Toes touch, feet fly

All-American — a common term in sports, not in ballet.

The Jacobs School of Music Ballet Theater Department will present “An American Evening” 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, as well as a newly introduced matinee 2 p.m. Saturday. The production is three ballets, two choreographed by George Balanchine and one by Agnes de Mille.

“Almost every company in the world does some Balanchine,” said Victoria Simon, who is staging “Serenade.”

“You have to have Balanchine,” she said.

Ballet Department chair Michael Vernon said every production has a theme, such as the Diaghilev tribute last semester, to simplify it for the audience.

“It puts the ballets in a context they can understand,” he said.

Behind the scenes, Simon said her role consisted largely of teaching the dancers the entire ballet and helping convert it from rehearsal studio to the stage.

“It’s like teaching a whole orchestra a score,” she said. “Serenade” is such a visualization of the music.”

While there will be no set and the costumes are from a previous production, Simon said she was also involved in the lighting design because setting the proper mood was very importan.

“The lighting is very specific for this ballet,” she said.

While Balanchine is Russian by birth, he fled the Soviet Union at age 20 and ended up with Serge Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes in the United States. De Mille, on the other hand, was born in New York City.

“I think the last ballet, ‘Rodeo,’ is the most American of the three,” Simon said, naming the de Mille ballet. “All three ballets are very different styles.”

Simon said “Serenade” is romantic and described “Rodeo” as “just a little bit of the Old West.” Vernon agreed, adding the ballet “has a jazzy feel.”

“We don’t have many ballets that have humor in them,” he said. “It’s a very human story.”

Vernon said that while “Serenade” and “Rubies” are both romances, he described the latter as “much more edgy.”

“’Rubies is sort of the epitome of the New York City Ballet,” he said, naming Balanchine’s company.

Vernon said the ballets will be high-caliber, not only because of the abilities and hard work of the dancers, but because of the amazing resources the ballet department has access to.

“I don’t know of any other university that could put on this kind of production,” Vernon said. “I think what we’re really doing is presenting three masterpieces.”