Sarasota Cuban Ballet will perform an original seasonal ballet on Halloween weekend.
“October 31st through November 2nd, we are reprising our full-length ballet, 'Dracula,'” said Barbara Worth, the ballet’s administrative director. “It's an original full-length ballet that was created by two of our faculty members.”
This will be the third consecutive year that Sarasota Cuban Ballet is performing the ballet, which was created by Rolando Yanes and Monica Isla.
It’s Bram Stoker with a Cuban flair.
“Audiences love it. They just absolutely love it,” said Worth. “It's very beautiful and very moving, but basically, it's the story of Dracula.”
Sarasota Cuban Ballet will perform “Dracula” at its auditorium on Cattlemen Drive.
“It's a very intimate performance space for the audience,” Worth added. “The dancers are just a few feet from them when they're performing for shows. And in some of our pieces when the dancers are leaping through the air, they're landing a foot from the front row.”
Performances are Friday, Oct. 31 at 7, Saturday, Nov. 1 at 2 and 7 and Sunday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m.
Wear your spookiest costume. A ticket to the Sarasota Cuban Ballet "Nutcracker" will be awarded to the best costume at each Dracula performance.
MORE INFORMATION:
For tickets, telephone 941-365-8400 or visit https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E355876&id=59.
The Sarasota Cuban Ballet Auditorium is at 4740 Cattlemen Road in Sarasota.
Master teacher Rolando Yanes is the associate director of the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company. A native of Villa Clara, Cuba, Yanes was a principal dancer with Ballet de Camagüey under the direction of Fernando Alonso. In 1995, he was awarded a silver medal at the prestigious International Ballet Competition in Brasilia, Brazil. He came to the United States in 1996 as a principal dancer with Milwaukee Ballet Company and served as director of the Milwaukee Ballet School and Academy from 2004 to 2021.
Master teacher Monica Isla serves as ballet mistress for the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Studio Company. A native of Habana, Cuba, Isla was a dancer with Ballet de Camagüey under the direction of Fernando Alonso, and later a principal dancer with the Pro-Danza Company under the direction of Laura Alonso. In 1996, she was awarded a silver medal in the Alicia Alonso International Ballet Competition. She performed with the Neoclassic Company of the University of Mexico, as soloist with Ballet Concerto in Puerto Rico, and performed on international tours. She joined the Milwaukee Ballet School in 2008, and in 2016 she worked with the Rockford Dance Company in Illinois as choreographer of the "Nutcracker." Isla created "Healing with Ballet," teaching ballet classes for the cancer center in Froedtert Hospital in Wisconsin.
Several companies have converted Bram Stoker’s Gothic classic into ballets, with different choreographers, music, and interpretations. Examples include productions by Ballet West (which uses music by Franz Liszt), Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (score by Philip Feeney), South Carolina Ballet (using an original rock/jazz score) and the Oklahoma City Ballet. These productions often feature dramatic choreography, elaborate sets, and special effects to bring the story to life.
In the novel, the setting is a foreboding castle in Eastern Europe, where a young British lawyer, Jonathan Harker, is imprisoned by Dracula, its elderly owner who possesses supernatural powers and diabolical ambitions. Captivated by a photograph of Harker’s fiancée, he goes to London to meet Mina Murray, where he drains the life of Mina's best friend, Lucy Westenra. Thus begins the realization that Lucy is now one of the undead. Mina will soon follow unless Jonathan and Lucy’s fiance’ can find and vanquish the count.
For more on the Sarasota Cuban Ballet, read:
- “Tribute to Sarasota Cuabn Ballet patron highlights ‘Classical + Contemporary’ performance;” and
- “Sarasota Cuban Ballet reflects worldwide influences; attracts dancers from across the globe.”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
