February 18, 2004
Dancers stage original work of art
Northwest Michigan Ballet Theater presents 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses'
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
If it's the depths of winter, it must be the season for another original, full-length ballet.
Spawned in the imagination of Tom Morrell and presented by his Northwest Michigan Ballet Theater, this year's production of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" continues the dance company's seven-year tradition. Presented this weekend at the Milliken Auditorium, The Twelve Dancing Princesses features Morrell's adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale.
Morrell's vision of the tale shines through, illustrated by his hallmark lush costumes, stunning sets and poetic choreography. In addition to traditional ballet moves, The Twelve Dancing Princesses also features Renaissance court dancing - Morrell weaves other dance disciplines into his ballet choreography - and is set to the music of Michael Praetorius.
A narrator sketches in the story as the princesses mysteriously dance the night away despite their father, the king, locking them into their room every night. Eventually an enterprising lad discovers the secret and wins the hand of the youngest princess.
For Morrell, captivating an audience and transporting them into the story is key to his artistic vision. His previous, original full-length productions based on fairy tales include "A Midsummer Night's Faery Tale," "The Legend of Knockgrafton," "Deirdre of the Sorrows" and "Hansel and Gretel."
"When you can bring an audience out of their seats and up on the stage with you, then you've been successful," said Morrell, who founded the Northwest Michigan Ballet Theater in 1997 and his studio, Ballet, Etc., the year before. "Whether it is an audience of 30 or 300, that's what you want."
A natural teacher with many years of professional dancing to his credit, Morrell also relishes giving his mostly teenage cast the opportunity to dance in an original work.
"The kids do this because they want to perform, they love performing and I think they have a true love for the art form," he noted.
The cast features 28 total dancers, including 18 girls drawn from his youth company as well as dancers, mostly male, from The Dance Center, Dance Leelanau and Manistee.
Nicki Kelchak has been dancing for seven years and plays the eighth princess in the production. Also the understudy for Lina, the youngest princess, Kelchak has danced in many of Morrell's original ballets.
"It's fun to do something different from 'The Nutcracker' and 'Cinderella,' though they are beautiful," said Kelchak, an 11th grade homeschool student.
Morrell's visions for the production were translated into reality by a team of volunteers, comprised of parents of current and former dancers. The teams were led by costume designers Nancy McGuire and Nancy Church as well as set designer Shelley Bean.
Having owned an illustrated adaptation of the fairy tale by Ruth Sanderson for a few years, Morrell decided last year to make the story his next production.
He wrestled for months with the complex design of mobile sets, sketching and tearing up ideas, losing sleep over how to make them practical and beautiful. The resulting multiple-piece sets rotate to create different scenes, including the princess' bedroom and the magic ballroom where they dance the night away.
"The sets are four feet by 12 feet by 11 feet high," Morrell said. "They are actually part of the choreography, we don't stop the play to move them."
"We've had to be real creative because of space limitations and it's exceeded even my expectations," he added.
Morrell also had a heavy hand in costume design for this production, basing ideas for the second act's Renaissance-inspired dresses and suits on Sanderson's vivid illustrations.
Creating the thousands of steps, combinations and patterns that comprise an original ballet, Morrell had an additional challenge with The Twelve Dancing Princesses: logistics. The ballet includes numerous scenes including all 12 princesses, plus others with either ladies in waiting, the king or princes.
"In many ballets, you have individual roles," said Morrell, who began dancing and choreographing while a student at Western Michigan University. "Here, many pieces involve all 12 princesses."
The Twelve Dancing Princesses will be presented at the Milliken Auditorium on Friday, February 20, at 7:30 p.m. and on Saturday, February 21, at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Seating is general admission and tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for seniors and children 12 and younger. Tickets are available at the Milliken Auditorium box office at 995-1553 or from the Northwest Michigan Ballet Theater at 929-2787.