Sunday, March 21, 2010
Arts & Extras: 'Coppelia' a good ballet for 1st-timers
Arts & Extras column
Mike Allen, arts columnist
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The ballet "Coppelia" unfolds as a sort of comical inversion of "Pinocchio."
In "Coppelia," an ambitious inventor creates a mechanical doll so lovely and lifelike that a young man mistakes it for a real girl and becomes smitten, and ends up distracted from his betrothed, a young lady named Swanilda.
So, to teach both the inventor and the wayward boy a lesson, Swanilda disguises herself as the doll and pretends to come to life.
The Southwest Virginia Ballet's latest production of "Coppelia" opens Friday, with senior company member Abigail Bagliani cast as Swanilda. Abby, 17, has been dancing since she was 3 years old.
She called the part "the most intense, the hardest role I've ever done." She'll be dancing almost constantly for three acts in a role that requires acting as well as complex choreography. "I get to be, like, really sweet and then I get to be completely evil."
Though she's twice performed as Clara in "The Nutcracker," even that's not as involved as the role of Swanilda. "I'm a little nervous but that usually makes you perform better."
"She's very demanding of herself," said Pedro Szalay, the ballet's artistic director. "It's very hard for a 17-year-old to do a three-act ballet."
The Southwest Virginia Ballet has performed "Coppelia" before. "If you've never seen a ballet before, it's a good ballet to watch," Szalay said, because its broadly comic story is involving and easy to follow.
The company's only senior, Abby will graduate from Roanoke Catholic School this year and has already been accepted to several universities. Though she wants to continue with dance through college, she doesn't plan to pursue it as a career. She's interested in becoming a medical examiner.
Yet 14 years of dance has taught her some essential skills and life lessons.
"Definitely perseverance and time management," she said. Balancing dance practice every day with staying on the A honor roll is a lot of work, but "it's all worth it."
Performances of "Coppelia" take place at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. March 28 at William Fleming High School at 3649 Ferncliff Ave. in Roanoke. Tickets are $8 to $15. For more information contact 387-3978 or visit www.svballet.org.
"Coppelia" is one of the featured events of "Rising Stars," a promotion by the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge that celebrates the contributions of women to the arts. For more information, visit www.risingstarsinthearts.com.
Andrew Lewis takes his place in Richmond
The stern visage of frontiersman and American Revolutionary War Brig. Gen. Andrew Lewis will soon regard politicians and passers-by in the Old Hall of the House of Delegates at the Virginia State Capitol.
Monday, a new bust of Lewis will be unveiled in Richmond, sculpted by Florida artist and former Roanoke resident Anne Bell.
According to the Salem Educational Foundation and Alumni Association, the driving force behind the commission and installment of the statue, a 1932 resolution by the General Assembly called for a bust of Lewis to stand in the hall alongside other prominent figures from state history such as Patrick Henry, Meriwether Lewis and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Yet until now, the sculpture was never commissioned.
The Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution and the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra assisted in the foundation's campaign to raise funding for the statue.
Because no images of Lewis taken from life exist other than a crude silhouette, Bell based her sculpture on a written visual description, previous likenesses in older sculptures and images of Lewis' descendants.
In the mid-1700s Lewis founded a homestead near what's now Salem, and is buried in Salem's East Hill Cemetery. The Revolutionary War hero's name is nearly synonymous with Salem.
One of Lewis' most well-known admirers, House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, will be at the 2 p.m. ceremony at the Capitol, as will several descendants of Lewis, including former U.S. Sen. Chuck Robb.
A reproduction of the flag flown by Lewis' Revolutionary War regiment that was commissioned by his descendants will be on display at the ceremony. Afterward it will be give to the Virginia Historical Society.
'Dear Abe' darkly funny
The latest offbeat theatrical production from Studio Roanoke involves a collaboration between a director from Washington, D.C., and a writer from Los Angeles.
"Dear Abe" probes the dark side of advice writing. The play centers around two brothers whose father wrote a friendly column akin to "Dear Abby," but treated his children very differently.
The play is set on an island resort owned by the family. One of the brothers has chosen to live a Robinson Crusoe existence, staying on the beach even though his wife continues to live in the hotel.
Playwright Adam Hahn developed "Dear Abe" in the Hollins University Playwright's Lab. He's a student in the Master of Fine Arts program there, and a friend of Todd Ristau, who runs the program and is artistic director for Studio Roanoke.
Director Joe Banno has helmed both cutting-edge theater through Washington's Source Theatre Company and Shakespeare plays at Folger Theatre.
Banno and Hahn have worked together before. Ristau asked Banno to participate in Overnight Sensations, a Mill Mountain Theatre event that involved creating a finished, ready-to-perform play in 24 hours. Banno directed a piece written by Hahn.
"I think of this as a drama in which a few funny things happen," he said of the play.
Banno immediately added, "And I would describe it as a comedy with a really dark undercurrent."
Hahn also stars in the play as the back-to-nature brother and has grown an impressive beard for the part.
Performances are 8 p.m. Tuesday to Friday; and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and March 28. Admission is $15, $12 for senior citizens and students. For more information call 343-3054 or visit www.studioroanoke.org.
Spanish song and story
"Zarzuela" is a type of Spanish musical theater originating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that combines storytelling with scenes that are sung. It can incorporate opera and popular music, as well as dance.
The Roanoke Main Library will present "Spanish Blood: Spanish Songs and Zarzuela" with pianist Cara Modisett and mezzo soprano Ada Lis Jimena. The free performance takes place 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Call 853-1057 for more information.
On the Arts blog
The hit musical "Mamma Mia!" opens Monday at the Roanoke Civic Center, featuring Danville and Lynchburg actresses, while The Little Switzerland Cloggers perform to rock and hip-hop Saturday at the Buchanan Theatre. To learn more, check out blogs.roanoke.com/arts
