The Story of Sleeping Beauty: A Contemporary Dance Experience, ended this week at Rochester Imstitute of Technology's National Technical Institute for The Deaf's Robert F. Panara Theatre. My daughters never BEG me to take them anywhere --twice. They did for Thomas Warfield's directed and non-traditional production. The classic fairytale incorporated various dance genres: classical ballet, hip-hop and tap along with music from the Black-Eyed Peas, the films Harry Potter and The Incredibles, jazz and Hip Hop, and non-traditional casting.
Warfield makes lots of changes: I like them. (If you don't remember the story: Princess Aurora gets cursed by an Evil With who wants her dead. The curse involves her touching a spindle and dying. Instead of dying, she falls into a deep sleep courtesy of the three fairies. A Prince comes and his kiss awakens her.) Gone are the three fairies. (Merriwerther was my favorite.) Instead, he introduces an array of fairies who handle the traditional ballet numbers. The 36-member cast, Warfield credits, for the story's modern fair. "It all fits together well," continues Warfield, who worked on this production since October 2009.
"My students aren't classically trained ballet dancers. NTID doesn't have a dance major program. Most of the people in this show have danced in high school or have danced all their lives. We incorporated some of their dance ideas to broaden this show."
My favorite parts of the production were the Prince's entrance (The Hispanic dancer came in on a cool Hip-Hop track complete with some popping and locking.); the Evil Fairy (the costuming was absolutely dynamic and the audience gasped with approval that "she" was played brilliantly by Joseph Fox, and the story's beginning with the Court Jester (David Baughman) opening a big and brilliantly covered Storybook.
The costumes, the stage production, and the scenes in the forest were breath-taking. The finale included a song by the Black Eyed Peas and the cast rocked the final dance scene with their moves. The cast members gave Warfield his own spindle and he touched it as they all fell (literally) under his spell. A fitting tribute!
Posted By: Marsha Jones
Monday, February 15th 2010 at 7:50PM
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