when they didn't share a workplace. But Melissa said she never would have had the courage to ask Roy to get a drink if she hadn't been leaving. And even if she had, Roy said, he probably would not have accepted.

"I honestly thought as I was walking in, we'd be there an hour, an hour and a half, and then I'd be going home," Roy said.

They had drinks, and talked about work. "But then it pretty quickly turned into a much more honest discussion, where we were starting to talk about each other and ourselves, and it started to cross over into our personal lives," Roy said. When Roy realized what was happening, he suggested they get a table.

Melissa asked Roy about the emotional difficulties of his divorce, and to his surprise, telling her felt completely natural.

"I hadn't done that with anybody, to that extent. I tend not to talk openly very easily," he said. "There was a connection that night, no doubt."

Melissa revealed details of her relationship history, too. So intense was the conversation that the waitress asked, "Are you two married yet?"

They were the last two people in the restaurant when it closed.

After her final day at work, Melissa was off to Stone Harbor for vacation. Before she left, there was a text from Roy - the first text message he had ever sent to anyone. "IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR A DRIVE. BE SAFE AND HAVE FUN," it said. Roy didn't realize he was shouting.

A few days later, right before Roy headed to Los Angeles for work, he called to ask if Melissa would like to see the Bolshoi Ballet when she returned from the beach. She didn't want to wait that long. "I really want to see you," she told him. "After you get back from L.A., come have dinner with me at the beach."

Roy thought she'd never ask.

Together at the beach, the sparks flew.

Roy was protective of his children, and it was a year before he introduced them to Melissa. Once Roy saw the bond grow between his children and his girlfriend, Roy knew he and Melissa would marry. "From my perspective, it kind of sealed the deal."

Melissa and Roy, who now live in West Mount Airy, had talked about marriage for years by December 2011, when the Pennsylvania Ballet was on tour in Ottawa, and Melissa flew up to spend time with Roy. "Melissa came to the theater, and said she found a beautiful jewelry store, and a ring she really liked." Roy took her back there to look, and while they bought nothing that day, they went shopping again back at home.

Melissa found a sparkly hearts-on-fire diamond she loved. Roy bought it and ordered a setting. His daughter came with him to pick it up, then he took a break from The Nutcracker to join Melissa's family Christmas celebration at her sister Cynthia's house, near Pittsburgh.

Cristina "knew I had the ring, and she was text messaging me every 10 minutes, 'Did you do it yet? Did you do it yet?' " Roy remembered.

After dinner, Melissa was washing dishes. She came back into the dining room to see if she had left anything behind. There was a napkin and her eyeglasses. "I picked up the napkin, and under the napkin was a box," she said.

Melissa opened the box, saw the ring, and looked into Roy's eyes. "Will you marry me?" he asked. She said yes, they kissed, and she forced the ring onto her hand, which was still pruny from the dishes.

They walked into the family room, where Melissa's family was already waiting with champagne.

The ceremony and reception for 100 were held at PAFA. "It's Melissa's professional home, and it also happens to be incredibly beautiful," Roy said. The rich colors "felt like a warm embrace," Melissa said. "And it's also part of history. It opened in 1876, and all of these people have passed through and had celebrations in that space since then."

The ceremony included poetry and humor, and references to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Cristina was a bridesmaid and Roy III a co-best man.

Roy was overwhelmed that all four of their parents, his four brothers, Melissa's sister and brother, and friends from around the country all made it to Philadelphia.

Before Roy became the Pennsylvania Ballet's artistic director, he was a dancer with the company, and before that, a Pennsylvania Ballet student. Go back even further, and you find the young man from Perth Amboy singing and dancing with his brothers as the Kaiser Brothers. When it was time for Roy's co-best man and brother Russell to make a speech, he didn't. Instead, the Kaiser Brothers regrouped - with Russell's son, Avery, filling in for Roy - and sang a special version of "Under the Boardwalk," with new lyrics all about Roy and Melissa. "It brought the house down," Roy said. 

For Melissa, the wedding began before its official beginning, as she stood in her hotel room and read a letter Roy had written to her. "He promised to love me forever," she said. "That got me."

Roy stood on the landing of the grand staircase with his best men, watching the procession of bridesmaid and matrons of honor and flower girls. Then finally, there was Melissa, with her eyes locked on his. "For me, that's where the wedding began, as she came down the stairs," he said. Roy cried until she kicked up a leg to reveal a teal-blue shoe. "Then I cracked up."

A bargain: Le Meridien hotel gave the couple a 50 percent discount on a block of guest rooms. It was an incredible price, and over-the-top service, Melissa said.

The splurge: Trolley transportation and a tour from Philadelphia Trolley Works, and Marcie Blaine Artisanal Chocolates' LOVE Park confection for out-of-town guests.

The getaway: A week in Paris.

 

Read at Philly.com.

U.D. resident has stage presence

06/17/2012 Behind the Scenes, 11-12, Features

May 06, 2012
The story of Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up, is a familiar one to many. But seeing it on the stage in a full-length ballet will be a first for most Philadelphia audience members.
 
The Pennsylvania Ballet is presenting the Philadelphia premiere of Trey McIntyre’s “Peter Pan.” It opened May 3 and continues through May 13 at the Academy of Music.
 
During the performances, all eyes will be on the dancers onstage and on the spectacular flying sequences. But behind the scenes Tony Costandino of Upper Darby also has a key role.
 
As stage manager for the company, he’ll stand backstage at each performance, wearing headphones, reading the score, looking intently at the stage or at a monitor, which shows everything happening onstage.
 
He calls the lighting cues, gives cues to the stage crew and oversees numerous other backstage details.
 
“My job is to run the show from the minute the house lights go down until the very end when they go up,” said Costandino. “It’s my responsibility to know the entire show.”
 
A full-length ballet like “Peter Pan” has special challenges for the stage manager, especially because its the first time with this ballet. It was originated by the Houston Ballet, and the Pennsylvania Ballet is the first company outside of Houston to do it.
 
“It’s totally new to us,” said Costandino.
 
One challenge was all the activity packed into the first act.
 
“It’s fast-paced from the moment the curtain goes up,” said Costandino. “It starts with the fairies, then the parents, the children, and finally the arrival of Peter Pan.”
 
Then, too, there’s an extended flying sequence in Act I. At his first entrance, Peter is not flying.
 
But in the next one, “he’s flying from the moment he comes on until he exits,” said Costandino. “It’s a lengthy sequence of flying. And what’s so impressive is that he flips and spins and does all sorts of things.”
 
There’s still another flying sequence in Act III, when Peter flies back to Neverland. For both scenes, wires are used for the flying, and they are connected to other apparatus, and to computers.
 
The basics are provided by a company called “Flying by Foy.”
 
“It designs flying rigs and apparatus that are used all over the world,” said Costandino. One of their technicians was assigned to work full time with the company on this show.
 
To practice the flying scenes, the Pennsylvania Ballet first rented Haverford School’s theater.
 
“We rigged up all the equipment and practiced for an entire week, and it went great,” said Costandino.
 
Although all the flying sequences are automated and controlled by computer, Costandino handles everything else that surrounds the flying, for instance, the lighting.
 
“We don’t want the wires to be visible while Peter Pan is flying, so the lighting has to be very limited,” he said.
 
That’s why the flying sequences take place at night. Costandino especially likes the visual effects at the end of Act I, when Peter and Wendy fly off.
 
“It’s nighttime, the stars are out, and they’re flying above London,” he said. “It’s very impressive.”
 
Act II keeps him especially busy. This is when Captain Hook arrives on his ship, and Peter Pan and the Lost Boys come on another ship.
 
“A lot of set pieces are moved on and off the stage,” said Costandino, whose role is to call the cues for when to move particular pieces of the set. Then the stage crew does the actual moving.
 
Act III opens on the deck of Captain Hook’s ship. His pirates have captured the Lost Boys.
 
“There’s a big fight scene between the pirates and the boys, and between Hook and Peter,” Costandino said.
 
Behind the scenes, he supervises the cues, including sound effects. During the battle, there are explosive sounds.
 
“I call the cue, someone presses a button, and there’s a ‘boom,’” he said. In all, the boom is heard four times.
 
Lighting cues, sound cues, spotlight cues and more, Costandino oversees it all. In all, he estimates there are about 250 different cues in the three-act ballet.
 
Whatever the challenge, this veteran stage manager can handle it. He’s been with the Pennsylvania Ballet for 30 years, and has worked on hundreds of ballets during his tenure.
 
Each ballet is like an individual show. Besides full-length ballets, other programs present several ballets in one performance.
 
“So I can do upward of 16 different ballets in one season,” Costandino said. “The work is changing all the time.”
 
Along with familiar ballets like the popular “Nutcracker,” there are new works, and “Peter Pan” is one of them. It’s a first for the company and the stage manager. He predicts audiences will enjoy this premiere.
 
“It follows closely the original story, but this is the chance to see it live,” he said. “Also, it’s one of the most family-oriented ballets we’ve ever done. It has appeal for everyone, regardless of age.”
 
IF YOU GO: Performances of the Pennsylvania Ballet premiere of “Peter Pan” at the Academy of Music run through May 13. Tickets are available online at www.paballet.org, by phone at 215-893-1999 or at the Kimmel Center box office.
 
By Ruth Rovner
 Special to the Times
Read at delcotimes.com.

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