Ballet Austin debuts
at the new Long Center with
'Don Quixote'
Grand Production will be final performance
for four retiring dancers
By Clare Croft
SPECIAL TO
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Thursday, May 08, 2008
All classical ballets rely on spectacle, but "Don
Quixote" redefines balletic spectacle — in many
productions, the cast includes a live donkey. The
scale makes it an appropriate choice for Ballet
Austin's Long Center debut
this weekend.
"I wanted something big and splashy with gorgeous
sets and costumes — a real celebratory event," says
Stephen Mills, Ballet Austin's artistic director.
Mills staged Austin's production, a hybrid of choreography
passed down from the original 19th-century Russian
"Don Quixote" ballet and its best-known American
version, staged for American Ballet Theatre by
Mikhail Baryshnikov.
For dancers, spectacle translates into virtuosic
technique. "Don Quixote" closes with one of the
best-known pas de deux in dance history, the grand
pas de deux for lead characters Kitri and Basilio.
(In Ballet Austin's production, Michelle Thompson
and Ashley Lynn share the role of Kitri; Frank Shott
and Jim Stein alternate as Basilio.) "Don Quixote's"
solo variations and pas de deux are vital to many
ballet students' training. Variation classes in
summer preprofessional ballet programs overflow with
adolescent dancers figuring out how to execute the
precise footwork of Kitri's third-act variation
while hanging on to an ornate Spanish fan.
"When you learn the variations in summer programs,
you don't know how they fit into the story," Lynn says.
"You're just smiling, but there's a lot of emotion
to develop when you're doing the variation within
the character."
Creating Kitri and Basilio through technically
demanding variations does not necessarily require
adding to technique. The format of classical pas de
deux — a slow adagio for the man and woman, then
solos by first the man, then the woman and finally,
a showy coda — works well with the relationship
building between Kitri and Basilio throughout the
ballet.
Shott describes the feisty lovers as engaged in a
"constant one-upmanship" of each other. Kitri and
Basilio use turns and jumps to compete and flirt.
But "Don Quixote's" lead dancers can never entirely
disappear into their characters. Showing off for the
audience is a prime concern in classical ballet.
Mills compares variations in "Don Quixote" to songs
in Mozart's opera, pointing out that neither do much
to advance the plot. "Once Kitri
and Basilio get to the grand pas de deux, the
audience knows they're in love," Mills says.
"There's no reason for them to dance; the audience
knows they're going to get married. It's all about
technical prowess at that point."
Even though no dancer can forget about the long
series of turns waiting at the end of the grand pas, Lynn says
that the progression of the character throughout the
ballet helps her get through the final blast of
technique.
By the time the couples take the stage for the pas
de deux, they have survived several prior
variations, two and a half acts of dancing and mime
and complex, often one-handed partnering sequences.
"The third act is demanding, but by the time you're
there, Kitri has an inner calm to her," Lynn says.
"I just have to remember to keep breathing."
Final bows at Ballet Austin
When Jim Stein performs as Basilio, the audience
will include Stein's Austin-based fans and his
family. His four brothers, parents, and grandmothers
will have traveled from Illinois and Oregon to
see his last ballet performance.
Stein and three other longtime Ballet Austin
stalwarts — Gina Patterson, Eric Midgley and Tony
Casati — will retire after 'Don Quixote.'
All four say that ending the daily grind of a
ballet company will allow them more personal and
artistic freedom. Stein and Casati plan to focus
more on family, and Stein will become a full-time
Pilates teacher. Patterson will continue to
choreograph, including making new work with her
husband, Midgley.
Midgley already has two additional careers, working
as a digital designer and as a sleep and wellness
consultant.
New opportunities don't stifle the dancers' sense
that they will miss Ballet Austin.
'Ballet Austin attracts not just people that are
good at their jobs, but deep thinkers who are
considerate, sensitive, and play well with others,'
Casati says.
Moving on doesn't mean leaving dance. Like most
dancers, the four retirees began dancing young and
say they will continue.
'I will always be involved with dance, my favorite
art,' Midgley says. 'I will still be performing,
creating, teaching, coaching and being raw material
for my wife's choreographic genius.'
The four dancers have provided much material for
artistic director Stephen Mills.
'When I made my first ballet, I made it on Gina,'
Mills says. 'Making dance for dancers is a really
intimate act. I'm going to miss my friends.' — Clare
Croft