Ballet Tucson showed its hometown a lot of love and laughs Friday in the first of four performances of “From Tucson, With Love.”
The show at Leo Rich Theatre tipped its pointe shoes to the pride of the Old Pueblo, seminal songwriter Lalo Guerrero, in a program that also included the company premiere of George Balanchine’s “Rubies” and “Romeo & Juliet Balcony Pas de Duex,” choreographed by Ballet Tucson Artistic Director Margaret Mullin.
The centerpiece of the concert was the world premiere of “Barrio Viejo,” a series of vignettes that Ballet Tucson Associate Artistic Director Chieko Imada choreographed to several of Guerrero’s popular songs.
As a whole, the piece gave us a glimpse into Guerrero’s art and life, from his emotional response to losing part of the downtown Tucson barrio to urban renewal, conveyed with heart-wrenching intensity by principal dancer Edward Oyarce-Solomon; to the mariachi rich “Canción Mexicana.”
The exceptionally voiced singer Carlos Zapién channeled the spirit of Guerrero’s era with the terrific guitar ensemble of Misael Barraza Díaz, Diana Schaible, Andrés Pantoja and Katie Baird.
Ballet Tucson apprentice Naomi de Jesus and Edward Oyarce-Solomon, who was promoted to principal dancer at Friday night's opening of "From Tucson With Love," shown at rehearsals in late January.
Imada recreated a rollicking club vibe for the zoot suit-era romp of “Vamos a Bailar” and the boogie-woogie “Las Chucos Suaves.” Her interpretation of Guerrero’s famous ballad “Nunca Jamas” made us feel like we were eavesdropping on a couple’s estrangement when Danielle Cesanek and Hunter Solomon performed her intimate choreography.
But the piece that got the loudest applause and the biggest laughs was Imada’s setting of Guerrero’s silly song “There’s No Tortillas,” a hilarious lament of a man truly distraught after running out of tortillas. Imada had Oyarce-Solomon chasing after “tortillas” — dancers wearing flowing off-white costumes with brown spots that looked like flour tortillas and yellow costumes to represent corn tortillas — when his wife tries to offer him bread as a substitute.
In a pre-concert conversation with Mullin, Guerrero’s son Dan said his father, who died in 2005 at the age of 88, would have been a bit shocked and pleased that his little songs were part of a ballet.
Guerrero
The evening opened with the Balanchine, which was a special treat; it’s not easy to land the rights to mount the late, great choreographer’s works. The George Balanchine Trust, the caretaker of all things Balanchine, only grants permission to professional companies that have the artistic reputation and skills to do the work proud.
Ballet Tucson on Friday night met that bar with a technically precise and wonderfully entertaining performance. “Rubies” is set to Stravinsky’s 1929 jazz-influenced Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, a tempo and style that the choreographer capitalized on with an added sassiness and a hint of danger. Sarah Wilkerson was fabulous in the soloist role of Tall Woman, while Cesanek and Solomon were wonderful as the couple leading the other dozen dancers in a series of physically demanding moves.
Mullin’s “Romeo & Juliet” pas de duex was apropos for Friday’s Valentine’s Day audience, a sweetly romantic love scene between star-crossed lovers (Oyarce-Solomon and Madeleine Kuebler) experiencing the first taste of love.
The performance, a collaboration with the Tucson Guitar Society, repeats at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Leo Rich Theatre, 260 S. Church Ave., as part of the 2025 Tucson Desert Song Festival.
