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Playhouse Square - Ohio Theatre
United States
Ohio
Cleveland, OH

Cleveland Ballet’s Season-Opener Promises to be an Eye-Opener

by Steve Sucato
October 16, 2018
Playhouse Square - Ohio Theatre
1511 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44115
(216) 771-4444
Steve Sucato is a former dancer turned arts writer/critic. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Dance Critics Association and Associate Editor of ExploreDance.com.
To open its fourth season Cleveland Ballet will take audiences on a journey from a high-flying pirate adventure to a late night Argentinean café awash in the tango of love. The company’s Fall Collection, October 19 & 20 at Playhouse Square’s Ohio Theatre, will feature classical, neo-classical and contemporary ballet works including a world-premiere by artistic director Gladisa Guadalupe.

Since its founding in 2014, Cleveland Ballet has grown in size and dancer skill level every year. This season the company takes another leap forward by adding several high-caliber male dancers to its roster. They include Argentinean Luciano Perotto and Cubans Andy Sousa and Alfredo Rodriguez who, along with company veteran Rainer Diaz, may represent the finest male ballet dancer corps Cleveland has seen in over a decade. For the women, the recent departure of company star Luna Sayag is mitigated by the addition of Brooklyn-native Nicole Fedorov, who previously danced with Nevada Ballet, Moscow Classical Ballet and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. She joins a strong female corps that includes company veterans Lauren Stenroos, Madison Campbell and Anna Dobbins. They, along with the rest of the company, will take to the stage first Guadalupe’s full-company ballet “Momentum.”

Set to Felix Mendelssohn’s “Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor” performed live by pianist Ralitsa Georgieva Smith, the up-tempo ballet in three movements was inspired by Mendelssohn’s music says Guadalupe.  Seeing a recent rehearsal of the ballet, I found, like the music, the dancing came in vibrant back and forth runs. And while the choreography was fast paced, the dancing retained softness and grace to it.

Next, several of the aforementioned new company dancers will show off their considerable technical skills in excerpts from two ballet classics beginning with the bravura pas de trois from the ballet Le Corsaire (The Pirate) followed by the fiery Spanish pas de deux from Don Quixote.

The program will then shift gears from classical ballet fireworks to late night seduction in the form of Guadalupe’s new 25-minute ballet “Provocativo.” Set in an Argentinean café where love and lust permeate the air and danced to the music of Astor Piazzolla performed live by a quintet of musicians including bandoneonist Julien Labro, bassist Dan Finn and Russian tenor Mikhail Urusov, the ballet seeks to capture the desirous attitude of tango without being a tango piece.

Inspired by her memories of being in such a café in Argentina while on tour as a young professional dancer, Guadalupe has populated this café with a cast of colorful characters including a wealthy socialite, an painter, a Casanova and woman dreaming of her lost lover. In watching Cleveland Ballet’s dancers in a rehearsal of the jazz and tango infused contemporary ballet work, I found it to be a playfully evocative and entertaining ballet.

For those still unfamiliar with the new Cleveland Ballet, the company’s Fall Collection program may just be the introduction needed to make you a fan of this company on the rise.

Cleveland Ballet performs Fall Collection, 8 p.m., Friday, October 19 and 1 p.m. & 7 p.m., Saturday, October 20; Playhouse Square’s Ohio Theatre, 1511 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland. Tickets are $25-79. Also available on October 21 is a Ballet & Brunch Package at $41 that includes a pre-show brunch at Playhouse Square's RJF Presidents' Club starting at 11 a.m. followed by the 1p.m. performance. For tickets, visit playhousesquare.org or call (800) 801-7407. More information at clevelandballet.org.
Cleveland Ballet's Nashializ Gomez and Rainer Diaz in Gladisa Guadalupe's “Provocativo.”

Cleveland Ballet's Nashializ Gomez and Rainer Diaz in Gladisa Guadalupe's “Provocativo.”

Photo © & courtesy of New Image Photography


Cleveland Ballet's Alfredo Rodriguez and Elena Cvetkovich in Gladisa Guadalupe's “Provocativo.”

Cleveland Ballet's Alfredo Rodriguez and Elena Cvetkovich in Gladisa Guadalupe's “Provocativo.”

Photo © & courtesy of New Image Photography

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