Pennsylvania Ballet

by Lauren Fadeley
Pointe Magazine
May 2012
 
Pennsylvania Ballet presents Trey McIntyre's Peter Pan for the first time this May. PAB soloist Lauren Fadeley, who'll dance the part of Wendy, is guest-blogging the rehearsal process for Pointe.
 
When we started this season at Pennsylvania Ballet, Trey McIntyre'sPeter Pan was definitely one of the most anticipated ballets in the lineup. Everyone knows the story of the boy who doesn't want to grow up and his adventures in Neverland, but none of us knew what to expect from a ballet version of the beloved classic. Would there still be mermaids and the ticking crocodile? Would Captain Hook and Peter still be arch nemeses fighting alongside their crews of pirates and Lost Boys? Would the Darling children still "think happy thoughts" and fly to Neverland?
 
After starting rehearsals last week, the answer to all these questions is: Yes! And then some. This production is so innovative in the way it tells the story through dance, props and special effects. McIntyre bases his ballet more on James M. Barrie's novel of Peter Pan than the Disney cartoon we grew up with, and the book has many underlying stories that add to the character development.
 
I have the amazing opportunity to portray Wendy in this full-length production. And that means I get to fly! We began the "flying to Neverland" scene in the studio by watching the video and learning the choreography with music. It was difficult to mark on the ground and be on the right counts when going up in the air takes so much more time. So the company rented out a venue where we can practice flying. We're going to get used to the harnesses we have to wear and work on our spacing and choreography in the air. The guys playing Peter went today and said it was a lot of fun. The Wendys will go tomorrow--I'll be sure to write all about it next time!
 
In a week and a half of rehearsals we have pretty much learned the whole three-act ballet, so there has been a ton of information floating through my head. I go to sleep reviewing choreography and wake up humming the music. Right now it's all about trying to remember the counts and what comes next, as well as starting to develop the character of a girl slowly becoming a young woman. As a 26-year-old, it's definitely a challenge to pretend to be 10, but it's also quite fun to remember what it was like to be that age. I'm looking forward to the point where it all starts to become second nature, and I can just let go and enjoy!
 
Read at PointeMagazine.com

by Lewis Whittington
EDGE Philadelphia
May 3, 2012
 
Choreographer Trey McIntyre created "Peter Pan"for Houston Ballet ten years ago, and it was a huge success. Critics hailed McIntyre as the new vanguard for the story ballet. Houston performed it again in 2004, but the ballet is seeing its first re-staged revival in Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania Ballet this week.
 
J.M.Barrie’s story of Wendy, the Lost Boys, Captain Hook, and all of Neverland’s denizens were all there before. But it was never, never, like this onstage. Elaborate sets were designed by Thomas Boyd and music was composed by Sir Edward Elgar and arranged by Niel DePonte. McIntyre has interpreted "Peter Pan" through a dark magical realism lens for a story ballet.
 
This is McIntyre’s third collaboration with PB; he created "Plush" with them in 2001 and returned for a revival of his modern ballet "Blue Until June," which featured a gay themed central duet for a male couple. He is overseeing the dancers for "Peter Pan" but has left the staging to Annali Rose and Brett Perry, two dancers from the choreographer’s own company (The Trey McIntyre Project).
 
EDGE spoke to Perry and Alex Peters, a dynamic new dancer at Pennsylvania Ballet corps cast in the lead role, after they discussed the production aspects of the ballet during a preview talk at the Free Library on Rittenhouse Square. Both are in their 20s and recipients of the prestigious Princess Grace Award for their achievements in dance.
 
At Houston Ballet, much was made of the inventiveness of the flying effects as they worked within ballet vocabulary. The Houston production had to use manual flying apparatus with ropes and pulleys operated by stage technicians. In Philly, everything is computerized and operated by hydraulics and robotics. Perry described the process of setting the steps and aerials for a new company. Working from recordings of the Houston performance and rehearsals, "Annali and I wrote down descriptions of every step of this. We worked it out for months in advance," he said.
 
"I’ve been a dancer with TMP for four years. As a dancer, I know what it feels like to not have the stager know every step. I can relate to these dancers. And they have been so game to get it right. I think they knew I was one of them too," Perry explained.
 
Peters is alternating in the lead with fellow corps member Amir Yogev. Pennsylvania Ballet artistic director Roy Kaiser often uses members of the corps de ballet in feature or lead roles.
 
"It’s amazing to see Alex’s confidence in this. When they were first working with the flying, they were just attacking the precision of this movement," Perry said.
 
The two Peter Pans had been rehearsing the aerial work at a smaller studio theater nearby. When they rig the Academy of Music, they will be making adjustments for seven more feet of flying ropes. "It’s going to change a lot. The other characters just go up and down basically, but Peter’s flying involves spinning variations, for instance...and elements that are really the magic of the whole story," Perry noted.
 
Peters said that the choreography "requires a lot of acrobatic skills," He continued, "Trey has this vision of the character...not as Disney, but more animalistic and reckless. Peter is self-involved and unaware of the consequences. With Captain Hook especially, it’s just a dangerous game. He just wants us to throw ourselves into the part."
 
Perry is already scheduled to stage "Peter Pan" for two other companies next year. "This work is Trey ten years ago, and he doesn’t work with pointe shoes anymore. So it’s interesting to realize what he did within the story ballet. He brings to it a very real and honest base to the characters." Perry will be dancing when he joins TMP the day after the Philly opening, flying halfway around the world for their month-long Asian tour. Meanwhile, the two Peter Pans will be flying on their own in the Academy of Music.
 
 
Read at EdgePhiladelphia.com.

Lisa Thomas-Laury
6ABC
February 22, 2012
 
The Pennsylvania Ballet is marking the 10th anniversary of its trainee program, with continued visits to area schools.
 
It is part of the Ballet's Outreach effort.
 
The Trainee program is known as Pennsylvania Ballet II, and it delighted the students at the Charles W. Henry School in West Mt. Airy Wednesday afternoon.
 
Pennsylvania Ballet II consists of seven pre-professional dancers who visit 15 to 20 schools in the area every year. It was their 9th visit to the CW Henry School.
 
They showed the Kindergarten through 4th graders some fundamental ballet moves, and the audience was especially thrilled to see their Coach, Chris Kuncio, help a dancer with a promenade.
 
Then they performed the ballet, "Por Temper Ments". The music is Hendemuth, and is choreographed by George Balanchine.
 
The ballet's outreach program gives the students a full ballet experience.
 
"They get to see classical ballet in their own environment, and they also bring kids to the dress rehearsals at the Academy of Music. This year, all the second graders came to the Nutcracker," said Phil Juska, Pennsylvania Ballet Outreach Director.
 
And it was the second graders who were the star attraction for their classmates, learning in one day a ballet to Rhianna's "We All Want Love".
 
"It's just wonderful to see the kids grow from year to year, it's amazing, and some of them are very talented," said William DeGregory, PA Ballet II Director.
 
When asked how they learned it so fast, their answers struck a common theme.
 
"I paid attention, and I listened," said 2nd grader, Terrell Tilghman.
 
"I was listening, and I watched the Nutcracker," said 2nd grader, Scarlett Zeleniak.
 
The Ballet's Outreach and Education programs bring recitals and other programs to 125,000 elementary, middle and high school students throughout the tri-state area.
 
 
Read and watch the video at 6ABC.com.
 

by Lisa Thomas-Laury
6ABC
January 12, 2012
The Pennsylvania Ballet is saying goodbye to one of the best dancers in the business. The Ballet's principal ballerina is retiring next month.
 
Born in Havana, Cuba, Riolama Lorenzo began her ballet training with her mother at age 14.
 
"My mother was a ballerina in Cuba. She danced with Alicia Alonso," Lorenzo said.
 
She says ballet has always come easily to her and she has always loved performing.
 
"As a child you like what you're good at and then the whole performing and dancing abroad and all those opportunities that you get as a ballerina," Lorenzo said.
 
In 1993, she received the renowned Princess Grace Award and later joined New York City Ballet.
 
She joined the Pennsylvania Ballet in 2002.
 
She has danced leading roles in hundreds of performances and was pregnant in Christopher Wheeldon's Swan Lake last March, but still performed.
 
"I have a 6-month old baby daughter and a 4-year-old son and that's a big part of the reason why I'm retiring," Lorenzo said.
 
As for retiring, she says, "It's hard, but it's something you have to be ready for and I think I'm ready."
 
Artistic director, Roy Kaiser, says she's a ballerina of breathtaking skill; he hired her ten years ago.
 
"I will miss her. I certainly will, but we'll keep part of her here. She has a great influence over the younger dancers. She has for many years, so they'll carry that on," Kaiser said.
 
For her final performance next month , February 12th, Riolama will perform in Matthew Neenan's "Keep" at the Merriam Theatre, which was choreographed for her.
 
"I think it's perfect, that I should end with something so personal and so beautiful," Lorenzo said.
 
Riolama has prepared for retirement. She looks forward to spending more time with her children, plus she has a bachelor's degree in Health Science from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
 
 
Read and watch the video at 6ABC.com.

Allison Stadd
Uwishunu
December 7, 2011
 
The Comcast Center Holiday Spectacular, a Philadelphia holiday favorite, includes new and enchanting scenes from George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker performed by the renowned Pennsylvania Ballet, filmed this past October.
 
The dancers themselves made a surprise appearance at the Comcast Center this afternoon, providing viewers twice the holiday fun. Check out the video, below, of the impromptu performance, as well as another photo.
 
See the photos and watch the video at uwishunu.com.

by Jillian Mele
NBC Philadelphia
December 17, 2011
 
Jillian Mele gets an exclusive look behind the scenes at the Pennsylvania Ballet. 
 
Watch the video at NBCPhiladelphia.com.

by Michael Elkin
Jewish Exponent
December 14, 2011
 
At Lucas Tischler's Bar Mitzvah this February at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, will they be doing the Macarena or a pas de deux?
 
Why not both: The proudly Jewish Elkins Park youngster is high on Haftorah and ballet leaps these days and is used to being feted himself.
 
Now he'd like to fete others. The community mitzvah he plans to pursue as part of his rite of passage: a dance-a-thon to benefit Jewish Family and Children's Service of Greater Philadelphia; it's also where his mother is supervisor of volunteer services.
 
It is, as he reasons, "a step up" from his part last year in the suite as Fritz, a less regal role.But before the Bar Mitzvah, there's raising the barre. And that's what the 13-year-old is doing now, playing the Prince in the current Pennsylvania Ballet Company production of "The Nutcracker" at the Academy of Music.
 
He owns the court, saving little Clara from the armed toy soldiers in battle and plumping himself and her on a throne in this most sugarplum of a role.
 
But the Cedarbrook Middle School student has worked hard for it: "I've been studying professional dance for six years." And he owes quite a bit, he says, to the talented teachers at the Metropolitan Ballet Academy here.
 
A smart kid, he somewhat smarts when stereotypes of ballet dancers are voiced.
 
"Everybody plays sports at school," says the baseball and hockey enthusiast and accomplished player, too, "but ballet is very tough -- especially when you're taught by Russians," which he was during a summer session at the rigorous and respected Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Connecticut.
 
No tough love at home, just filial loving support coming from both parents Lisa and John, a computer programmer, as well as older sibs Emma and Golde.
 
The next step? He'll probably be handling princely roles for the next few years.
 
But one day, he says, "I'd like to act."
 
He acts his age, unspoiled, even while traveling in the jete stream of professionals. It is all so wonderful being on stage, where he says he knows he belongs.
 
A fan of the film Billy Elliot and its en point perusal of children in ballet, he totally agrees with the number from A Chorus Line in which dancers concede that "Everything Is Beautiful at the Ballet."
 
"It certainly is," he says with a sigh. "It's magical."
 
Read at jewishexponent.com.

By Pat Ciarrocchi
CBS Philly
December 14, 2011

It’s the holiday season, and George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker is at the Academy of Music now through New Year’s Eve.

With its score by Tchaikovsky and the performance by the elite dancers of the Pennsylvania Ballet, The Nutcracker is captivating.

And for Lauren Fadeley and Francis Veyette, the experience has spun a web of love.

“It’s very, very rare that you get to do what you love with the person you love,” says Veyette.

On October 29th, Veyette married Fadeley during the two week period when the company wasn’t performing.

“They emailed us the schedule,” says Fadeley, “and it said, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Veyette for Sugar Plum and Cavalier.’”

Principal roles that tell a romantic story are the stuff of great ballet. But to dance the roles together–for the first time–is rare.

“She’s an amazing ballerina,” Veyette gushes about his new wife.

“This is the best wedding present we ever could have gotten.”

The Nutcracker turns on the story of a child’s fantasy. The roles of Marie and the young Prince were cast with Nutcracker veterans from the first act’s party scene.

Twelve-year-old Mary Lee Deddens is dancing as Marie for the first time, and she’s thrilled.

“We’re told to practice at home. My sister is in the party scene also, so she sings the music and we both practice.”

Ballet Master Jeffrey Gribler has worked with The Nutcracker‘s children for twenty years.

“They’re mature and wise beyond their years, so they bring a lot to the ballet,” he says.

That includes 12-year-old Christian Lavallie, who is the Young Prince for the first time.

“I was a Party Boy, and it’s just like a huge upgrade from that. So, it’s a lot of fun.“

Read and watch the video at philadelphia.cbslocal.com.

By Rosalie R. Radomsky
The New York Times
October 30, 2011

Lauren Fadeley and Francis Veyette, dancers with the Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia, were married Saturday evening at Minorca by the Sea, a condominium complex in New Smyrna Beach, Fla. Jonathan H. Stiles, a friend of the couple from the ballet company who became a Church of Spiritual Humanism minister for the occasion, officiated.

The bride, 26, who will continue to use her name professionally, is a soloist, and the bridegroom, 31, is a principal dancer. Earlier this month, she performed in “Slaughter on 10th Avenue” and he in “Raymonda Variations,” both by George Balanchine. The couple, along with other members of the Pennsylvania Ballet company, appeared in the film “Black Swan.”
 
The bride, who graduated with distinction from Indiana University, is the daughter of Carol Weyant Fadeley and Brett D. Fadeley of Longwood, Fla. Her father is the chairman of Handex Consulting and Remediation in Winter Park, Fla., which removes pollutants from groundwater.

The bridegroom is a son of Dallas J. Veyette and Paul L. Veyette of Visalia, Calif. The bridegroom’s father is the vice president for sales and marketing at Harris Woolf Almonds, a grower and processor, in Coalinga, Calif.
 
The couple met in Philadelphia in 1997 as dance students — she was 12 and he 17 — at the Rock School for Dance Education’s summer program, which at the time was connected to the Pennsylvania Ballet.
 
“They paired the two of us together in a publicity photo shoot,” Ms. Fadeley said. “I was so young, and he was hot stuff at the time.”
 
Mr. Veyette, who became an apprentice with the ballet company after that summer, didn’t realize that Ms. Fadeley was in the photograph. “I remember doing a picture with a really young girl I didn’t know,” he said. “Basically she was so young, and we were on different schedules.”
 
In 2007, when Ms. Fadeley joined the ballet company, they were paired up at a rehearsal.
 
“I ran and jumped on him,” she said, “and I said: ‘I’m Lauren. There’s a picture of us downstairs.’ ” To which she recalled he answered, “Oh, that’s you.”
 
They quickly became friends, but romance was not in the picture. She had a boyfriend.
 
“It became obvious we both liked each other,” Mr. Veyette said. “We either needed to stop spending so much time together or she had to break up with her boyfriend.” After a few months, she did.
 
In February 2008, they started rehearsing for Peter Quanz’s “Jupiter Symphony.” Ms. Fadeley recalled that it was a “loving pas de deux, and the choreographer always said, ‘Make sure you look at each other’s eyes and smile.’”
 
Ms. Fadeley called that “very easy.”
 
In May, a month before the premiere of “Jupiter Symphony,” they had their first date.
 
“I went and picked her up on my motorcycle, and we went out to dinner, and then I drove her around Fairmount Park,” Mr. Veyette said. “We parked at the top of the hill, and laid a blanket out, looked at the city below and talked.”
 
“I was pretty much in love with her already,” he said.
 
Read at NYTimes.com.

By Ellen Dunkel
The Inquirer
October 18, 2011
Alexei Ratmansky's Jeu de Cartes was built on the very specific talents of Bolshoi Ballet royalty, international luminaries such as Natalia Osipova, Svetlana Lunkina, and Maria Alexandrova.
 
The fleet, energetic ballet, set to Stravinsky, was choreographed in 2005 to honor the 80th birthday of Maya Plisetskaya, one of the most prima of ballerinas ever to grace a stage. It won a major Russian award for best choreography. And only the Bolshoi has ever danced it.
 
Until this week.
 
Pennsylvania Ballet presents Jeu de Cartes on its "Russian Suite" program Thursday at the Academy of Music, along with George Balanchine's Raymonda Variations and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.
 
When artistic director Roy Kaiser approached his agent about acquiring a ballet from the highly sought-after Russian in time for the 2011-12 season opening, Ratmansky - who initially knew nothing about the company - selected Jeu de Cartes because he didn't have time to create a new work, he was eager to revive this one, and he learned that Pennsylvania Ballet in 2004 had debuted the Swan Lake of another highly regarded choreographer, Christopher Wheeldon.
 
And Ratmansky wanted to make it special. Philadelphia is "close to New York, and I don't think it's nice to repeat things that I've seen there," he said, sitting under an umbrella at a cafe table behind Pennsylvania Ballet's East Falls studios on a drizzly day last week. "I've done a lot of stuff in Russia, so I just think it's a good opportunity for me to bring something."
 
The 43-year-old Ratmansky danced with the Kiev Ballet, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and the Royal Danish Ballet before leading the Bolshoi for five years. By 2008 he had worked so much with New York City Ballet that he seemed poised to succeed Wheeldon as resident choreographer there, under ballet master in chief Peter Martins.
 
Instead, he stunned the dance world by signing with American Ballet Theatre, as artist in residence.
 
"It's just schedule conflicts, because I had planned some projects that didn't really go well with Peter's plan of a resident choreographer. My schedule is much more free" with ABT, where in April his contract was extended to 2023. He continues to work with companies around the world and is premiering a major Romeo & Juliet at National Ballet of Canada next month.
 
Jeu de Cartes - "The Card Game" - was initially a wild card. Another ballet planned for Plisetskaya's gala hadn't come together, So with time running short, the Bolshoi shuffled the deck and turned to Ratmansky, then its artistic director.
 
"We were all like in panic: 'What to do? What to do?' " the choreographer said. "And so they all said, 'Well, there's nothing left. You have to do this yourself.' "
 
He had choreographed for the Bolshoi before, as well as the Mariinsky and other major companies. But this was one of his first works as artistic director, and the first time he had to choreograph on the fly, with no plans and with whichever dancers he could pull together.
 
"I knew this music, and I wanted to do this piece for a long time," Ratmansky said, "and it just happened. All the plans were made, and I just thought, 'OK, this principal guy is free,' or 'These three people are free, I will take them.' It was sort of this organic process. I didn't have anything."
 
His bet paid off. Ratmansky won Russia's Golden Mask Award for best new choreography for Jeu de Cartes, an honor akin to a Tony Award on an even larger scale because it spans all theatrical forms, from opera to puppetry to drama to dance.
 
For the Philadelphia premiere, he entrusted the casting to Kaiser. His wife, Tatiana, came two weeks ahead of him, to teach the steps.
 
"I sent a letter, because I didn't have a chance to come here myself," Ratmansky said. "But I described all the characters, quite precisely, to Roy. And he said, 'Well, that's people we have, and I'll make a choice. If you see something wrong, you'll change it.' But it seemed to work."
 
His Jeu de Cartes is not literally a card game, but Ratmansky, known for his extremely inventive musicality, plays with the Stravinsky score.
 
"It just blew my mind," said Pennsylvania Ballet soloist Brooke Moore, "what steps he would put where. And how many steps he wants you to do within one count - three different steps within two counts. Musically, it makes sense, but it's a challenge for your body to break it down. He's using everything that's in those three counts, things I just did not think I could do."
 
His inspiration arose partly out of Plisetskaya's interests. "I know that she likes solitaire, playing with cards with herself," he said.
 
There's no story. "It was more like a portrait of the dancers I worked with, so the vocabulary of the solos was what they could do best. It does make it difficult to set it on other companies."
 
Moore stepped into one of those positions. "He needed a powerhouse," she said. "In the second movement, my girl just does not stop for a while. He needed somebody who was more of an athletic dancer.
 
"The whole ballet is really hard," she said. "The solo that I have in the middle of the second movement is just very fast, and he basically wants me to move quicker than I think I'm capable of. I just have to push myself with everything I have."
 
In a recent rehearsal, Ratmansky spent more than 15 minutes with Moore going over and over and over the same phrase, stopping her every few steps to correct her foot position, her speed, or how she leaned into another dancer's arms. He and Tatiana stepped in to demonstrate.
 
"My goal is to get the maximum out of them, the most physicality, the most excitement," Ratmansky said.
 
"I will say that his wife was wonderful," Moore said, "but the ballet has become like a completely different piece within just the week that we've worked with him, because he's just very determined to get us to move the way he envisions us. And his musicality.
 
"He's super-nice, but he wants it for us - for his ballet, yes, but he wants us to move that way."
 
Ratmansky agrees. "I enjoy working, because no matter how good the dancers are, any company can have good dancers now. But to make the dancers do something better, that's the most exciting moment."
 
Read at Philly.com.