Director’s Note:
Tangata:
I always enjoy returning to this piece for a variety of reasons. Back in the day, when I was dancing, I was always cast in tango pieces. I don’t know if it just goes with having a name that sounds like It should be doing the tango or having a face that looks like I should be doing the tango, but I did lots of them. When SDB was approached by a local chamber music group to set some dances to Piazzolla pieces, at first I said NO. I didn’t feel that ballet choreography would authentically represent the music.. The director of the group then told me that was exactly why they wanted ballet. Piazzola had often stated that he did not particularly like seeing authentic tango dancers dancing to his tangos, as they were written as concert pieces. That freed me up to do my own version of ballet/tango fusion. I also had an Argentinian dancer in the company at the time, whose enthusiasm for the “rightness” of the project helped. It is a very economical ballet. A group piece. A duet. A trio. A duet. A group piece. But it has some of my favorite choreographic passages that I have set. It is concise, but you can still luxuriate in it. Wallow in the tango. “
Carnival of the Animals:
San Diego Ballet is proud to bring the magic of live dance and music to as wide of an audience as possible. SDB has a very family friendly production of Carnival, complete with giant puppets and hip hop dancers in the repertoire. .And while I am very proud of the work we do that is geared towards children, it has always kind of bugged me that there are a few pieces in that ballet that, for want of a better word, have a bit more integrity. So that is where the idea of re-imagining the ballet came into being. So we decided to keep a lot of the movement, but set it to a new score. It is always a joy to work with Gilbert, so it was a natural ask to see what he could come up with. That the NEA felt the project was worthy of recognition (and funding) is just very nice icing on the cake. So in this version, puppets are gone, but they are replaced with onstage musicians and new dances that highlight our dancers’ virtuosity and dramatic flair. People often ask me ‘What sets San Diego Ballet apart from other dance companies?’ Well, if anyone has that question, THIS is
the program to come see.
-Javier Velasco, Artistic Director
