You'd need to travel to Houston, Toronto,
New York and Moscow to see many of
the talents who will assemble Saturday
at the Aronoff Center for the Arts.
Names as big and familiar in dance as
Ken Griffey Jr. is to baseball will be here,
including American Ballet Theatre stars
Amanda McKerrow and Paloma Herrera.
These dancers have performed some of
classical ballet's most memorable roles
and create a stir whenever they perform.
This once-in-a-lifetime gathering of 16 fine
dancers is due to the wild imaginings of
Claudia Rudolf Barrett, artistic director of
ballet tech ohio performing arts
association.
"Cincinnati's never had a gala, and I
thought it was time," she explains. In a
dance gala, stars come together to
dance solos or pas de deux, performing
challenging works often geared to show off bravura dancing.
It's a monumental task to track down busy dancers and coax them
here. She says the initial idea was Alexei Kremnev's, former principal
with Cin-cinnati Ballet and newly named associate artistic director at
ballet tech. Mr. Kremnev's wife, Anna Reznik, also helped produce the
event, but Ms. Barrett credits company assistant Marvel Gentry Davis
with making it happen. She chased everyone down and got the
contracts signed.
Here is who's performing:
Anna Reznik and Alexei Kremnev — Ms. Reznik was told at 14 she
was too plump for a tutu as she struggled to make her feet arch. These
days, she barely fills out those fancy, netted costumes, and her
articulated feet are the envy of many a ballerina wannabe. Mr. Kremnev,
a master of the expansive Russian style of classical ballet, will partner
his wife in two contemporary pas de deux. The Moscow natives have
settled in the Tristate with their brown Labrador retriever, Spooky.
Amanda McKerrow and Charles Askegard — The first American to
win the gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet competition
(1981), Ms. McKerrow, celebrated her 20th anniversary with American
Ballet Theatre in June.
"It was an amazing experience," she says about winning the
competition, "and even though it was 21 years ago, I find myself
thinking more about it now." It was the springboard of her career and
thrust the inexperienced teenager into the limelight.
With no idea that she could win, her goal was to make it through all the
rounds and to wear the four costumes she brought. It wasn't until the
final round she realized she might win.
Ironically, she's never entered a competition since. "Once I realized
what was at stake, I couldn't stand the pressure," she says.
She'll dance Terpsichore to New York City Ballet's Charles Askegard's
Apollo in one of George Balanchine's most acclaimed ballets. Mr.
Askegard was one of those spunky kids who decided at 5 he would
dance, but he says more unusual than that is the fact he's from
Minnesota. "There just aren't many ballet dancers from there," he
laughs.
Also representing New York City Ballet in Apollo are Jennie Somogyi
and Kathleen Tracey.
Paloma Herrera and Gennadi Saveliev — Buenos Aires meets
Moscow when American Ballet Theatre's Argentine beauty Ms. Herrera
dances with Bolshoi Ballet trained Mr. Saveliev. They'll be performing
the grand pas de deux from Don Quixote, a devil of a dance that
requires technical wizardry, wonderful lifts and fast footwork. With a
combined 17 years at ABT, they have the experience to handle it.
Lauren Anderson — Houston Ballet's Ms. Anderson, one of a few
major African-American ballerinas in the world, has been described as
fearless, one who leaves it all on the stage. Choreographer Ben
Stevenson tapped into her sensuality when he created "Cleopatra" for
her at Houston Ballet.
She will demonstrate her style when she recreates parts of her
"Cleopatra" role. Back home in Houston she'll gear up for her weekly
football forecasts on a local radio station.
Dominic Walsh — Partnering Ms. Anderson is Houston Ballet
principal Dominic Walsh. He's one of those rare dancers who is known
to move seamlessly from soulful tenderness to virtuosic exuberance. He
also choreographs and won an award in 1998 for his first work, "Flames
of Eros."
Greta Hodgkinson and Geon van der Wyst — These National Ballet
of Canada stars are from different parts of the world: She's from Rhode
Island; he's from Melbourne, Australia. But together they have been
known to make hearts melt in the romantic ballets Cinderella and
Romeo and Juliet. They'll dance "Manon" and "In the Middle Somewhat
Elevated," introducing Tristate audiences to the work of sought-after
choreographer William Forsythe.
Also dancing: Anastasya Meskova, a young Russian who recently
joined the Bolshoi Ballet; Christina Johnson and Donald Williams, who
dance with American contemporary company Complexions; and
technical wizard Desmond Richardson, a soloist who has guested twice
with Cincinnati Ballet in stunning virtuosic displays.
Even though it's been a tre- mendous undertaking for Ms. Barrett and
crew to pull this event to- gether, she hopes there may be more down
the road. "I've been to galas and they're very exciting," she says. "We
thought it would be good for Cincinnati audiences to have the
experience."
The immediate goal is to juice up Cincinnati's traditionally dead summer
dance season; long range she hopes it'll help ballet tech financially and
artistically.
