HOW TO GO
What: “Diversity in Dance,” the Dayton Ballet’s winter concert.
When: 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb.13, and Friday, Feb. 14; 3 and 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 16.
Where: The Victoria Theatre, 126 N. Main St., Dayton
Also: For each performance, artistic director Karen Burke will conduct a pre-performance talk for ticketholders 45-minutes prior to curtain time. A Q&A with dancers will follow each performance in the theatre. Pre- and post-performance talks are free of charge for all ticketholders.
Tickets: $20 to $70 at Ticket Center Stage (937) 228-3630 or online at www.daytonperformingarts.org. Senior, teacher and student discounts are available at box office.
You may have wondered how a choreographer comes up with the idea for a new dance.
In the case of Wright State University graduate Susanne Payne, it all began with a book she couldn’t put down.
The result, “Dreams of Flight,” will have its world premiere next weekend when the Dayton Ballet presents its winter concert entitled “Diversity in Dance.” In addition to Payne’s new work, the program will feature ballets choreographed by the company’s artistic director Karen Russo Burke and by the late Gerald Arpino.
Performances run from Thursday, Feb 13, through Sunday, Feb. 16.
“Dreams of Flight” is the third piece Payne has set on Dayton Ballet. Many will remember her as the first place winner in the Dayton Ballet’s New Works/New Music competition which matched talented choreographers and musicians.
“This ballet was loosely inspired by “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, a book I read from cover to cover about a week before I was to start choreographing,” Payne explains. “In the book, Coelho tells the story of a boy who is determined to follow his dream, to travel the world. Along the way, he is faced with lessons and insights that in the end allow him to find his treasure — happiness — which is right back where he started.”
The moral of the story, Payne says, is that we may have to go away to realize what we have.
“The work depicts the magical experiences, realizations and lessons learned when one truly commits to the pursuit of a dream,” she says, adding that she is attempting to draw a parallel between “flight” and “dreams” or “life ambitions.” The piece involves nine male dancers who are shown developing from boyhood to manhood while keeping their dreams alive.
“The dancers transform from naivety to wisdom and unification,” Payne explains. “There is a section that shows the development of competition and ego, which ultimately will keep one down. But in the end, the dancers all come together, in unified “Flying V” formation, because this is how we fly most efficiently — together!”
In addition to the message conveyed by the dance, Payne says hopes her audience will be thrilled visually and stimulated by the sheer physicality and talents of the dancers.
Growing up in Dayton
Payne, who grew up in Dayton studying competition dance, says her life changed dramatically when she stumbled upon the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. DCDC, she says, became her sanctuary.
“I couldn’t believe such an authentic, passionate place with so much integrity existed!” she says now. “There were no games; they meant business and not in the financial sense of the word, which was refreshing. So even though I ventured out to New York City and auditioned for several other companies, my dream company was actually DCDC.”
After training in the second company for four years, she was accepted into the professional touring company when she was a senior in college.
“I started choreographing right out of high school for competition studios, but the real work began when I got seriously injured in 2008,” Payne says. ” Subsequent surgery took me out of dance for over two years, and I had to find a way to express myself.”
So choreography became a passion.
“It was my way to dance without the use of my own body,” she says.
Also on the program
When putting together any repertory show, Burke says she must consider variables ranging from the length of the total performance and budget to the strength of the dancers who will be performing.
In addition to Payne’s new piece, she has chosen “Reflections,” a ballet choreographed by the late Gerald Arpino.
Arpino, known for his high lifts and fast pace, set the neoclassical ballet to Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ‘Variations on a Rococo Theme’ for Violoncello and Orchestra. His inspiration for the dance came from a visit to Russia where he experienced the passion of the Russian dancers.
Charthel Arthur, ballet master and head of the Gerald Arpino and Robert Joffrey Foundation, served as Répétiteur of this ballet, responsible for bringing Arpino’s choreography to the local dancers — teaching and working with them for two weeks to ensure that the choreography will be performed as it was originally intended.
The third ballet on the program is “Butterfly Suite,” Russo’s ballet based on the 1898 short story “Madame Butterfly” by John Luther Long and best-known as Giacomo Puccini’s famous opera. It’s the tragic story of a young Japanese girl named Cio-Cio Sun and her fatal love for an American lieutenant.
Burke says colorful silk fabric helps her tell the story in a dramatic way. So will a new cast of dancers who add their own interpretations.
“For Butterfly, the silks help me with introducing the characters, also to create another place or time, and to represent the sea,” she explains. ” At the very end, each color is a representation of the the things that Cio-Cio San has lost, such as her family, community, her love and her innocence.”
Burke believes this winter concert will provide a treat for the audience.
“It provides a wonderful opportunity to witness the technical ability, athleticism and artistry — all in one show.”
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