BY KAREN BOSSICK
Ida Praetorius will perform demanding dance moves that are unique to dancers with the Royal Danish Ballet. An ensemble will perform Justin Peck's brilliant piece called “In Creases.”
And Misty Copeland will dance the iconic “Dying Swan” when Ballet Sun Valley Festival returns to Sun Valley for the second year.
The festival, produced by Sun Valley native Isabella Boylston, a premier dancer with American Ballet Theatre, will bring together two dozen dancers from the best ballet companies in the world for two entirely different performances.
Performances will be Tuesday, July 17, and Wednesday, July 18. Both will start at 7:30 p.m. in the Sun Valley Pavilion. Tickets include $25 lawn seats with viewing on the big lawn screen and are available at www.balletsunvalley.com. Children 10 and younger will be admitted free.
“Isabella as the artistic director has again put together two programs that are not only very different but very challenging,” said Bob Smelick, who was instrumental in the creation of Ballet Sun Valley. “Not many dancers can dance a number of the dances these dancers will be performing.”
Some of the highlights on Tuesday include Gemma Bond’s “Depuis Le Jour,” Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s “Romeo and Juliet Balcony Pas de Deux,” William Forsythe’s “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated,” Mikhail Fokine’s “Dying Swan,” George Balanchine’s “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux” and Frederick Ashton’s “The Dream,” based on the classic tale featuring Titania and Oberon from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Wednesday’s program includes an encore performance of James Whiteside’s “Wallflower,” which tickled the audience last year; George Balanchine’s “Sonatine;” Christopher Wheeldon’s “After the Rain, Pas de Deux,” and Justin Peck’s “In Creases.”
The dancers will include Stella Abrera, Cassandra Trenary and Calvin Royal III, all with American Theatre Ballet, as well as Leonore Baulac of Paris Opera Ballet and Dmitry Zagrebin of the Royal Swedish Ballet.
“It’s rare you have the opportunity anywhere in the world to see the quality of dancers from all over the world that we will have here,” said Smelick. “It’s rare to see dancing that’s this diverse and, in my opinion, as interesting a program that Isabella Boylston has put together.”
“In Creases” was choreographed by Justin Peck, a soloist and resident choreographer with New York City Ballet who has also choreographed ballets for such companies as San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miami City Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet.
The chief dance critic at The New York Times has described him as “the third important choreographer to have emerged in classical ballet this century.”
Peck recently won a 2018 Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Choreography for Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s “Carousel.” American Ballet Theatre has never performed his work before.
Smelick says two of his favorite ballets will be performed during the festival.
The first, “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated” features “a wonderful combination of classic and more contemporary ballet,” he says.
“The dancing is beautiful. It keeps my attention for every moment of dance. And it requires very athletic dancers,” he said.
The second, “After the Rain,” is a little more pensive with a lot of meaning to it. Yuan Yuan Tan danced the duet when Smelick helped bring the San Francisco Ballet to Sun Valley in 2012. One reviewer likened Tan’s movements during the piece to willows bending in the wind.
“Christopher Wheeldon, who choreographed the ballet, is a very well known choreographer. And he’s choreographed some very challenging moves in this piece,” said Smelick. “It’s a very sensual and emotional piece. It’s a piece that has a lot of beauty in its simplicity.”
Smelick loved the variety that last year’s performances encompassed. That included the humourous juxtaposition of a dancer in tennis shoes performing James Whiteside’s “Wallflower” next to a classical piece.
Smelick also loved the Sun Valley Pavilion as a venue for ballet.
“I was told by many that it wouldn’t work. They said: ‘They don’t have curtains. ‘They don’t have wings.’ ‘The stage is too small’… But watching the movement onstage while clouds were rolling by making different patterns on the hills was so special. Even the dancers remarked how intimate it was for them because they could see the audience.”
Smelick, who has made a career in banking and funding bioscience projects, is always on the lookout for leaders. He teaches a class on leadership and cultures of innovation at the University of Virginia and has filmed great leaders from around the country, including Jeanne Pincha-Tulley, the incident commander for Sun Valley’s 2007 Castle Rock Fire.
Great leaders, he says are great listeners, they’re humble and they’re people that other people can easily connect with.
Isabella Boylston fits that category, he said, as she is not only an incredibly disciplined athlete but someone who can pay attention to the immense amount of details involving choreography and photography rights, scheduling and other things to pull off something like Ballet Sun Valley Festival.
“We all know she’s an excellent dancer. We all know she is a lovely person. But the last couple years have also demonstrated what excellent management capabilities she has,” Smelick said. “It’s not often you see someone with all those capabilities come along. And the fact that she’s a Sun Valley native makes it even more special.”
And will there be another Ballet Sun Valley Festival next year?
“I’m working on it,” said Smelick.
HEAR ISABELLA’s STORY
Isabella Boylston will describe her journey from dancing on the stages of Sun Valley to stages around the world during a free presentation open to the public from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday, July 19, at Ketchum’s Limelight Hotel.
That particular day is billed as a Day for Dance Education. Some of the dancers performing Tuesday and Wednesday will offer free classes to hundreds of aspiring ballet students free of charge.