Ballet Tucson reaches back to the 1920s and ‘30s to launch its 32nd season.
“I’ll See You in My Dreams,” set to tunes from the Great American Songbook, premieres at the company’s upcoming Gala and Fall Concert. Choreographed by Mark Schneider, the music will be performed live by The Great Banjo Summit.
The whimsical piece balances classical ballet technique with the theatrical storytelling of the jazz standards, says Mary Beth Cabana, the company’s founder and artistic director. At a recent rehearsal, it was clear that fun is the focus. The dancers’ facial expressions were playful as they performed in vignettes that were reminiscent of musical theatre. In line with the chosen songs “Has Anybody Seen my Gal” and “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” some moves were modeled after the Charleston of the 1920s. Many of the solos included turns and leaps that were traditional, but added elements of knee-slapping and kiss-blowing.
The banjo is not the typical instrumentation for classical ballet, but the live music and stylized choreography provide the dancers with what Cabana calls a “synergy between the music and the movement” that makes what might seem incongrueunt, vibrant and entertaining.
The Fall Concert will also include a revival of “Spirit Garden,” which Ballet Tucson first premiered in 2016. It is choreographed by Cabana and Ballet Tucson’s Assistant Artistic Director Chieko Imada.
Like “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” “Spirit Garden” contrasts with the audience’s expectations for a ballet by bringing in music and themes that are idiosyncratic to Tucson. The tribute to Día de los Muertos is set to music by Tucson band Calexico, and incorporates art by local artist, Lawrence Lee.
“I always had this vision of ‘Spirit Garden’ in my head,” said Imada in a 2016 Star interview. “Everything came from that. It would be the story of a mother, father and daughter and the journey from their world into the spirit world. And there would be child angels who become Monarch butterflies.
“I wanted to show them having a lot of happiness, as a way of reminding people in the audience to find more happiness in their own lives now.”
The opening night gala will have a special guest — former Ballet Arts Tucson student Jahna Frantziskonis, now with the San Francisco Ballet. She will perform “Diving into the Lilacs” with fellow San Francisco Ballet artist Max Cauthorn, who was born in Tucson but lived and studied dance in San Francisco.
Frantziskonis began studying with Ballet Arts when she was just 4 and continued until she was 16, when she graduated from Catalina Foothills High School and headed to Seattle to study with Pacific Northwest Ballet’s professional division. This marks her first return to Ballet Tucson since she began her career in 2010.
“There’s a bit of me that’s proud that I’ve come so far that they would ask me back,” she says.
She credits Ballet Tucson with giving her the foundation needed to be a professional dancer.
“They put a strong emphasis on classical technique which is extremely important … but then beyond that they had us explore so many different types of dance. … It showed me different ways to move my body and how to be able to adapt to any style or situation given.”
Cabana, Frantziskonis’s former instructor, is proud of her success.
“It’s wonderful when you have a student like Jahna that goes on and is successful and is really enjoying her career and getting wonderful opportunities,” says Cabana.
“It gives you that little speck of validation and makes you feel like all of the years that you’ve put in are worthwhile.”
