Pacific Northwest Ballet's new "Hansel & Gretel" places 65 young dancers on the stage of McCaw Hall, dancing everything from the leading roles to moonbeams and black cats.
Unlike most of the past PNB school recitals, this fully staged ballet tells the complete fairy tale of the brother and sister who become lost in the woods and narrowly escape being baked into gingerbread by the Witch.
Putting together this very big production with PNB students fell to faculty member Bruce Wells, a former New York City Ballet dancer who previously choreographed "Snow White" for the school as well as many other works for other companies.
"This ballet is about the students of Pacific Northwest Ballet having a professional performance experience all the way from beginning to end. It's different than our 'Nutcracker,' which we've done for more than 20 years, where they just rehearse their one dance and then, only at the end, become involved in the full rehearsal. In this scenario, they experience the whole process," said Wells, who not only choreographed the ballet but also designed the elaborate costumes that the children wear.
Approximately 80 students from the Seattle and Bellevue classes are cast in the two performances of "Hansel & Gretel" including Queen Anne/Magnolia teenagers Haley Holman, Adrienne Kerr, Allison Pitton, Andrew Pontius and Mark Wax. PNB principal dancer Ariana Lallone dances the Witch who lives in the gingerbread house.
"Because it is such a huge show, I did just the divertissements, the dances, for the end of school performance last year," said Wells. This allowed him extra time to rehearse those dances as well as work out the choreography of the entire ballet. "And, of course, the numbers of students available changed. I had more girls in Level 8 last year than this year. But at the end of the day, I'm happy with how 'Hansel & Gretel' showcases the whole school."
The idea of doing a special family matinee began approximately five years ago. "Francia Russell approached me about doing this, based on something that they do at the Royal Danish Ballet that was very successful. At that time, among the children that were available, we seemed to have the right cast for a 'Snow White.' And it was very well received and I've restaged it for Atlanta Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet and the Oregon Ballet," said Wells.
When Peter Boal took over as artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet, he also expressed interest in creating a children's ballet that could be come a regular event. "He came to me and asked what did I want to do. I told him that I wanted to revive the family matinee here," said Wells.
Wells would like to see the school eventually present "Snow White," "Hansel & Gretel," and "Pinocchio" in regular rotation, depending on the students available to dance the parts. "Snow White" is a female-dominated story. "Hansel & Gretel" is not principal-dancer-dominated and just needs young children who interact with other people-in other words the youngest become the stars of the show. And Pinocchio, of course, needs male leads. I'd come this far in my vision when I discussed creating children's ballets with Peter."
Boal suggested casting Lallone as the Wicked Witch. "He said that he thought we needed star quality. And we've had a blast with Lallone, she's just so wonderful with the students," said Wells.
With PNB's tallest and most elegant female dancer cast as the Witch, Wells didn't create an old hag. "For her, I designed a very glamorous character."
Wells also expanded the story of "Hansel & Gretel" to help create as many roles as possible. "I created gingerbread soldiers, they're like a militia around the evil witch. In many different versions of the story, there was a white bird, so that became a character. Then there's the birds who take the breadcrumbs, which allows me to have a corps de ballet in tutus. And then Hansel and Gretel always spend a night in the woods, so I choreographed a dance for moonbeams, which is a different silhouette because they're wearing the long gowns."
Because Wells also had several teenage male dancers available, he also created the athletic black cats, who help the witch capture Hansel and Gretel.
Besides giving the students a chance to perform, the one-hour "Hansel & Gretel" was designed to be a good introduction to the art form for children. "We have a narrator in this ballet because our core audience might not be that comfortable with pantomime. So I created a narration, like 'Peter and Wolf,' to tell the story," said Wells. When his original narrator unexpectedly left to take another job with another ballet company, Wells stepped into the role. "The narrator is the sandman, so he has to be a former dancer and somebody who could talk as well. So my big joke about this is that the understudy gets to go on in this show."
"Hansel & Gretel" plays for two performances only on Sunday, March 18. And Wells is thinking about the possibilities for the next family matinee. "I already have an idea about how the whale can swallow Geppetto and Pinocchio," he said.[[In-content Ad]]
