Jake Godek, Austin Pond, Diondra Ross, Johanna Seidel, Kelsie Chisholm, Emma Green and Jahaziel White performed in the gothic-romance ballet Oct. 24-25 at the Amarillo Globe News Center for the Performing Arts. Production began early September and the show is based on Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula.
“We started production at the very beginning of the school year, back in September,” Johanna Seidel, junior dance major, said. “It’s been crazy. Jerry, Ballet Master, who has been running rehearsals, has been phenomenal with helping, giving choreography, and corrections.”
Seidel plays one of Dracula’s Brides and is part of the professional company with Lone Star Ballet. This is her third year with the company.
“They [Lone Star Ballet] gave me the opportunity to do more ballet productions and perform throughout the year, which is fantastic,”Seidel said. “I love any chance I can to put my feet into point shoes.”
It has been five years since Lone Star Ballet has produced and performed DRACULA!.
“I think sometimes when you remount a piece and you have new dancers who are not familiar with the work, it’s tough,” Vicki McLean, choreographer and director of DRACULA!, said. “It’s never a challenge when you love something so much.”
McLean said the music in DRACULA! changes time signatures and emotions quickly. The ballet is neither bloody nor gory, but is filled with the mystery and glamour of Count Dracula.
“This music is crazy but it has a lot of heartbeats and screams that make Halloween, Halloween and Dracula, Dracula,” McLean said. “Halloween has always been one of my favorite times and Dracula, for me was a fascination, because he was the guy your mother said don’t date, but you did anyway.”
Performing and participating in production with Lone Star Ballet provides students with skills outside of the classroom and university productions.
“Dancing with Lone Star gives us experience,” Austin Pond, sophomore Dance major, said. “WT productions are not all ballet, there’s varieties. We have modern, jazz, tap, improve, and at Lone Star, it’s always ballet.”
Pond began dancing in the 2014 spring semester and performed in Lone Star Ballet’s previous production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Pond’s character in DRACULA! is Arthur Holmwood, fiancé to Lucy Westenra, one of the main female characters.
Seidel and Pond are currently in production for Falling into Dance, a WTAMU fall student choreographed dance concert.