Lake Tahoe Dance Collective's annual Spring Repertory Season, presenting their company of young dancers alongside visiting professional dancers in classical, modern and contemporary dances. Performances take place on Friday, May 24th at 7PM and Saturday, May 25th at 7PM, at the North Tahoe High School Theater in Tahoe City, CA.
The performances feature special guest Zachary Guthier from Ballet Met in Columbus, Ohio.
Founding Artistic Director Christin Hanna has concocted a suite of excerpts from two rarely-seen ballets - "Esmeralda" and "Pas de Quatre." Both ballets are scored by composer Cesare Pugni, with original choreography by Marius Petipa, and rarely performed in the United States. "There are certain works that simply cannot be done in the U.S. the way they were created, it would take a company of 150 dancers like they had in Russia when Esmeralda was created," explains Hanna. "The music is also incredibly hard to find even a good recording of, because its performed by a live orchestra when European companies do it. But it's beautiful melodies are a delight to choreograph and to dance - and therefore should be enjoyed by our audiences.
Hanna's "Pugni Suite" will feature LTDC's youth company of dancers: Layla Alden, Romi Broglio, Miriam Kallmes, Tessa Pierce, Dakota Morrison and Serafina Varisco, with guest Zachary Guthier partnering Natalia Christian, a graduating senior from North Tahoe High School.
In addition, LTDC has commissioned two new works to be created in collaboration with the dancers in artistic residencies. The first welcomes modern dancer Kristin Draucker, a member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, who created a new work for the dancers in the style and vein of Mr. Taylor's work, to selections from Bach.
Secondly, Constanine Baecher returns to create the final chapter of his triptyc of work with the dancers over the past two season, a foundation of shapes and movement, now working with triangles as mountains and an exploration of improvisation with a group of dancers who have grown up within this process.
