Students bring ballet to Buskirk

On Wednesday and Thursday nights, dancers from the Jacobs School of Music Ballet Department performed 22 short ballets at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre for their annual Choreography Project.

Michael Vernon, Ballet Department chair and director of the Choreography Project, said the project began when Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux was the department chair in the early 1990s.

Vernon said the performances are an opportunity to see more theatrical and experimental ballet in a community setting.

“The ballets are small — it’s intimate,” Vernon said. “It’s a completely different experience to seeing dance at the Musical Arts Center.”

Each dance lasted about two to three minutes, featuring music from Chopin to Chuck Berry.

Act I opened with “The After Hours,” a playful dance choreographed by Mara Jacobucci to George Antheil’s “A Jazz Symphony.” 

It began with a young couple dancing and four other dancers waiting in the corner, frozen like mannequins. When the girl from the couple exited the stage, the four others came to life and vied for the man’s attention.

Vernon said student exposure to good choreography through performances at the MAC makes them better choreographers.

“At this department, because we do ballets by the world’s major choreographers, something rubs off,” Vernon said. “They get a sense of form and also of risk.”

“Addicted,” choreographed by Morgan Stillman to Dmitry Bortniansky’s “Song of Cherubins No. 7,” featured risky, contemporary choreography. Bella Calafiura and Elisabeth Martin put on an emotional and dramatic performance of a woman succumbing to her addiction.

Vernon said he was pleased with the variety of ballets the students choreographed. He said he loves unusual choreography that shows students are thinking outside the box.

“There are no real boundaries in choreography,” Vernon said. “You can be brave and attempt to do things that are new. That’s what I really encourage in the dancers.”

Vernon coached the choreographers and dancers in J410: Choreography Workshop, a class ballet majors are required to take twice as part of their degree.

“We have people who have a natural talent for choreography,” Vernon said. “I thought if they had a requirement to do it twice, I’d really be able to identify the promising ones and give them pointers. I really enjoy developing choreographers as well as dancers.”

Act I’s finale concluded with excited screams and applause from the audience.

“Allegro Not So Brilliante,” choreographed to Mozart’s “Violin Concerto in D,” featured high-energy, slapstick ballet.

Humor mixed with technical execution as the three danseurs followed turns with pretend fits of dizziness and nausea. They finished the performance with a bow, facing away from the audience.

“It’s certainly nice to see the dancers close up,” Vernon said. “You get to know them better.”

— Kate Thacker