From classic to contemporary
Tahoe Youth Ballet is once again stepping up its game. Instead of the annual August performances, they have kicked it up a notch to present the first Lake Tahoe Dance Festival. In addition to two main stage performances, the event features free classes, audience participatory demonstrations, site-specific installations, meet-the artists talks and more.
This comes as no surprise since Christin Hanna, the ballet’s founding Artistic Director, has made it clear from the start that she is committed to promoting dance, while simultaneously enriching the lives of residents and promoting Tahoe as a cultural destination. This festival is the natural progression in her game plan. The festival offers audiences an opportunity to enjoy innovative works of dance while building a relationship with the works and artists themselves through up close, interactive events.
“It’s very important to not just put on good shows, but to educate audiences on what good dance is,” Hanna says.
As usual, the program encompasses various aspects of dance featuring a variety of innovative works, including George Balanchine’s “Serenade,” Lester Horton’s “Sarong Paramaribo,” as well as new creations from Yannis Adoniou’s Kunst-Stoff Arts and Constantine Baecher.
“I wanted to show the new and innovative, but also where the art form started,” Hanna explains.
Balanchine’s “Serenade” (first movement) is the first ballet he created in America and features 15 TYB workshop students. The work, which is similar to Hanna’s personal story, teaches students to dance together as they become one.
“It’s really about the group,” Hanna says of the piece.
Valerie Salgado, assistant choreographer for season one of the Emmy-award winning NBC series, “Smash,” is creating a new work for three TYB students (Alexandra Schwartz, Bailey Shaw and Rachel Meyer). At press time, this was still in the making, but Hanna says it will have a jazzier feel and be geared toward the students.
“It’s being created on them and for them,” Hanna says. “It’s super fun and girly and everything you would want to do onstage at 12.”
Another special treat is Horton’s “Sarong Paramaribo” danced by Kristina Berger, who has exclusive rights. Berger is a principal dancer with Erick Hawkins Dance Company, who has toured internationally as a performer, teacher and choreographer. This piece is presented by permission from The Lester Horton Dance Theatre, Inc.
Kunst-Stoff Arts will present a new work, and Hanna and Baecher also will be offering “Allow You to Look at Me,” something new to surprise and delight the audiences.
Hanna stresses the importance of recognizing the influences of Balanchine and Horton on modern day dance.
“Before you go on to create your own work, you have to honor those that came before you,” she says.
For the past five years, the company has presented 19 contemporary and classical works by guest choreographers who have come to set or create their work on Tahoe’s talented artists. Dancers from the company have taken this experience and been accepted at some of the most prestigious dance schools in the country.
“To see dance and to feel something is a visceral reaction on our own physicality to the physicality of another human being. Opening a dialogue and experiencing the work together as performer and artist is important for the evolution of all performing arts,” she says.
For Hanna, it is not only about the dance, but its origins that create consciousness.
The Lake Tahoe Dance Festival runs until Aug. 16 with performances on Aug. 15 and 16. Tickets are available through brownpapertickets.com. For a complete schedule of events, visit laketahoedancefestival.com
Thursday & Friday, Aug. 15 & 16 | 6 p.m. | $20 advance/$25 day of show |All ages
William B. Clayton Park at Gatekeeper’s Museum | Tahoe City, Calif.
