Benefit gives dancers chance at experience behind scenes
Three years ago, BalletMet dancer Jimmy Orrante stepped away from his performing career.
This weekend, however, Orrante will again be busy in the world of ballet — this time, not onstage but behind the scenes.
On Saturday and Sunday, the New Albany Ballet Company will premiere a new production of “Cinderella” co-choreographed by Orrante and Amy Tremante, who are both faculty members at the school.
And, on Sunday, Orrante and fellow BalletMet veteran Attila Bongar will present the fifth edition of The Benefit, a dance concert that raises funds for the Central Ohio Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation.
“I have to somehow create the full-length, and then I have to create my pieces for The Benefit — and make sure that we are going to have a benefit,” Orrante said recently of juggling the two projects.
The competing performances had an unintended consequence: Isaac Orrante, the 14-year-old son of Jimmy Orrante and Sonia What: The Benefit Where: Riffe Center’s Davidson Theatre, 77 S. High St. Contact: www.nhfcentral ohio.org; 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com Showtime: 5:30 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $16.50 to $31.50
Welker Orrante, will miss The Benefit for the first time. Isaac, who was born with hemophilia, will appear in “Cinderella” with his sisters, Aiyana, 11, and Imara, 8.
“Of course, what they look forward to is the little meet-and-greet afterwards,” Orrante said, “where there is lots of food and desserts.”
The Orrante brood may miss out on such delicacies, but audiences can still savor the event’s artistic offerings.
The Benefit will feature 14 dancers from BalletMet, plus Taylor Carrasco, Melissa Gelfin, Chisako Oga and Luca De-Poli of Cincinnati Ballet; Lauren Fadeley and Alexander Peters of Miami City Ballet; Mansee Singhi of Columbus; and Marcus Willis of New York, among others.
Many performers also take an active role in planning the show.
“The dancers see this as an opportunity to do something that they never get to do — whether it’s organizing the program or ... (giving) us ideas or thoughts,” Orrante said. “As a dancer in a company, you never get to that side of it to do this kind of work.”
The artists are eager to support area hemophiliacs.
“I’m getting married this summer, but I was like, ‘We can’t get married when The Benefit happens — we have to do The Benefit,’” said BalletMet dancer Karen Wing, one of six to appear in “The Things That I Knew” by choreographer Russell Lepley.
Wing’s BalletMet colleague Leiland Charles will appear in “The Things That I Knew” and choreograph his own work, “Too Real.” He created the piece in the two weeks leading up to The Benefit.
“I like the risk of that and being able to really put something together quickly,” said Charles, who previously choreographed dances at the Juilliard School and the Alberta Ballet but not during his single season with BalletMet.
Likewise, BalletMet dancer Michael Sayre will step outside of his comfort zone. As the stager of an excerpt from “Real Life” by choreographer James Kudelka, Sayre will oversee dancers Jessica Brown, Peter Kurta, Martin Roosaare and Caitlin Valentine-Ellis.
“We had asked permission from James and permission that Michael can set it,” Orrante said. “(Sayre is) excited at the opportunity to do something like this.”
Scheduling meant that some dancers were not able to arrive in time to learn works. For example, Fadeley will not be in Columbus until this weekend, so she will perform a work with which she is familiar: “La Chasse,” a duet that choreographer Matthew Neenan devised with Fadeley and Peters in mind.
“We’re the only people who have ever done this piece,” Fadeley said. “It’s just a really pretty, nice piece to dance.”
Live music — featuring a 20-member orchestra and the group the Wind and the Sea — will accompany several dances, but the assorted musicians will play on their own, too.
“We really wanted to make sure they have their own voice,” Bongar said, “and they’re not just a band playing for The Benefit, but they’re an equal part of it.”