Cindy Huang, MCB Corps de Ballet, recently took the Flip camera with her to document the behind-the-scenes of The Neighborhood Ballroom! Cindy captured rehearsal and backstage action in this special glimpse of the ballet during opening weekend at Adrienne Arsht Center.
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Post by Principal Dancer Deanna Seay
Ah…full-length story ballets. Often beautiful, always entertaining, audiences love to watch a story unfold onstage during an evening. Someone is always dancing, whether the corps de ballet or the principals, and the corresponding narrative seems to help the audience understand the dancing language. One of the six full-length works in our repertoire, The Neighborhood Ballroom is unique in its focus on several different time periods (the Belle Epoque, Jazz Age, 1940s war years, and the 1950s) and the related dance rage of each era). Edward Villella’s tribute to these different eras is a product of his extensive dance knowledge, and it is his vision that is fully realized with this production. His sense of detail brings to life four different acts dance trends, spanning from 1912 to the 50s.
Any full-length narrative work requires a lot of preparation, and The Neighborhood Ballroom is no exception. There are many details that must be polished to allow the story to emerge. Working these things out takes time; long rehearsals with intense focus are required to absorb these details, and while the process is ultimately rewarding, it is also exhausting. Each era must be recreated so as to be able to distinguish one from the other; the restrained behavior during the days of Absinthe and the Boston Waltz differs from the crazy experimentation that occurred during the Jazz era and the Quick-Step. One of the wonderful things about The Neighborhood Ballroom (or just “Ballroom,” as we call it) is that these nuances are achieved through the choreography, with the mood of each period expertly conveyed through its corresponding style.
It would not be possible to perform this work if the dancers in it did not love to dance so much. To begin with, there is so much dancing involved that several dancers are required to appear in all four acts. After many hours of rehearsals learning very detailed, style-specific choreography, watching the company members transform themselves from one period to another is very similar to watching a chameleon change colors – they fit themselves into the style instantly and effortlessly. The principals in each act work out the details of their individual characters, adding further dimension to the wonderfully-inventive pas de deuxs that occur throughout the evening. The technical side of this production is also very complicated; the level of excitement in watching the production crew accomplish the many special effects backstage nearly rivals the excitement of watching the dancers onstage. It never ceases to amaze me how much goes into the ambiance onstage; those beautiful serene moments that people see are the product of much more than meets the eye.
Deanna Seay in The Neighborhood Ballroom. Photo © Joe Gato.
We are ending our Love Series with a bang! Here are Edward Villella, Founding Artistic Director and CEO of Miami City Ballet, and his wife Linda Villella, Director of the Miami City Ballet School. Edward and Linda have been married for many, many moons and have a daughter, Crista Villella, who is a ballet mistress with MCB.
We hope you have enjoyed our Love Series! Take the time to celebrate love and friendship on Sunday and have a very happy Valentine’s Day!
More MCB LOVE!
Joan Latham, MCB Ballet Mistress, and former MCB dancer Arnold Quintane, met while dancing together at Miami City Ballet and have been married for ten years! They have two beautiful little girls. Who knows? Maybe they will have the dancing bug just like Mom and Dad.
Principal dancer Deanna Seay and former MCB dancer Mikhail Nikitine completed each other after they met at Miami City Ballet. The married couple recently took the stage together again during Program II in “Diamonds Pas de Deux” to honor Deanna’s last season with the Company. She will be retiring in April after 21 seasons with MCB and will truly be missed.
Deanna Seay and Mikhail Nikitine in Divertimento No. 15. Choreography by George Balanchine. Copyright The George Balanchine Trust. Photo © Steven Caras.
This is such a magical love story! Principal dancer Haiyan Wu and principal soloist Yang Zou (or just Zou, as we call him) crossed paths earlier in life but never met until they were at Miami City Ballet. They recently added the title of “parents” to their resumes after the arrival of their baby boy, Eric William.
More MCB LOVE!
Returning guest artist (and former principal dancer) Katia Carranza and former principal dancer Luis Serrano’s love blossomed out of a friendship created at Miami City Ballet. They are happily married and currently living in Mexico. Luis is a director in Ballet de Monterrey and Katia is a dancer with the company! We are so happy for them and very excited that Katia is back to dance with us once again.
These two are practically on their way down the isle! Engaged dancers Callie Manning, MCB Soloist, and Didier Bramaz, MCB Principal Soloist, take part in our Love Series. Watch as they look lovingly at each other while giving you a glimpse into their lives.
More MCB LOVE!
Ashley Knox, MCB Corps de Ballet, and Alex Dufaur, former MCB dancer, tied the knot a few years ago and are living happily ever after. Plus, Alex isn’t just an MCB alumni, he also photographs the Company.
Leigh and Brad, sitting in a tree! In our second installment of the Love Series, Leigh-Ann Esty and Bradley Dunlap, both corps de ballet members, talk about life outside of the Company and play our question game. Will they get them all right?
More MCB LOVE!
Cupid’s aim was on the money when he hit Kristin D’Addario, corps de ballet member, and Peter Doll, former MCB dancer and current Assistant Stage Manager. They are another young, fun couple who met and fell in love at Miami City Ballet.
Valentine’s Day is on Sunday and love is in the air! It’s amazing how many people have been hit by Cupid’s arrow here at Miami City Ballet. All this week, we will be paying homage to the Company love birds in our MCB Love Series.
Check in each day for video interviews with some of the couples in the Company — Haiyan Wu and Yang Zou, Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra, Leigh-Ann Esty and Bradley Dunlap, Callie Manning and Didier Bramaz, and Edward and Linda Villella! We’ll also be posting pictures of dancers who are married to or dating someone they’ve met at MCB.
To kick off our Love Series, here are Jennifer and Carlos! Watch as they talk about their lives together and play a little game to see how well they really know each other.
Yann Trividic is back to dance the principal role of The Poet in Edward Villella’s The Neighborhood Ballroom. We caught up with the former principal dancer earlier in the season to see how it felt to be back. But now it’s almost show time! In a couple days, Yann will take the stage to reprise the role that was created on him. We sat down with Yann to talk about taking the stage again.
Don’t miss your chance to see Yann dance this weekend (February 5-7) at Adrienne Arsht Center, at Broward Center on February 12-14, and at Kravis Center on February 19-21.
Post by Michael Sean Breeden
When I was a young dancer at the School of American Ballet, I became enraptured with the world of Balanchine. I had always known that it was music that made me want to dance, but the steps in his ballets seemed to pour forth directly from the music in ways that sparked my imagination like never before. Each new ballet I saw or learned revealed different facets of his genius to me. I knew that I wanted to make dancing these ballets my life.
The majority of the repertoire we dance at Miami City Ballet is George Balanchine’s work and being in this Company has given me many wonderful opportunities to dance corps and demi-soloist roles in his ballets. In ballets like “Diamonds” and Square Dance there is nothing like sharing the greatness of the stage, music and choreography with your peers who, in this Company, we are lucky to say are also our closest friends. While I have relished these opportunities, I was very excited to have the chance to perform two major roles in ballets by Balanchine done in Program II: Divertimento No. 15 and Valse Fantaisie (1953).
Divertimento No. 15 is a Balanchine classic danced by many companies around the world, and the only major work he ever made to music by Mozart. Balanchine said it was the greatest divertimento ever written and he paid homage to Mozart by accompanying it with some of his finest choreography. The ballet is a classical dancer’s dream, with each step perfectly blending Balanchine’s own choreographic innovations with tributes to past masterwork by Petipa. After navigating through typical opening weekend jitters, I find myself presently comfortable enough to find ways to make each show unique. Trying to fill the music differently or find new moments to relate to your partners onstage is a wonderful way to make the ballet come alive for you and the audience. Getting to perform a lead role in a classic like “Divert”, as the dancers call the ballet, is one of the most rewarding onstage experiences I have had yet.
While “Divert” is a revered classic, the 1953 version of Valse Fantaisie we perform is a gem that is little seen and would be all but extinct if it were not for Miami City Ballet. Having danced the 1967 version of Valse Fantaisie as a member of Boston Ballet II, it has been a particularly interesting experience for me to perform the earlier version. While both have many merits, they are similar only in sweep and lightness; little links the two choreographically. Being able to compare two very different perspectives by George Balanchine on a single piece of music has proven fascinating.
Both ballets have provided me with great challenges and pleasures. “Divert” is a masterful exercise in classical simplicity and elegance, while Valse Fantaisie (1953) challenges its dancer’s stamina and requires them to devour space. While it is bittersweet to be nearing my final performances of these ballets, I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and hope that one day I will find myself performing in them once more.
Michael Sean Breeden and Tricia Albertson in Divertimento No. 15. Choreography by George Balanchine. Copyright The George Balanchine Trust. Photo © Sayre Berman of the Miami New Times.
Don’t miss your final chance to see Michael in Program II this weekend.
Amanda Weingarten, from Palm Harbor, Florida, joined Miami City Ballet in 2004 as a Company Apprentice and has since been promoted to Soloist (as of January 1). She trained at SAB, Classical Ballet Training Program in Tampa Bay, Florida, and Florida Ballet School. We sat with Amanda to talk about her recent promotion and her time with MCB.
We’ve shared pictures of Amanda at the Vail International Dance Festival in a previous post.
Come see Amanda dance this weekend at Broward Center. Don’t miss your last chance to see Program II.