Ballet Etudes Miami Program Review

[cubanmiamiboy]

It’s never too late for a compliment. And I owe one, along to a review, to Ballet Etudes’s recent performance in South Beach. So here it goes.

The program went as follows:

Part I

Sylvia PDD

Choreography after original-(Trust purposes, you know…)

Dagmar Moradillos/Jose Rodriguez

Grand Pas from Paquita

Minkus/Petipa

Jessica Tome/Will Hoppe and Corps

INTERMISSION

Part II“La Fille Mal Gardee”

Hertel/Dauverbal. Staged by Rodolfo Rodriguez after Alicia Alonso after Bronislava Nijinska after Dauverbal.

Sylvia PDD had a double pleasant significance. For one, getting to see this beautiful PDD, which I hadn’t seen it live ever since I left the island. Second, the surprise to see again Dagmar Moradillos, a dancer who started a fast rising within Cuban National Ballet during the early 90’s, defecting soon , and was never heard of afterward. The PDD went smooth, without Moradillos taking many risks. She still maintains that aura that made her very popular back then and there, but time has taken a stroll, and this is obvious. Great job done by dancer Jose Rodriguez partnering her. This is a very young dancer whose clean lines, stage presence and killer smile won me since the beginnings.

Paquita I’ll skip…

And then “Fille”. This was certainly the highlight of the night. This ballet has been currently under some discussions on this board, but mostly referring to Ashton’s version. In this case, choreographer Rodolfo Rodriguez chose to keep the version that is currently presented in Havana, which is the condensed one act Mme. Alonso staged in 1952 taken from Nijinska’s during her years with BT. Brittany O’Dell was the expected flirtatious and vivacious Lissette. Jose Rodriguez, as Colin, won us all over again, keeping the love game very credible-(and I think this is always very important)-as the object of desire of Lissette. Pol Paelinck was a hilarious Alain, carefully interpreted without overdoing it, and finally great Peter La Fox as Mme. Simone, whose characterization kept the audience laughing and in high spirits the whole time. Overall, this was a very pleasant and enjoyable performance, with-of course-the usual limitations of a small struggling company. I still must say that Iliana Prieto, its Artistic Director, did a great job. Thanks Prieto for keeping this lovely work alive.

[carbro]

Thanks, Cristian. I count two out of three as a

What was the problem (or were the problems) with Paquita? Do you just not like it the ballet? Bad staging? Bad dancing? Ugly costumes? Please tell, even if briefly.

[cubanmiamiboy]

What was the problem (or were the problems) with Paquita? Do you just not like it the ballet? Bad staging? Bad dancing? Ugly costumes?

Uuuh...let's see, perhaps all of the above...?

[cubanmiamiboy]

No, actually it is not all of the above, so i'll correct myself. Paquita was just..not right. Details , if given , can be really detrimental, so i'll skip them. Let's just say that i really had a hard time getting used to the Corps.

[vrsfanatic]

Ballet Etudes is a commercial school/performing company that has been active in Miami for at least 25 years. They have always rented large theaters for their productions of the classics. The majority of the principal dancers are hired from outside of her school, but the corps is from the school. The director, Suzanna Prieto does a wonderful job of introducing her students to classical ballet and developing a great love of dance. She deserves commendations for what she has done to encourage dance in Miami.