The program opens with Chopiniana, a meditation on mood and movement often known as Les Sylphides. “It was originally choreographed by Michael Fokine, but the version that we're performing was re-staged by Alexandra Danilova for the New York City Ballet,” says IU Senior Maya Jackson, who dances the Mazurka solo in Chopiniana. “Our professor Kyra Nichols and Christian Claessens have been helping us stage it, teach it to us, give us the kind of vibe that we want to have as we're performing. It's very nice just getting their opinions, and they always say that we need to give a very ethereal vibe because we're like sylphs in the woods dancing in the moonlight.”
George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante follows, set to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3. “It's 14 minutes of pretty non-stop dancing,” says IU Senior Stanley Cannon. “This kind of has been cited as one of the hardest Balanchine ballets that he has in his repertoire. To get to tackle it with other college students here at IU and feel good about what we're doing and feel like we're doing Kyra proud and doing Balanchine proud is a great feeling.”
The program then turns to contemporary expression with Christopher Wheeldon’s pas de deux, This Bitter Earth, and the world premiere of Gianna Reisen’s Strauss 200. Reisen, the youngest choreographer ever commissioned by New York City Ballet, brings her fresh, distinctive choreography to the stage of the Musical Arts Center, creating a new work for Jacobs dancers set to the music of Johann Strauss II.
You can hear the audio of dancers Maya Jackson and Stanley Cannon in conversation with WFIU's Aaron Cain above.
