Swan Lake, West Side Story mash-up makes for smash hit
Kyle Lowe/The Collegian
The Centennial Symphonic Dance Project, a joint event produced by the music and theater arts departments, opened Thursday night to a sold-out house, a pattern that would continue over the weekend during the project’s next three performances.
The performance was headed by contemporary dance ensemble director Kenneth Balint along with Fresno State symphony orchestra conductor Thomas Loewenheim.
“The conductor and I, at least in the beginning, jokingly teased each other that it probably would be another hundred years before the departments collaborate,” Balint said.
The performance featured a contemporary mash-up of West Side Story and Swan Lake.
Students, professors, friends and family of performers and many others made their way into their seats as more than 400 filled in the John Wright Theater, selling out all four performances.
“This is my last night playing Odette, so I’m pretty excited,” Nicole Askren said before performing on Saturday. Askren switches roles with another dancer each performance, as do both of the male leads.
“Both the two gentlemen in the show partner differently, so it’s a challenge working with two different partners at the same time, but it works,” Askren said.
Askren said she gets plenty of rehearsal time. The dancers have been practicing for this event since October. The two weeks leading up to the performance is the most intense, Askren said, as they have rehearsal every single night.
On the floor of the dance studio they rehearse in is a taped-on version of the theater stage, which Balint pointed out is six inches smaller than the actual stage. Many times the dancers have to walk backwards at certain points in the performance but still avoid ever falling off the stage for this reason.
The Contemporary Dance Ensemble members are all a part of the class Dance 163, which is a preparatory class for performance and careers in dancing.
“It’s essential that the students actually have this opportunity to go through a grueling rehearsal period and performance,” Balint said. “To be able to perform with the symphony is just amazing. Sometimes professional dancers don’t even get to do that anymore because performing with a symphony orchestra is just too expensive.”
Eugene Rodolfa, one of the male leads, said that dancing with a live orchestra is what he enjoyed most about this performance.
“You can definitely feel the movement a lot more and the energy behind the music is just powerful,” Rodolfa said.
The behind-the-scenes production and direction of the show is almost fully student run.
“I like the theatre department because it’s very hands on,” stage manager Angela Salinas said. “The person who’s running the light board is a student.”
A lot of what goes on behind the scenes requires quick changes. In many cases, the performers have to be completely re-dressed in less than 45 seconds. “It’s all about being prepared,” Salinas said.
Fresno State’s centennial year provided an opportunity for the two departments that don’t normally work together to collaborate on a project that turned out to be a huge success.
“I really like how two departments came together and did this show because it really does show that people enjoy theatre,” Salinas said. “We do six shows a year and sometimes we don’t get a lot of people, but I think is going to bring in a lot of people because they’re seeing what we can do.”