Principal roles in Chattanooga Ballet's production of "Les Sylphides" will be danced by professional company members Dillon Davis, left, and Claire Carlisle Young.IF YOU GO¦ What: Chattanooga Ballet's "Les Sylphides."¦ When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 9-10.¦ Where: UTC Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St.¦ Admission: $15 adults, $13 seniors, students and children.¦ Phone: 423-425-4269.¦ Website: www.tickettracks.com.
Chattanooga Ballet will present the classical ballet "Les Sylphides" in two performances this weekend in the UTC Fine Arts Center. Also included in the program will be choreographic works by Tom Pazik, Cinnamon Halbert-Smith and Joellen Wojtowicz.
According to producers, "Les Sylphides" was first presented in Paris in 1909 by Diaghilev's Ballet Russes with choreography by Michel Fokine to a score by Frederic Chopin. The principal dancers in the original production were Vaslov Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova, two of the most celebrated dancers in the world at the time.
This ballet is recognized for beginning the ballet blanc era, which involved a new conception of dance based on ethereal atmosphere, soft music and diaphanous white costumes. It is often described as a "romantic reverie" in that it has no plot but rather consists of a poet dancing with ghostly, white-clad sylphs in a moonlit forest.
Chattanooga Ballet's production of "Les Sylphides" is staged by ballet master Frank Hay.
The principal roles will be danced by professional company members Claire Carlisle Young and Dillon Davis.
Young, a first-year company member with Chattanooga Ballet, danced for several seasons with the Oklahoma Festival Ballet and has been a company member with the Columbia City Ballet and the Montgomery Ballet.
Davis, a Chattanooga native, began his training at Chattanooga Ballet and Chattanooga's Center for Creative Arts. He began his professional career at Alabama Ballet, spent two seasons with Nashville Ballet 2 and most recently was a soloist at Dance Theatre of Tennessee.
The demi soloists in "Les Sylphides" will be Amanda White and Marisa Montany.
The additional works are Halbert-Smith's "Boot Straps Up," a contemporary ensemble piece to music by Hans Zimmer; Pazik's "Guitar Concerto," a neoclassical ballet with music by Antonio Vivaldi that Chattanooga Ballet commissioned in 1992; and Wojtowicz's "Baba," in its premiere, set to music by Hart, Adepoju and Hidalgo.