With their first half-century behind them, Dance Alive National Ballet is surging into the 2016-17 season, beginning with a Meet the Dancers event on Saturday at Pofahl Studios.
One of the first things that people familiar with Dance Alive National Ballet (DANB) will notice about the new season is that the company’s roster has grown from 12 to 16 principal dancers.
Accomplished dancers have arrived from Brazil, Ukraine, Cuba and, yes, Virginia, to give the Gainesville-based professional dance company one of its strongest ensembles ever.
“They’re all wonderful dancers with beautiful techniques and lines,” said Kim Tuttle, executive/artistic director and choreographer-in-residence for DANB. “They also have great performability and are very hard workers. We couldn’t be happier.”
On Saturday at 2 p.m., the public can get up close and personal with many of the performers during the DANB’s annual Meet the Dancers event at Pofahl Studios, 1325 NW 2nd St. Tickets are $25 and available at the door, although seating is limited.
Attendees will be able to watch vignettes from upcoming productions of Dracula, Vampyra, Rhapsody In Blue and L’Amour plus a work created for DANB’s new Cuban principal, Jessie Dominguez Reyes, by Gainesville’s Ani Collier. A catered reception will follow.
Tuttle, who took over the DANB’s artistic reins 30 years ago, said the strength of her principal dancers is their versatility and balance.
“It’s hard to believe that there are people from all over the world here in Gainesville that are international award-winning stars,” she said.
For example, Dominguez Reyes was principal dancer of the National Ballet of Cuba and won numerous awards while attending the National School of Ballet in Havana.
“She’s so passionate about her dancing,” said Judy Skinner, choreographer-in-residence and DANB’s director of grants and arts education programming. “She’s totally into whatever role she is playing.”
Another newcomer, Sergii Sidorskyi, was the lead dancer of the National Opera of Ukraine and received the Peoples’ Artist award in a company of almost 200 dancers.
Other newcomers include Brazilian dancers Beatriz Pereira Povoas and Barbara Varady, who worked together at the Sesiminas Dance Company and have been friends for eight years. Veteran DANB principal dancers Andre Valladon, Carla Amancio and Fhilipe Teixeira also have worked at the Brazilian school.
“I think it will be a wonderful year here because this is my first time in America,” said the 21-year-old Povoas. “I’m missing my family, but for me it’s OK.”
Meanwhile, Leo Clarke arrived at Dance Alive National Ballet from Virginia via Poland. One of Clarke’s mentors was Norbert Nirewicz, a frequent DANB guest artist. After graduating from Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C., Clarke performed almost five years for the Opera Nova Ballet of Bydgoszcz, Poland.
“I had always wanted to dance in Europe,” Clarke said. “Norbert is the reason I ended up in Poland and here.”
Tuttle and Skinner had to find replacements for Walter Angelini and Ines Albertini, a married couple who decided to return to their native Italy. Also, Julia Ponomareva is pregnant. She and husband Alexsey Kuznetsov, also a principal dancer, are expecting a baby girl in November.
Other returning dancers include Amancio, Teixeira, Valladon, Buse Babadag, Ashley Brooke Lunn, Mia Caceres-Nielsen, Yulia Pivotskaya and Roberto Vega. Pivotskaya and Vega had big news themselves. Borrowing a page from Angelini and Albertini, they got married over the summer on Miami Beach.
Tuttle said she and her sister assembled the company not through open auditions, which they’ve never had, but rather through word of mouth.
“People find out about the company and they come to us,” Tuttle said. “It’s all about people who know people who know people.”
Dominguez Reyes learned about Dance Alive National Ballet through longtime friend and photographer Randy Batista.
“Randy told me, ‘We have a small company with beautiful, talented dancers and a very good director,'” Dominguez Reyes said. “I am just happy to be here. It’s like a small family here.”
The new Dance Alive National Ballet season, its 51st, promises to be memorable for audiences at the UF Curtis M. Phillips Center and throughout Florida, where DANB performs many touring shows.
The season begins Oct. 28 with FANGS!, a performance that includes Vampyra in the first act and Dracula in the second. During the holiday season, Dance Alive will continue a tradition by staging three performances of The Nutcracker Dec. 16-18.
The company will perform Robin Hood on Feb. 3-4 and then conclude the season on March 17 with Firebird and George Balanchine’s masterful Apollo.
Meanwhile, DANB is also preparing to perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Broward County in early October, a church piece for Holy Trinity in November, Rhapsody in Blue with Kevin Sharp, and Lady Bug: Action Hero for schoolchildren around the state.
Skinner said the Meet the Dancers event is a great way to get ready for the hectic season ahead.
“It helps pull the company together to make a connection,” she said.
— Noel Leroux
For further info, visit the Dance Alive website.
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