Los Angeles Ballet's Christopher McDaniels / Photo by Reed Hutchinson

Ballet dancer Christopher McDaniel was raised from birth by his single grandmother in East Harlem when his drug-dependent mother was deemed unfit.  His father was incarcerated during most of McDaniel’s childhood. Though the boy loved to dance, antisocial behavior, belligerence and violence characterized his early years. However, a school field trip to see the Dance Theatre of Harlem changed his life. This first experience with classical ballet moved him to make a deal with his school principal: if McDaniel could behave and pull his grades up, she would contact the dance company and arrange an audition. Within a year, McDaniel had a full scholarship to the Dance Theatre of Harlem School.

“Dance became my safe place, my secret place,” says McDaniel, “a place where I didn’t feel the need to prove how big and bad I was. I credit dance with saving my life.”

His focus and discipline earned positive feedback from the teachers at DTH. McDaniel found he had a talent for remembering choreography, strength and agility beyond that of most of the other young dancers, and a remarkably high jump. After additional training at Ballet Academy East, Boston Ballet and Jacob’s Pillow, McDaniel graduated from high school at age17 (the first of his family to do so) and signed his first professional contract – with the Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble.  He began performing immediately on the DTH 40^th Anniversary Tour.

“The tour mission was to bring dance to communities that may have never seen ballet before,” says McDaniel. “We were bringing a message of hope and inspiration to damaged youth in those communities, and I felt a personal responsibility to be on that stage. I wanted to inspire someone – one kid – the way I had been inspired. I felt I was representing something much larger than myself.”

Currently finishing a second season with Los Angeles Ballet, McDaniel has performed solo parts in both “The Nutcracker” and “Swan Lake” throughout LA County. He looks forward to working with disadvantaged youth around Southern California as a part of LAB’s Power of Performance! (POP!) program, which brings hundreds of underprivileged children to performances, free of charge, through a network of community partners.

“I know that there is someone out there, in one of those neighborhoods, needing a word of encouragement,” he says. “I received a mandate from my hero, the legendary Arthur Mitchell, at Dance Theatre of Harlem. I’m to live ‘in service to the art form’ – and, to me, that means a commitment to giving back, in any way I can!”

—Penny Orloff

Christopher McDaniel appears with Los Angeles Ballet in “NextWaveLA” – a program of four world premieres by Southern California choreographers Kitty McNamee, Stacey Tookey, Sonya Tayeh and Josie Walsh at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center on May 12 at 7:30 p.m., at Glendale’s Alex Theatre on May 19 at 7:30 p.m., and at Santa Monica’s Broad Stage on May 26 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and May 27 at 2 p.m. For tickets and information, visit www.losangelesballet.org.

Kenta Shimizu and Allynne Noelle in Los Angeles Ballet's "Swan Lake" / Photo by Reed Hutchinson

Kudos to the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the LA Board of Supervisors, for supporting Los Angeles Ballet’s completely credible “Swan Lake” in five venues around LA County. The Arts Commission’s major funding of the production acknowledges our city’s worthiness of LAB’s continuing presence as LA’s own world-class ballet company.

The quintessential classical ballet, “Swan Lake” first appeared in 1877. The earliest of the great Tchaikovsky ballets, the music uses Russian folk music, leitmotif, and orchestral color to tell the Romantic tale of a love-struck prince, an enchanted maiden, and an evil sorcerer.

LAB’s four-act “Swan Lake” is a towering accomplishment for the 6-year-old company. As staged by artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary, the piece retains its magical 19th-century style and flavor, while simplifying and clarifying some of the more arcane elements. In a bold departure from most modern productions, Christensen and Neary restore the original 1877 ending, in which Von Rothbart, the evil sorcerer, is vanquished by the Prince, and dies a particularly gruesome death.

Principal dancer Allynne Noelle takes on the demanding central role — playing both the Swan Queen and her treacherous, look-alike rival. A Southern California native, Noelle has spent the better part of the past decade honing her considerable skills in such companies as the National Ballet of Canada and Miami City Ballet. Now at the peak of her artistry, her revelatory interpretation of Odette/Odile places her among the greatest of today’s American ballerinas.

Noelle’s technique is perfection — her gorgeous extensions, precision footwork, spellbinding ports de bras, and extraordinary turns take one’s breath away. But beyond these virtuoso aspects of her dancing, it is her stillness in Act 2 that is most compelling. Here is an artist imbued with that indefinable quality we name Presence. Her virtuosity has no limits. All radiance and shimmer, Noelle’s Odette is a tortured soul, yearning for release, transformed by love. Her Act 3 Odile exudes a raw sexuality that culminates as the bravura 32 fouetté turns explode in a burst of depraved triumph.

Opposite her, Kenta Shimizu’s Prince Siegfried is flawless. The steadiness of his support and ease in the lifts enhance his partner’s transcendent performance. Currently enjoying an ever-increasing international career, Shimizu’s cool elegance and regal bearing are a perfect complement to Noelle’s emotional style.

Alternating with Noelle and Shimizu as the hapless lovers are Allyssa Bross and Christopher Revels. Discovered by Christensen and Neary during the month-long 2010 LAB Summer Intensive, Bross entered the company as a soloist during season five, rising within months to principal dancer. Her performances as Marie in “The Nutcracker” and as last season’s ethereal Giselle garnered national attention. In her first “Swan Lake,” Bross impresses with her stylistic purity and luminous characterization of the Swan Queen. Her Act 3 Black Swan is icy, treacherous; in her ultimate victory over Revels’ callow Prince, her seductive smile becomes a sneer of contempt. Gifted with exceptional grace and beauty, a solid technique, and formidable physical stamina, this young artist is clearly one to watch.

Audience favorite Revels brings an earthy sensuality to his first performances as the Prince. Having partnered Bross for “The Nutcracker,” “Raymonda Variations,” and “Giselle” last year, the pair have an easy rapport and a convincing chemistry together. This young man is gifted with a charismatic presence and a devil-may-care fearlessness that make his every entrance electrifying. Particularly impressive are his huge floating leaps, great strength in the lifts, and phenomenal endurance. Last year a nominee for the prestigious Princess Grace Award, at 20 years of age he continues to develop his prodigious talent under the inspired mentoring of Christensen and Neary.

As the evil von Rothbart, Nicholas De La Vega owns the stage. His dancing has about it a fatal glamour. LA balletomanes will remember his definitive Drosselmeyer in last December’s “The Nutcracker,” and his powerful performance in last season’s Sonia Tayeh world premiere, “My Greatest Fear.” De La Vega’s rapier-thin physique and flashing eyes are also featured in the April issue of Marie Claire magazine.

The production is replete with highlights. Guest artist Akimitsu Yahata dances the Jester with great wit — and spectacular leaps and turns. Act 3’s Court Scene features a plethora of folk-inspired dances. A bravura Neapolitan Dance features Isabel Vondermuhll and Christopher McDaniel; Kate Highstrete and Alex Castillo lead a spirited Hungarian Dance; and Chelsea Paige Johnston and Julia Cinquemani offer a mesmerizing Russian Dance.

Brilliant soloists aside, “Swan Lake” ultimately succeeds or fails on the strength of the women’s corps de ballet. Perhaps the greatest achievement of this production is LAB’s peerless ranks of swans. Every back has the same arch, every arm exhibits the same pure line from shoulder to fingertip, every neck is identically poised. Gliding across the stage in perfectly synchronized bourrées they are stunningly beautiful; in their moments of stillness, they are a living work of art. The second act Dance of the Cygnets is hypnotic as a petite foursome, arms interlaced, drill out perfectly coordinated pas de chats and échappés. This tour de force is all the more impressive considering that apprentice Sophie Silna, a product of the LAB School, stepped in to replace an injured colleague on a mere two days’ notice.

—Penny Orloff, Culture Spot LA

Performances continue at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach on Saturday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m. and at the Valley Performing Arts Center in Northridge on Saturday, March 31, at 7:30 p.m. For information and tickets, visit www.losangelesballet.org.

Widely respected for its long history of developing actors, composers, directors, and playwrights, one year ago KTC created INKubator – a monthly series dedicated to public readings of new works-in-progress. Since January 2011, the workshop has premiered new works by 11 musicians and nearly two-dozen writers, ages 17 to 80. The developmental process includes audience “talk-backs” and quarterly follow-ups with the artists to monitor their progress. INKubator has already moved four works to full production, with three more currently in final development stages and slated to premiere later this year.

Kathryn Graf wrote the LADCC nominated "Hermetically Sealed." / Photo courtesy of Katselas Theatre

The most recent of the INKubator plays to have its world premiere in the Katselas Theatre mainstage season of plays, Hermetically Sealed began life in playwright Kathryn Graf’s Connecticut home, where she had relocated three years ago. “I sat upstairs writing. My son, who didn’t know anybody in town, would play video games day in and day out,” she says. “I decided I had to make something out of this. A play seemed the obvious choice.”

Not wanting to make the protagonist a writer, Graf called a baker friend to explore having the central character work as a pastry chef for a local caterer. During a conversation about baking, her friend mentioned that eggs are hermetically sealed, safe in their own little world – and the play had its title. From there on, “the play really wrote itself,” says Graf.

Graf sent the work to several theaters around the country and got back notes expressing admiration and encouragement – but no offers for production. Then last year, KTC’s Gary Grossman approached her about doing a reading of Hermetically Sealed as part of the theater’s new INKubator series.

Grossman had started the program with collaborators Tony Abatemarco, Michael Kearns, and Susan Krebs because “it’s hard for writers like Kathy [Graf] to get their work on stage.” His idea was to find stage-worthy pieces that have not yet had public readings, develop the plays for production, and then “get them up!”

“I was very excited about it when I first read it,” Grossman says of Graf’s play. But he got even more excited when he saw the audience reaction to its first public reading in INKubator. “After another reading in front of a different audience, we felt Kathryn’s play was ready for a full production,” says Grossman.

In addition to staged readings of new plays, INKubator events can be solo performance, poetry, dance, or 
music – all in various stages of development and all with something to say. After each 
performance the audience and artist exchange views IN-Konversation.

Next up for INKubator is a staged reading of a new play with music, The Love Handyls, book by Bradley Kaseden and music by Adam Daniels on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 8 p.m.; and a jazz salon, Theme Scene – Heart Matters, on Sunday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m., at the Skylight Theatre, 1816 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz.

—Penny Orloff, Culture Spot LA

Information and tickets are available at (702) 582-8587 or www.katselastheatre.com.

Allynne Noelle as The Rose in Los Angeles Ballet's "The Nutcracker" / Photo by Reed Hutchinson

LA County’s resident classical ballet company, Los Angeles Ballet opens a sixth season with Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary’s original staging of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker.”  This sweet holiday treat is currently making its annual three-week tour from Glendale’s landmark Alex Theatre to UCLA’s Royce Hall to the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center.

The ballet opens on sumptuous storybook sets designed by LA artist Catherine Kanner. As a festive Christmas party gets underway at the Steinbaum house, young Clara – danced by Mia Katz – and her friends play with their favorite dolls. New to the role last year, Katz shows a deepening dramatic and technical artistry. Clara’s bratty brother, Franz, is played with devilish glee by Aidan Merchel-Zoric.

Sweeping into the party, the children’s Uncle Drosselmeyer brings mechanical dancing dolls to entertain the guests. Revealing himself as a fine dramatic dancer in last season’s Sonya Tayeh world premiere, the charismatic Nicolas de la Vega commands the stage in his first performances as the wizardly uncle.

Sparkling Isabel Vondermuhll repeats last year’s spicy performance as the commedia dell’arte Columbine Doll, partnered by Angel Lopez in a bravura company debut as Harlequin. Following his electrifying performance as Hilarion in last year’s acclaimed “Giselle,” Chehon Wespi-Tschopp brings the audience to a screaming frenzy with the virtuoso leaps and turns of Drosselmeyer’s Cossack Doll. Eighteen-year-old Pacific Northwest Ballet guest artist Nathaniel Solis guides his compact frame through perfect double tours en l’air and grands jetés with flashing eyes and a brilliant smile. This handsome young man is clearly one to watch.

The midnight battle between the brave toy soldiers and menacing mice is delightful, led by Zheng Hua Li as the high-leaping, hilarious Mouse King. As ever, the women’s corps de ballet presents a breathtaking Dance of the Snowflakes to end Act I.

Act II begins in the Palace of the Dolls, all brought to life by magical Uncle Drosselmeyer. Allyssa Bross and Christopher Revels made auspicious LAB debuts as presiding dolls Marie and her Cavalier in last season’s “Nutcracker.” In the short year since – which included their partnering in both “Giselle” and Balanchine’s “Raymonda Variations” – Bross has developed a confident insouciance to go along with her perfect technique and superb balance, flirting shamelessly with her adoring audience during the fiendish variations of a long and arduous Pas de Deux.

One year ago, Revels made an indelible impression with his ebullient, sky-high leaps and enormous strength and stamina. Now only 20 years old, he exhibits an authority and refinement rare in so young a premier danseur. The fortuitous partnership between these two young artists, carefully and wisely mentored by Christensen and Neary, brings out the best in both of them. Newly named company principals, they exude considerable star quality, which has created a national flurry of anticipation for their pairing in LAB’s upcoming “Swan Lake.” In alternate performances, the Cavalier is danced by returning guest artist Kenta Shimizu, who has parlayed his spectacular jumps, turns, and enormous lifts into a blossoming international career.

Second-act highlights included a sizzling, Flamenco-flavored Spanish Dance, featuring passion and precision from soloists Kate Highstrete, Kelly Ann Sloan, Alexander Forck and Zheng Hua Li.  Lithe and lovely Julia Cinquemani and majestic Alexander Castillo repeated their mesmerizing Arabian pas de deux from last year. Wespi-Tschopp vaulted through a show-stopping Russian Dance, joined by buoyant and acrobatic Christopher McDaniel and Tian Tan.

Always enchanting, the Waltz of the Flowers is especially striking with Allynne Noelle as The Rose. Her strong debut as Queen of the Wilis in last season’s “Giselle” marked her as a brilliant addition to LAB’s impressive roster of soloists. This season Noelle and Bross share performances as Marie and The Rose.

The children’s corps de ballet offers disciplined and precise step-work, and a rollicking sense of fun throughout the evening – no doubt inspiring the throng of young audience members, who can be seen whirling and leaping through the lobby after the show.

For five years, LAB has presented every one of its productions in at least three locations. A recipient of large grants from LA County Arts Commission and the Schubert Foundation, the company has announced two additional performance venues – in Long Beach and Northridge – for its production of “Swan Lake” in March.

“The Nutcracker” plays at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Saturday, Dec. 17, and Sunday, Dec. 18, at 1 and 5 p.m.; and Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Dec. 22, and Friday, Dec. 23, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 24, at 1 p.m. For tickets and information, please visit www.losangelesballet.org.

—Penny Orloff, Culture Spot LA

Tara Windley and Ann Colby Stocking in "Bhutan" / Photo by John Flynn

Daisy Foote’s gripping “Bhutan,” now in its West Coast premiere at LA’s Rogue Machine Theatre, is a time-bending tragedy that chronicles the disintegration of a small New Hampshire town. Focusing on one hard-luck farm family, Foote expertly weaves the personal with the socio-political, delivering a grim, last-gasp portrait of rural America.

The Conroy clan appears plucky and insular. Mary, a disabled widow played with white-hot intensity by Ann Colby Stocking, hangs on to the family farm by her shredded fingernails. Having raised her two children by herself after the bizarre accidental death of her husband, she employs a mix of despotism and emotional blackmail to keep the family together against the incoming tide of change. But she is ultimately no match for the unforgiving reality that unravels her fiction of a stable home. For people like the Conroys, change really does mean the end of the world.

As local farms are increasingly bought up and subdivided, the town is altered to accommodate the influx of educated, upscale new arrivals – among them, the well-traveled, retired university professor next door. Although the sophisticated neighbor never appears, her presence is the inexorable catalyst that finally vanquishes Mary’s illusion of safety. In befriending Mary’s young daughter, Frances, the old lady opens a door that cannot be closed again. Having been introduced to literature and music, and spellbound by her new friend’s photographs of faraway places (Bhutan, for one), Frances dreams of college and travel to Bhutan. As Frances, the incandescent Tara Windley is the heart of the drama. Appearing about 15 and very fragile, this subtle young actress commands the stage, imperceptibly growing in stature and resolve, until the final shattering scene.

Foote begins the play in the shabby kitchen of the farmhouse on Frances’ older brother Warren’s 18th birthday. Cast too early as Man of the House, the doomed Warren struggles under the relentless decay of the aging farmhouse and his mother’s increasing need.  Marco Naggar inhabits this character with a raw and shocking vulnerability. His metamorphosis from clueless schoolboy to hardened prison convict chills the blood.

Mary’s alcoholic sister Sara is played with a ferocious and desperate jollity by Tracie Lockwood. A kaleidoscope of conflicting emotions, Lockwood is by turns hilarious, repugnant, and pathetic. Among many compelling production elements, this performance, alone, is reason enough to catch “Bhutan.”

Director Elina de Santos has created an ensemble tour de force, an uncomfortable and arresting intimacy that simultaneously fascinates and repels. Set designer Mark Guirguis ably delivers the cozy working-class farmhouse kitchen at the center of this family’s life. Leigh Allen’s lighting design offers seamless transformation from kitchen to prison, morning to midnight, dream to reality. Christopher Moscatiello’s distinctive soundscape illustrates the impending death of a failing furnace, the dream of foreign travel, and the reality of prison doors.

–Penny Orloff, Culture Spot LA

“Bhutan” continues through Dec. 19 at Rogue Machine Theatre, 5041 W. Pico Blvd., LA. For information and tickets, call (323) 930-0747, or visit www. roguemachinetheatre.com.

Los Angeles Ballet presents "Giselle" at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. / Photo by Reed Hutchinson

The oldest surviving Romantic ballet and one of the most popular ballets of all time, “Giselle” (1841) was the very first “ballet blanc,” featuring the corps of women in long white tutus which has become the symbol of classical ballet.

As staged by Los Angeles Ballet Co-artistic Director Thordal Christensen, this timeless masterwork is a living example of the Romantic ideal: the vengeful, supernatural Wilis contrasted with the innocent, ethereal Giselle, whose love for Albrecht transcends heartbreak and death. Christensen’s pedigree — internationally renowned Bournonville specialist, celebrated premiere danseur and former artistic director of the venerable Royal Danish Ballet — perfectly fits him to the task. His choreography modifies the original Coralli-Perrot-Petipa stagings, effectively updating certain classical conventions, without modernizing away the 19th-century magic.

As Giselle, Alyssa Bross’ first act presents a beautiful, happy girl in the blush of first love.  Her piquant footwork and stylish ports des bras paint her character as confident, even flirtatious. Only when Giselle’s mother — played by Co-artistic Director Colleen Neary — expresses grave concerns for the girl’s frail health, do we notice something amiss. Bross seems to pale before our eyes, presaging the tragedy to come.  Her “mad scene” and death are touchingly effective.

Bross is partnered by Christopher Revels as Albrecht. Both of these young artists debuted with LAB a scant six months ago, as leads in the company’s annual “Nutcracker.” Partnered again for March performances of Balanchine’s “Raymonda Variations,“ the two have established an easy rapport, their complementary styles and personalities creating wonderful onstage chemistry.

In his first “story” ballet, Revels could not be more ideal for the role.  His extreme youth — he is 19 years old — and ebullient personality create an Albrecht whose only sin is his infatuation with a beautiful and charming peasant girl.  Physically, Revels is tall and handsome, with admirable stamina and enormous strength in his lifts. His calling card is his jump — the sheer height and hang time take one’s breath away. When he performs the multiple entrechats-six — Albrecht’s signature move — there is a collective intake of breath out in the audience, followed by an eruption of applause and cheers.

In the second act, Bross’ childlike joy is transformed to transcendent compassion. Made weightless by her own perfect bourrees and Revels’ effortless lifts, Bross’ ghostly Giselle seems made of mist as her undying love rescues Albrecht from the Wilis’ wrath.

Having dazzled an appreciative audience with her virtuoso performance in the March production of “Raymonda Variations,” Kate Highstrete offers an icy, implacable Myrta, Queen of the Wilis.  Etched by her long, slender limbs, Highstrete’s arabesque penche — the most enduring leitmotif of the ballet — gives this vampire-like creature a majestic beauty.  Founding LAB dancer Kelly Ann Sloan and recent arrival Molly Flippen bring a spectral buoyancy, a filigree line, and their own gorgeous deep arabesques to the Queen’s attendants, Moyna and Zulma.

Giselle’s jealous village suitor, Hilarion — whose discovery of Albrecht’s disguise precipitates the girl’s tragic death — is all smoldering intensity in the masterful interpretation of Chehon Wespi-Tschopp.  This charismatic dancer drives the drama in the first act; his spectacular leaps and turns in Act II make his death scene riveting.

The first act bravura Peasant Pas de Deux was danced by LAB debut artist Allyne Noelle, alternating as Myrta, and second-season leading dancer Zheng Hua Li. Noelle’s technical brilliance and bright exuberance in this dance contrast with her grave imperiousness as the Queen of the Wilis.  Li is the quintessential danseur noble, combining physical beauty and regal bearing with exceptional grace, purity of line, impeccable leaps and turns, and great strength in the lifts.  Meant to alternate as Albrecht, in this performance his painful landings of pitch-perfect jetes and double tours en l’air revealed the serious injury that has sidelined him for the rest of the run.

Replacing Li as Albrecht is returning guest artist Kenta Shimizu, who flew in from Japan last Wednesday to partner Chelsea Paige Johnston as Giselle.  Having performed the role numerous times, Shimizu delivers a fully realized interpretation, infusing the considerable technical challenges with dramatic depth and nuance. Named “One of 25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine, he is a consummate artist, currently enjoying a blossoming international career.

Dancing her first lead for the company, Johnston’s characterization of Giselle proves that she is more than capable of carrying a full-length work on her slender shoulders.  Appearing slight and fragile, Johnston certainly suggests the vulnerable young peasant girl of Act I; but she absolutely embodies the otherworldly spirit she becomes after her death, returning from the grave to dance in the moonlight. Her perfect balance, ravishing extensions, and graceful arms and hands perfectly suit the unforgiving 19th-century style. Johnston’s incandescent portrayal makes her Giselle feel inevitable and unique. In their final scene, Johnston and Shimizu are heart-stopping in their virtuosic delicacy.

Also notable in the second cast are Grace McLoughlin with Christopher Revels in the Peasant Pas de Deux. An audience favorite, McLoughlin danced Effie in “La Sylphide” two years ago, before her dazzling breakout performance in Balanchine’s “Kammermusik” in season four, and her radiant Rose in the “Nutcracker” Waltz of the Flowers last December.

The strong dancing and acting in all the principal roles reveal the excellence of Christensen’s detailed coaching.  But it is the female corps in Act II, breathtakingly perfect, that leaves the lasting impression.  The immaculate portrayal of the Wilis in the work’s signature image — the rows of women in perfect symmetry, not a limb out of place, hopping forward in arabesque — is the crowning moment of the evening’s magic.  Here is the real proof of this company’s excellence: a group of dancers so disciplined and filled with the spirit of the work.  LAB’s “Giselle” showcases the emergence of a world-class company, currently at the top of its game.

LAB’s “Giselle” continues at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica on Friday, May 27, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 28, at 6 p.m. (sold out); and Sunday, May 29, at 2 p.m. (sold out). For tickets and information, visit www.losangelesballet.org.

Grace McLoughlin and Chehon Wespi-Tschopp in "My Greatest Fear" / Photo by Reed Hutchinson

The human mind arrives at stunning truths which, once known, cannot be unknown. The most life-altering of all insights – the inescapable reality of Death – comes to all of us at some point. The force of the blow that precipitates our dark understanding, and our age when it comes, color forever how we approach the rest of our lives. Some bury their knowledge under pleasant distractions; some hide the dark shadow in drugs and alcohol; some wait, in fear and suffering, for Death’s inexorable approach. And some sublimate that suffering into Art.

Arguably one of America’s greatest commercial choreographers, Sonya Tayeh proved herself a significant 21st-century artist as well with “My Greatest Fear,” her March 5 world-premiere work for Los Angeles Ballet’s CELEBRATION at Glendale’s Alex Theatre.

Tayeh’s horrifically tragic early childhood and subsequent PTSD led to decades in constant, crippling fear of death.  A shockingly personal work, “My Greatest Fear” elevates her journey from inarticulate grief to eloquent expression. For a preview, go to http://www.losangelesballet.org/html/news_video1.htm.

The performance features remarkable commitment and synergy among Tayeh’s 12 dancers, who collaborated on the piece through a development process which included sharing personal stories of loss and photographs of deceased loved ones. Tayeh’s rehearsals incorporated guided meditations to bring her dancers into deep contact with their own experiences of grief.  She admits, “It was a risk. I didn’t know if they could – or would – go there with me.”

“Go there,” they do. In performance, the dancers achieve a level of emotional intensity and an intimacy rarely seen in the theater. Grace McLoughlin and Chehon Wespi-Tschopp are heartbreakingly tender with each other throughout an extended pas de deux full of complex combinations and gorgeous lifts. For all their technical virtuosity, it is this emotional depth that sets them apart. Tyler Burkett’s solo tour de force of leaps, turns, and acrobatic floor work is dramatically motivated and completely organic. Large and powerful Nicholas De La Vega exhibits striking vulnerability, dancing with total conviction and brimming eyes.

Chelsea Paige Johnston, who suffered broken ribs during a rehearsal, leaves the stage with tears streaming down her cheeks after the opening tableau. “An injury lets us know how fragile we really are. Unable to dance, I felt the total loss of my identity,” she says. “But, rather than replacing me, Sonya altered the choreography to let me still be a part of it.”  Completely cohesive, later in the piece the other dancers react to Johnston’s absence as to a wound, to the severing of a limb.

A master of composition, Tayeh uses not only a unique movement vocabulary, but stillness as well in her shattering confrontation with death. In the end, the dancers find not acceptance, but surrender. Tayeh’s moving tone poem to music of Max Richter and Arvo Pärt is underscored beautifully through Kanique Thomas’ dramatic costumes and Ben Pilat’s imaginative and evocative lighting. Judging from the extended ovation for Tayeh and her dancers and the furtive repairs to streaked mascara in the ladies’ room at intermission, many in the audience were as moved as I was.

Opening the CELEBRATION program was the ”Raymonda Variations,” Balanchine’s 1961 tribute to the 1898 ballet choreographed by Marius Petipa to music by Glazunov. Balanchine’s characteristically narrative-free distillation provides a lush showcase for a principal couple and five soloists from the women’s corps de ballet.

A Fragonard painting come to life, the lovely opening tableau – featuring fluffy pink tutus from the original Karinska designs, on loan from Pennsylvania Ballet – drew appreciative applause. Principals Monica Pelfrey and Christopher Revels delivered the goods with energy and refinement. Pelfrey’s graciousness and warmth, no less than her perfect balance and lovely ports des bras, announce her as an ascending star. All of 19 years old, Revels is a major find, conquering the ballet’s technical and partnering demands with ease. Bravura solo performances from McLoughlin, Isabel Vondermuhll, Julia Cinquemani, Kelly Ann Sloan, and Kate Highstrete in the variations, and the celebrated perfection of LAB’s women’s corps, reinforce the company’s growing national reputation.

Balanchine’s 1954 “Western Symphony,” set to Hershy Kay’s honky-tonk saloon-piano and country fiddles arrangements of traditional American folk tunes, provides the evening’s boisterous finale. Costumes – again by Karinska – and scenery are courtesy of San Francisco Ballet. The women are tarted up in pink, blue, red, or green bustiers with multi-colored tutus; the men are duded up in black western shirts and Stetsons, against a Wild West street scene backdrop.

Everything about this piece works.  One minute, amorous couples dance a soft prairie waltz; and the next, four dudes are kickin’ up the dust with bounding double tours en l’air. The choreography permits the dancers to add personal touches of comic characterization to their roles. LAB’s resident dramatic ballerina, having scorched the scenery in “The Evangelist” and “Prodigal Son” in past seasons, Melissa Barak is brilliantly deadpan and scintillatingly saucy in the Allegro. She blazes through the intricate footwork with a devil-may-care panache. Alexander Castillo, who partnered the Arabian Dance in his company debut in December, partners Barak effectively, especially in his effortless lifts. His long limbs and clean technique are a pleasure to watch.

In the Adagio second movement, vixen Pelfrey lures elegant rhinestone cowboy Zheng Hua Li away from four other females. All liquid arms and beautiful extensions, she toys with his affections, and then moseys on. Li gets the evening’s biggest laugh – with a simple shrug, as he returns to his four ladies.  Lovely Alyssa Bross is a witty saloon floozy in the Rondo third movement, partnered by Revels with tireless bounce and joie de vivre. Revels plays a charming “Aw, shucks!” ingenuousness, while soaring through a succession of unbelievably high jumps.

McLoughlin and Burkett joined the other principals in the hoedown of a finale. Their brief appearance is a reminder that, though at first the dance was in four movements – each led by a principal couple – Balanchine cut the Scherzo in 1960. All that remains for its leading couple is their appearance in the last roundup. The curtain comes down on the entire company, in a swirl of pirouettes in colorful rows.

Local audiences have three more chances to experience Los Angeles Ballet’s CELEBRATION: at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m.; and at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse on Saturday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 20, at 2 p.m. Tickets and information are available at www.losangelesballet.com.

Helena Thordal-Christensen as Clara in LA Ballet's "Nutcracker" / photo courtesy of LA Ballet

In an era of catastrophic personal belt tightening and calamitous corporate downsizing, too many promising arts organizations have fallen face-first into the chasm of disappearing dollars. When even an established, respected old organization like the Pasadena Playhouse had to close its doors for a time, it is beyond astonishing that a new classical ballet troupe not only survives, but thrives.

Since the debut of its original production of “The Nutcracker” in November 2006, the Los Angeles Ballet has been met with critical and commercial success, nearly doubling its budget over five seasons without a penny of government support. “Considering the colossal events of the last five years – Katrina, the tsunami in Indonesia, the financial collapse and subsequent recession, the Haiti earthquake – LAB’s steady growth from $900,000 to $1,624,000 is nothing short of a miracle,” says Julie Whittaker, the company’s executive director.

The central ingredient in LAB’s success is the consistent high quality of the product. Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary are clearly the stars of this enterprise. Their uncanny selection and inspired mentoring of some of America’s finest young dancers have resulted in a world-class corps de ballet and several important break-out soloists. Their vision and tireless dedication to the work have produced a large and reliable fan base, and ever-increasing ticket sales.

LAB’s “Nutcracker” – playing in venues around LA County this month – is proof of the company’s stature as a game-changing force in the realm of international ballet. The original choreography by Christensen and Neary is fresh and exhilarating, demonstrating the technical skill, individual virtuosity, and razor-sharp precision ensemble work that distinguish this young company. After several reports, I am running out of superlatives to describe the exemplary work of the women’s corps de ballet in the Dance of the Snowflakes and the Waltz of the Flowers, two highlights of the production.

Other highlights of this season’s LAB “Nutcracker” include the annual appearance of guest artist Sergey Kheylik as the Cossack Doll. The ecstatic cheers greeting his Act I entrance escalated to a roar as he flung himself into impossible leaps and turns. He was joined in Act II by LAB newcomers Aaron Bahadursingh and Christopher Revels, who matched Kheylik vault for astonishing vault. The off-the-charts athleticism of this Russian Dance whipped the audience into a prolonged, ear-splitting demonstration, literally stopping the show.

Returning as Marie (Sugarplum Fairy), Monica Pelfrey remained serene and confident through the long and demanding pas de deux. Her dancing showed off clean stepwork, lovely ports des bras, and marvelous balance. She was partnered by Zheng Hua Li, her cavalier in last season’s Balanchine “Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2.” Li’s emotional physicality contrasts beautifully with Pelfrey’s cool elegance, creating a wonderful chemistry. The audience rewarded his big, floating jetees and effortless lifts with ample appreciation.

Making her LAB debut in the Arabian Dance, Julia Cinquemani’s jaw-dropping beauty managed to stun a fairly demonstrative crowd into pin-drop silence. Wrapping her supple, snakelike torso in coils around her partner, newcomer Alexander Castillo, she mesmerized adults and children alike. The breathless silence was broken by an extended, vociferous ovation.

Also new this season is Allyssa Bross as the Rose in the Waltz of the Flowers. This young ballerina clearly won over the crowd, her incandescent smile radiating throughout her performance.

Thirteen-year-old Helena Thordal-Christensen plays Clara with fragile beauty and dramatic intensity. Having danced the role for the first time last season, this year she exhibits complete confidence and authority. Her long, slender legs extend forever, making an event of each arabesque. She has an arresting innocence about her, a lack of artifice which made her nightmare scene all the more harrowing as she darted, terrified, around the vast stage of Glendale’s Alex Theatre.  Perhaps the most moving moment in the performance, for me, came when Clara’s mother – played by Thordal Christensen’s real-life mother, the great Balanchine ballerina, Colleen Neary – kissed the little girl before walking off the stage, a symbolic passing of the torch from the past to the future.

Clara’s Nutcracker-turned-Prince is 18-year-old Jordan Veit of the Pacific Northwest Ballet School’s Professional Division. Dancing with strength and ease, and resembling a young Leonardo Di Caprio, this young man exudes charm. The long line of infatuated little girls waiting to meet him after the performance may be the harbinger of good things to come for Veit.

Fans in search of guaranteed holiday magic have several chances remaining for performances of LAB’s “Nutcracker” in venues around LA: UCLA’s Royce Hall, Dec. 18 at 1 and 5 p.m., and Dec. 19 at 1 and 5 p.m.; and at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center on Dec. 24 at 2 pm., and Dec. 26 at 1 and 5 p.m.. Tickets and information are available at (310) 998-7782, or at www.LosAngelesBallet.org.

The world premiere production of Jennie Webb’s surreal comedy “Yard Sale Signs” plays through Nov. 14 at Rogue Machine Theatre, 5041 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. Now in its third season, Rogue Machine offers up world premieres by established and emerging playwrights, as well as LA, regional, and American premieres of significant contemporary plays previously produced elsewhere.

Co-founder of the Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative and Playwright in Residence at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum — where she created and runs “Botanicum Seedlings: A Development Series for Playwrights” — Jennie Webb has had work produced on stages across America and internationally. Developed through readings at both Theatricum Botanicum and Rogue Machine Theatre, “Yard Sale Signs” concerns a random group of five women and one gay male, compelled to look beyond their reflections and projections by the forced intimacy of a communal dressing room.

With a decidedly absurdist edge, the play “throws light on the stuff we all accumulate as we move through life, and the unconscious maneuvering we engage in to convince ourselves we’re rid of the baggage,” says Webb. “While discussing this issue with a friend of mine, she said I should write a play set in a women’s dressing room — where the mirrors and bad lighting reveal everything we try not to notice.”

Elina de Santos directs with a light touch, an unselfconscious nonchalance, allowing the play’s increasingly wacky twists to unfold as if nothing unusual is going on. The skilled and nuanced performances from a seamlessly effective ensemble cast are simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious. But the special effects walk away with the evening. With the astonished audience gasping, incredulous, one woman slowly reveals her massive love-hate Mommy baggage, while another quite literally falls apart with the stress of coping with her own three children. Tech director David Mauer somehow accomplishes an escalating series of impossibly surreal events.

The six cast members effortlessly interact with the dozens of props and each other. Inger Tudor, Jennifer Taub, Ann Bronston (alternating with Maia Danziger), Corryn Cummins, Hollace Starr, and Jaxon Duff Gwillim offer completely committed and credible performances. Clothing designer Eva Franco’s racks of brightly colored dresses, suits, blouses and skirts — all for sale after the show — decorate the vast unit set by Stephanie Kerley Schwartz.

For tickets, call (323) 960-4424 or visit www.roguemachinetheatre.com.

Noreen Green, founder, artistic director and conductor of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony

The Los Angeles Jewish Symphony celebrates contributions of Jewish composers to film history with its annual concert program, Cinema Judaica, on Sunday, Aug. 8, at 7:30 p.m., under the stars at the Ford Amphitheatre.  The orchestra, led by Founder and Artistic Director Noreen Green, pays tribute to Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Steven Schwartz, Danny Pelfrey, Charles Fox, Yuval Ron and other major composers. Guest artists include Ron, percussionist Jamie Papish, and Israeli-born pianist Andy Feldbau.

The program features music from two exciting Goldsmith works, Masada and QB VII; the expansive score of Bernstein’s Ten Commandments Suite; the thrilling music of Schwartz’s songs in The Prince of Egypt; Pelfrey’s Symphonic Suite from Joseph: King of Dreams; Fox’s riveting Victory at Entebbe Suite (with Feldbau); and Ron’s West Bank Story Suite, with the composer on oud and Papish on ethnic percussion.  Additional concert highlights include the world premiere of new arrangements from The Chosen and Thoroughly Modern Millie.

World music performer/composer Ron’s West Bank Story Suite, from the Academy Award-winning 2006 live-action short musical film, interweaves Arabic folkloric motives with East European Klezmer Jewish music. “My score spoofs Leonard Bernstein’s original West Side Story,” Ron says. “After our movie won the Oscar, I put together a 10-minute suite of highlights, a medley of the songs and dances. The music now has a life of its own.”

During the concert, Ron will play the song melodies on the oud, the Middle Eastern string instrument. A renowned educator and peace activist, he was invited to perform for His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. “My life changed substantially after the movie,” says Ron. “Suddenly, I had opportunities for speaking engagements around the world, with screenings of the movie, in workshops devoted to the peace process.”

Green will conduct the concert. Under her baton, Los Angeles Jewish Symphony has performed in concert with Billy Crystal, Randy Newman, Theodore Bikel, Lainie Kazan, Marvin Hamlisch, and others. “The orchestra is made up of musicians from the LA Phil, studio musicians, community members and high-level students,” she says. “It is exciting to work with them.”

Green talks about each piece during the concerts “to bring the audience into the concert experience as an active participant,” she explains. This process comes naturally to her. “I come from a choral background with a doctorate in choral music from USC. I also have a degree in education, and I love going back and forth between the two worlds. As the conductor, I feel like I am the conduit between the performers and the audience – with energy flowing through me between the two entities. It is quite a high!”

This event is part of the Ford Amphitheatre’s multidisciplinary arts series produced by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission in cooperation with Los Angeles County-based arts organizations. For a complete season schedule, visit www.FordTheatres.org.

The Ford Amphitheatre is located at 2580 Cahuenga Blvd., East Hollywood.  The grounds open two hours before show time for picnicking.  Food is also available on-site.

On-site, stacked parking costs $5 per vehicle. FREE non-stacked parking serviced by a FREE shuttle to the Ford is available at the Universal City Metro Station lot at Lankershim Boulevard and Campo de Cahuenga.  The shuttle, which cycles every 15 to 20 minutes, stops in the “kiss and ride” area.

Tickets, priced at $36 and $25, and $12 for full-time students with ID and children 12 and under, are available at www.FordTheatres.org or (323) 461-3673.