Ballet chooses 'Sleeping Beauty' for first production
6/21/2007The Toledo Classical Ballet Academy will present its premiere production, Sleeping Beauty, at 7 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday in the Maumee Center for Performing Arts, 1147 Saco St., which is at Maumee High School.
Diana Stetsura and David Hovhannisyan of the Milwaukee Ballet will dance the major roles of Princess Aurora and Prince Florimund.
School founder Katya Atamenyenko will dance the role of Princess Florine, with Arkadiy Orohovsky as Bluebird.
"I chose to do Sleeping Beauty as our inaugural performance because it represents classical ballet at its finest," explained Atamenyenko.
"Our advanced students are expected to dance the original choreography as staged over 100 years ago."
Orohovsky, formerly of the Kiev and Houston ballet companies and a former artistic director of the Toledo Ballet, has adapted original choreography by Marius Petipa for the production of Sleeping Beauty.
About 40 company and community dancers of widely varying age were selected by audition for chorus and minor roles at company headquarters, 4101 King Rd., Suite A, Sylvania.
Preceding the Saturday performance will be a free 30-minute question-and-answer session with Stetsura and Hovhannisyan at 6 p.m.
After a short presentation about the ballet, aspiring dancers and any audience members will be invited to ask questions of the guest dancers.
Tickets are $15, with arena seating. For ticket information see the company Web site, www.
toledoclassicalballet.com, or call 419-902-9390.