Neptune's Ballet Classics

Neptune's ballet classics brings all of these unique aspects to the stage. It is fun to watch, fun to be in, and many lessons are learned.

Unique Ballet Teaching Tool:

How does one do something that has never been seen?
I grew up watching the World Class Ballet Companies perform while on tour. I could see what real ballet looked like. Long before I was able to do it, I knew what it was I was trying to do! While preparing for Neptune's Ballet Classics 2011, a mother of two of my students said about her children, "This will be their first Ballet - to be in, and to see." Her statement is true for many. Ballet students living outside metropolitan areas have limited opportunities to see top quality, professional level performing arts. Marvelous productions continue to be held Portland Oregon. Unfortunately, Portland is 80 miles from where I live. Attending these performances comes at a high price when gas, four hours of travel time, and food is added to the ticket price. Neptune's Ballet Classics brings quality ballet into the view of beginning students. Even in metropolitan areas, high ticket prices stop many from attending. The only ones willing to pay the price are the ones who know they will enjoy the event. How will one know they will enjoy it if they have never seen anything like it?

What better way to learn what a Ballet is than to be in one?
Ooops, few classical ballets are choreographed for beginning - intermediate students. Most schools end the year with a recital. No theme, no plot, a bunch of dances tossed upon the stage. The audience patiently awaits for their beloved to dance, mostly ignoring everything else on the program. When it is all over the audience and the performers have learned little about ballet. Why not provide the audience something to consider while they are waiting?

Unique Staging:
Sets constructed of pvc pipe and fabric permit easy transport, set-up, tear-down, and fast scene changes. They are also compact for storage. Combined with Video projected onto the stage, the simple sets take on life.

Unique Stage Crew:
How many times has a beginner lost a shoe or a chunk of costume on stage? There is panic back stage. How will the item be retrieved before someone slips on it, without disrupting the audience's view? Neptune's Ballet Classics assumes that things will need to be fixed on stage. The back stage crew are introduced to the audience as dancers/performers. They are the Dreamers. When a shoe is lost on stage, the Dreamers simply come on and sweep the shoe off the stage.

Unique Costumes:
The signature of ballet is the tutu. How many students have performed for years without ever having a tutu? Neptune's Ballet Classics uses many tutus in many ways. The crab costume has the tutu on the back. The Sea Rose costume wears the Tutu on the head. The Dreamers dance with tutu push brooms. All of Neptune's Ballet Classics costumes are handmade.

Unique Plot:
The standard plot for most novels and theatre productions is Neptune's Ballet Classics offers a plot that diverges from the standard plot of good against evil. This plot pits good against ignorance and results in enlightenment. In a previous version, I turned choreography over to students. That was fun, but it was clear they had no idea just how unique of a place we live in. The kids grew up here. They took for granted that our areas eccentricities were normal, assuming that every town has, bumper cars, bicycles built for 4, and cotton candy sold on the main street of town. Most who visit here are aware of our cotton candy and crazy bikes, yet have very little grasp of what it is like to live here. And when it comes to the ocean and shore-line, all too many look but do not see.

Prevailing Thought:
Once I saw Swan Lake, real swans took on a special quality for me. Once hunted almost to extinction, they are now treasured by most. How much our attitude change about swans can be attributed to the Ballet, Swan Lake? It is my fondest hope that those who see Neptune's Ballet Classics will become awakened to view the North Coast of Oregon as a treasure.

1996, 1997, 1998
Held at Seaside Convention Center, Seaside OR. First Version had Tide Pool Critters. next year, C-Town Scene was added. The plot remained thin and only a few dances supported the plot. Public school students were invited to become part of the show and about a dozen danced who had never danced before. Ballet Classics presented by guest performers have included Swan Lake (sharing full story) Coppelia (sharing full story) and excerpts from Paquita, and other ballets. Maria Dare assisted in choreography and rehearsals for male dancers and partnering. The year following Maria's death, the performance was dedicated to Maria, and a group of her students performed as the Ballet House Masters. One year, a large cast, some good intermediate/advanced students, plus many guest dancers, expanded the show over two consecutive nights. On the first night Swan Lake Act 1 was presented and ended with a variation of Act II (the swans began colliding into each other and all fell down. King Neptune stopped the show and asked everyone to return the next night for the real thing.) On the 2nd night, Swan Lake began with Act II and was correctly performed by quest dancers. Both nights were audience pleasers. Students involved in the 1st nights "failed" presentation of Swan Lake developed a deep understanding of how the classics look easy but are in fact most difficult.

2011
Held at Performing Arts Center, Clatsop Community College, Astoria OR. This was a test of new choreography, new music, and mixing projected videos with live dancing and acting, was a smashing success although it produced over ten pages of notes about needed corrections and revisions. Act 1 Scene 3 was acted out rather than danced. Getting over the hump of coordinating lights, audio, and the visuals had a time consuming solution. Next time it should be a snap! Unlike previous versions, this was a very small cast, the bulk of the dancing performed by beginners with less than 9 months of ballet classes. (It was a test of the Zandance Beginning Ballet Class content as well as show content. I was extremely pleased with the results.) Most of the ballet class year was spent in learning to dance rather than doing a dance. Students were given less than twelve weeks for rehearsals. Sets/props/scenery: The goal was to be able to set up in an hour and tear down in a half hour. We were able to tear down in a half. The set-up goal has yet to be met, but the solutions are now in hand. Only one dance was performed as a ballet classic. It was augmented by video excerpts. The combination of live performance and video was great. Beginning students watch both intently. They got to hear the huffing and puffing of a live performance. The got to see the best of the best as I selected short excerpts of Margot Fonteyn, Rudolph Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Cynthia Gregory. I also selected clips of the corps: many dancers standing and sitting on stage motionless, as well as dancing in groups with precise formations. Having seen these, they now know that Swan Lake is not all white, Don Quite and Coppelia have humor and acting, Romeo and Juliet tells a story. Most of all, they've seen what real ballet looks like.

2012
It is hoped that a full version will be presented that includes a fun little character called Sharkid. The goal is to include guest performers and dancers, of all experience levels and a healthy selection of ballet classics contained in the Maria Dare Dance Collection.

If interested in performing in Neptune's Ballet Classics 2012:
Persons with no dance experience and those not enrolled in another dance studio should contact Rozanne.
Zandance students will be contacted automatically - no need to email.
Persons enrolled in another dance studio are not accepted without instructor permission so contact your instructor.
Instructors wishing to have dancers perform a ballet classic should contact Rozanne