Atlantic City Ballet sinks its teeth into ‘Dracula’
Oct, 16-2009 1:16 pm
By LORENDA KNISEL
Staff Writer
The world appears to be caught in a vampire craze fueled by the romantic “Twilight” books and film, “The Vampire Diaries” TV show, and the seductive HBO series “True Blood,” based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels.
For millennia, cultures around the world have been fascinated with vampires, perhaps because of their immortal beauty and hypnotic powers, as well as the fear they incite. Vampire lore has surfaced in the chubacabra myth in Mexico, the German 1922 silent film “Nosferatu” and Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles,” among others.
But no other vampire tale is more quintessential – or influential to 20th and 21st century vampire films, books and theater – than Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel “Dracula.”
All of the story’s haunting drama has been captured by the Atlantic City Ballet, which is performing “Dracula” for its fourth consecutive year at area venues.
Ballet company founder Phyllis Papa has directed and choreographed a lush and atmospheric adaptation of the rarely performed contemporary ballet.
From the moment Dracula, played by Kristaps Kikulis of Latvia, opens his coffin in a haze of smoke on the red and purple stage while eerily enchanting music pulses, the audience is mesmerized – caught under his spell.
Every element of the ballet draws one into the Count’s world, including the beautifully designed backdrops of Romania and London, the lighting and stark blackouts, the elaborate 19th-century costumes, and sound effects evoking galloping horses, thunder and a beating heart.
Papa, working more like a play or film director, has managed to bring out strong and vivid emotions in her cast of dancers – who hail from places around the world such as Romania, Korea, Georgia in Eastern Europe, Australia, Israel, Philadelphia and Medford, N.J.
“As a director or choreographer you teach them how to think, how to act,” Papa explained. “Acting in dance is not just doing steps. There is a whole movement and a feeling in each thing that you do.”
Since there is no speaking in a ballet, the storyline must be conveyed through the dancers’ movements and gestures.
“I approach it as if someone hadn’t read the program or doesn’t know the story. A good ballet is when someone comes in not knowing the story, and someone is able to get something about the story just from watching it.”
Papa said that “Dracula” is her favorite ballet and that she and her dancers are having a lot of fun with it.
“I think it’s the greatest work I’ve ever created. And I think other people feel that way too,” the director said, noting that many dancers she has worked with have come back and told her that.
That says a lot for someone who has choreographed more than 30 ballets, performed for former President Lyndon B. Johnson and Queen Elizabeth, and was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and Stars of the American Ballet.
Papa said “Dracula” is so different from what her company usually performs.
“Most of the time dancers are trying to look pretty, and this isn’t that at all.”
By contrast, “The Nutcracker,” a classical ballet the company has been performing for 26 years, is the most popular production, bringing in the funds that keep her nonprofit Galloway Township-based company afloat. “Dracula” is a more experimental piece that she does as a labor of love.
Papa sees “Dracula” growing and getting more popular each year.
“Most people who see it do come back again and they are bringing friends. They get very enthusiastic about it. I think it can be as big as ‘Nutcracker.’”
Last year the show was offered over three weekends; this year, a fourth has been added. Papa said the popularity of vampires this year is going to bring even more people out.
She said “Dracula” is more accessible than “The Nutcracker” because of its familiar storyline and the fact that it is not a typical ballet.
“I think if people see this they may come back for more ballets. I use to think that ‘Nutcracker’ was a very good first ballet, and it still is, but it doesn’t have the meat and potatoes that ‘Dracula’ has – meaning, the drama,” she said.
“For people who have never seen a ballet before, this is something they should see. It’s going to be an event that they didn’t expect. It’s not just ballet. It’s more of a dance experience.”
“Dracula” will be performed 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 23 and 24 at the Paul W. Schmidtchen Theatre in Cape May, 8 p.m. Oct. 29 at Monmouth University’s Pollack Theater and 2 p.m. Nov. 1 at West Side Dance in Morristown.
Tickets prices vary for each performance. For information or tickets see www.acballet.org, email ACBT@ACBT.ORG or call (609) 804-1995.
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