MASTERS OF MOVEMENT Comes To Westside Ballet

Westside Ballet of Santa Monica presents "Masters of Movement: Ballet through the Centuries"-a richly varied program of classical, neoclassical, and contemporary works showcasing the range and talent of the nonprofit company's pre-professional dancers, alumni, and guest artists-on Memorial Day weekend at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

On Friday, May 26, the pre-professional company will host its annual Soirée special event, including cocktails, appetizers, awards, and one-night-only guest artist performances. Andrea Laššáková and alumnus Adrian Blake Mitchell will dance Westside's Premiere of After the Rain by acclaimed choreographer Christopher Wheeldon; and Maté Szentes and alumna Lyrica Woodruff will perform George Balanchine's dazzling Stars & Stripes. Repertoire also includes a suite from Marius Petipa's Raymonda and a newly commissioned contemporary work Color of Spring by Vanessa Van Wormer. Both contemporary works feature live music.

On Saturday, May 27, the festivities continue with repertoire featuring the Westside Premiere of George Balanchine's Emeralds Pas de Trois; excerpts from Sleeping Beauty; Handel Dances by resident choreographer Sophie Monat; and concluding with audience favorite A Chorus Line. Saturday's pre-professional showcase includes divertissements from Marius Petipa's Raymonda, as well as Ms. Wormer's piece, again with live music.

The Soirée special event honors Ralph and Eileen Horowitz with the Bravo! Award, & Morley Builders with the Huntley Santa Monica Beach Community Arts Award. Catering generously donated by Urth Caffe with Bar by The Huntley Hotel.

Ballet Through the Centuries

"In these two performances, dancing serves as a means to convey ideas that go beyond words and touch the hearts of the audience. The evolution of dance from the classical to the contemporary: Petipa, Balanchine, Wheeldon. Timeless. Classical," shares Westside Ballet's artistic director Martine Harley.

Beginning with Ms. Harley's staging of the Grand Défilé, both the Friday Soirée and Saturday Showcase performances open by introducing all dancers, from the youngest and newest to the 'étoiles'.

Both performances feature Westside's advanced pre-professional dancers in excerpts from Raymonda from ballet's archetypal classical choreographer, Marius Petipa, set to glorious music by the Russian composer Alexander Glazunov and a libretto by the author and columnist, Countess Lydia Pashkova. "Set in Medieval Europe with beautiful noblewomen, heroic knights of the Crusades, a scheming antagonist and the mysterious White Lady, the ballet was a new parallel to The Sleeping Beauty." (The Marius Petipa Society). Perfectly, the Saturday Showcase performances feature excerpts from Petipa's Sleeping Beauty, including The Garland Dance, and Friends Dance.'

The performances feature these quintessentially classical pieces from Petipa and others, as well as two neoclassical Balanchine performances, the original contemporary piece by Ms. Van Wormer, and with the stunning addition of Wheeldon's breathtaking After the Rain.

Contemporary Ballet & Jazz Pieces

For the second consecutive year, Westside's advanced pre-professional dancers will perform Van Wormer's original work to live music. Ms. Van Wormer has choreographed her piece to music by Manuel De Falla, "El Paño Moruno, Canción Asturiana," performed by two sopranos (Brenda Osorio and Angela Rhodes) with guitar by Ken Rosser.

Concluding the Saturday performance is Jazz Director Michele Bachar Mendicelli's staging of the Michael Bennett classic A Chorus Line, a sensational audience favorite. "I grew up dancing in the 1970's and 80's, so it was really fun bringing back some of those classical jazz steps from that era," shares Ms. Bachar Mendicelli. "That choreography always looks best when using dancers with a solid foundation in classical ballet, which we pride ourselves on giving to our students."

Guest Principals (Friday night only)

Alumni Adrian Blake Mitchell accompanies his Slovakian partner, Andrea Laššáková, in Christopher Wheeldon's After the Rain, a special reprisal of their performance with their fellow Russian exiles at the Segerstrom Center's November "Reunited in Dance" Gala. Their Friday evening Westside Soirée performance will be set to live music by professional pianist Nathan Ben-Yehuda and violinist Misha Vayman. One year ago, California native Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Lassakova performed at his alma mater's 2022 Spring Soirée immediately after fleeing from their lives and careers in St. Petersburg as soloists with Mikhailovsky Theatre Ballet Company at the onset of the Ukrainian invasion.

This will also be the second Spring Season in which Westside alumna Lyrica Woodruff and guest artist Maté Szentes will partner in a Balanchine classic at Westside's Soirée-last year bringing down the house with their simpatico rendition of Tchaikovsky's Pas de Deux. The pair will perform Stars & Stripes pas de deux, staged by New York City Ballet legend Patricia Neary, in honor of Memorial Day weekend 2023. This will be the second consecutive year Ms. Neary will stage a Balanchine work for Westside Ballet featuring Ms. Woodruff and Mr. Szentes.

Ms. Woodruff, of Broadway's Anastasia fame, was a protégé of Yvonne Mounsey, training at Westside Ballet and later the School of American Ballet, where she received the Mae L. Wein Award for Outstanding Promise. Ms. Woodruff went on to win the prestigious Chita Rivera Award for her dancing in Broadway's Finian's Rainbow. She has danced at The Kennedy Center in Little Dancer with Tiler Peck and continued in that production-retitled Marie, Dancing Still-in Washington, following an illustrious run on Broadway in Anastasia, the musical. Ms. Woodruff has also appeared in numerous television series, including "Bunheads" and "Private Practice." Recently, Ms. Woodruff performed as a dancer in Dolly Parton's "Mountain Magic" 2022 Christmas movie & special on NBC.

Accompanying Ms. Woodruff is professional dancer and choreographer Maté Szentes ("Hungarian-born firebrand... impish with a bravura attack, was a disruptive force" -Los Angeles Times). Mr. Szentes has danced with Hungarian National Ballet, Richmond Ballet, American Contemporary Ballet, as well as Barak Ballet.

"Boys Ballet" / Promising Young Men's Division

Westside welcomes back four elite young male cast members - Dylan Weinstein (16), Sawyer Jordan (16) Evan Hull (14), and Spencer Collins (10) - all from Westside School of Ballet's Young Mens' Division. These young men recently solidified themselves as some of the best in the nation after receiving top placement at the Youth America Grand Prix.

The older Santa Monica natives (Dylan and Sawyer) perform variations in the classic Raymonda in both performances. In the Friday Soirée, Sawyer shall perform a Solo from Satanella, and Dylan a solo from Grand Pas Classique.

In Saturday's performance, Evan and Spencer will present their YAGP variations. Evan will perform a solo from La Fille Mal Gardée by Jean Dauberval (1789) whilst Spencer dances his solo from The Talisman (Petipa, 1895).

Resident Youth Dancers

Several pre-professional dancers take on soloist roles in the Raymonda excerpts: Kalea Harrison (18), a senior at Notre Dame Academy High School; Venice resident Lilly Olvera (18); and SaMo High sophomore Catia Boucher (16).

Recently Catia competed at the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) Regionals and placed in the top 25. She shares: "I love dancing ballet because the level of emotion you can express through your artistry is never ending. There are always improvements to be made, starting with basic technique, and working your way up to having artistic freedom within your dancing. It is incredibly rewarding to struggle with a combination in class, or with a variation, and then finally get it. As much of a cliché as it is, hard work pays off and the feeling I get when it does is unlike any other. Part of the joy dancing ballet brings me is from the growth and learning aspect. Learning how to use artistry in my dancing is something I am working hard on. When I watch professional dancers I look up to, I am drawn to them not only by their flawless technique, but the emotion they pass on to the audience members through the artistry."

Twin sisters Francisca and Isabel Bugacov (15), both sophomores at New West Charter High School, will perform with elite young male dancers Sawyer Jordan and Dylan Weinstein in Westside's Premiere of Balanchine's Emeralds Pas de Trois from Jewels. Staged by New York City Ballet former principal Nilas Martins and set to portions of Gabriel Fauré's Shylock, Emeralds is considered French and Romantic in tone. Francisca says she enjoys the emphasis on artistic expression at Westside Ballet: "It isn't only about the technique; it is about the artistry and the style you pair with that technique."

The company's youngest dancers introduce levity through a newly choreographed piece, Mozartiana. This charming work by Westside's Children's Division Associate Artistic Director Caprice Walker and staged by Ms. Bachar Mendicelli is set to the Mozart composition, Les petits riens (French for "The Little Nothings").

Community Engagement

Westside Ballet's 2023 Spring Soirée special event honors Ralph and Eileen Horowitz with the Bravo! Award, and Morley Builders with the Huntley Santa Monica Beach Community Arts Award.

Ralph and Eileen Horowitz have been valued patrons and promoters of the performing arts in the ballet and greater SoCal community for decades. Westside Board President and Spring Performance Producer Judith Meister says, "The Horowitz family have been champions of Westside Ballet and shared a deep friendship with our founder Yvonne Mounsey. We are thrilled to recognize their long-standing generosity and guidance."

During the first year of pandemic shut-downs, the Westside Ballet Volunteer Guild recognized the need to bring people together in-person but safely. Thanks to the huge support of local contractor Morley Builders, materials and labor were provided in early Fall 2020 to build an outdoor dance studio."Each week, classes were held for all to see and know that the beauty of dance and the arts would not be vanquished," shares Allegra Clegg, Westside School of Ballet owner and daughter of co-founder Yvonne Mounsey.

Under an education initiative, Westside is partnered with Santa Monica College. By being concurrently enrolled in SMC's choreography course with Vanessa van Wormer, Westside's dancers who are high school students will receive college credits-transferable to any of California's public four-year colleges and universities.

Westside Ballet established an Endowment Fund to expand both merit and need-based scholarships. Pre-COVID, Westside Ballet provided approximately $100,000 in scholarships annually. The Chow Family Scholarship Fund was established in 2018 and over $150,000 has been raised to date; major donors of this fund requested the funds be used to actively recruit People of Color. In Summer 2020, a scholarship was established by a new nonprofit, Dance in Color, and founded by Westside Alumnus Adrian Blake Mitchell. Several young Westside dancers have received this scholarship every year since the 2020-21 school year.

The biannual Westside Ballet productions are made possible in part by grants from Los Angeles County, the City of Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades Woman's Club -- and sponsorships from local Santa Monica individuals, businesses, and organizations such as Santa Monica College Public Policy Institute, The Huntley Hotel, Urth Caffe, Morley Builders, Lyft Scooters, and more.

Past Performances

Many professional dancers have made their debuts in Westside's stage performances. A few of them include Monique Meunier (NYCB, ABT), Anna Liceica (ABT), Martine Harley (Houston Ballet), Melissa Barak (NYCB, Los Angeles Ballet, Barak Ballet), Andrew Veyette (NYCB), Stayce Camparo (Kansas City Ballet) and Francis Veyette (Pennsylvania Ballet). Recent successes include Molly Novak (Boston Ballet); Lucia Connolly (Joffrey Ballet of Chicago); Samuel Melnikov (New York City Ballet); Sarah Hurty (Nashville Ballet); Shelby Tzung (National Ballet of Canada); Giorgia Martelloni Zabriskie (Dance Theatre of Harlem); and Severina Wong (Ballet West).

Friday, May 26, 2023, 6 pm Soirée reception and awards, followed by the 8 pm "Masters of Movement" with special performances; -and- Saturday, May 27, 2024, 1pm and 5 pm shows of the "Masters of Movement" pre-professional Spring Showcases. Both at The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Saturday Showcase tickets are $45. The Soirée Friday reception and special performance are $100-300. Tickets for this must-see dance event of the season may be purchased online at westsideballet.com/SpringTix or by phone (additional fees apply) at (800) 595-4849 (4TIX).

Watch a preview below:

Photo Credit: Eric Williams

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