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OKC Ballet to light up the stage with revolutionary ballet `The Firebird'
When Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company debuted Igor Stravinsky's ballet “The Firebird” at the Opera de Paris, it was more than a careermaking hit for the Russian-born composer. It was a revolutionary spark for 20th-century ballet.
“Looking at `The Firebird' in 2021, I think you're completely apt to use the world `classic.' It's classic, meaning it's name recognizable, people are familiar with it, they know the Stravinsky music. The reality, though, is ... in 1910, when this premiered with the Ballet Russe company, it was revolutionary. And it was contemporary for its time — meaning new,” said Oklahoma City Ballet Artistic Director Robert Mills.
“You hear it in Stravinsky's music, although `The Firebird,' I think, is not as atonal and kind of shocking as `The Rite of Spring.' ... But it's up there with what I consider genius composition for ballet.”
Oklahoma City Ballet is rekindling the flame of “The Firebird” with
performances at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12-13 and 2 p.m. Feb. 14 at the Civic Center, where the COVID-19 protocols include required face masks, socially distanced seating and temperature checks on entry. At the concession stations, only credit or debit cards (no cash) will be accepted, only drinks with lids will be served, and no food will be sold.
“It's a tale that's full of romance ... so it's a great way to celebrate Valentine's (Day). I think it would be a great date for someone to see `Firebird,'” said OKC Ballet Principal Dancer Jonathan Batista, who is one of the performers playing the role of Prince Ivan.
“When it comes to art and dance, I just believe that it takes us to a different world where we can escape. ... I think it would be a great opportunity for people to just travel a little bit. `The Firebird' is a journey, and you'll feel it with the music, you'll feel it with the story. And I think the story is also a story of hope.”
Fairytale ballet
Based on Russian folklore about a powerful avian spirit, “The Firebird” follows Prince Ivan, who ventures into the enchanted forest of the sinister sorcerer Kastchei and captures the Firebird, who promises to gift him with one of her feathers if he will release her. Ivan agrees, taking as a talisman the magical feather, which will summon the titular character if he should ever be in great need.
In the forest, Ivan also discovers a group of beautiful maidens — including the Princess Tsarevna — who are the evil wizard's captives and sets out to save them, with the help of the Firebird.
“With the maidens, the story behind them is they are locked in this castle and they can only go out once a day to enjoy the outdoors and it's only for a short period of time. So, it is kind of like quarantine,” said Principal Dancer Amy Potter, one of the performers who will portray the princess, with a laugh.
“The princess is actually really fun to dance; you get to converse with all your girls. It's more fast-paced, so it's pretty exciting and fun.”
In contrast, the process of preparing the company to perform during the pandemic has proven slow and sometimes grueling, Mills said.
“At this point — like we were in December with `The Nutcracker' — we're just happy to get something out on stage. We're happy to keep the dancers not only working and employed but active in their art form so that they won't lose their ability. There's a lot of things that we've done to make this possible, so many new policies and ways of working within our building,” he said. “For `The Nutcracker' and for `The Firebird,' we're essentially splitting our dancers into two separate companies, and each group is rehearsing completely separate and autonomously from the other. So, everything we're doing right now is taking twice the amount of time.”
To best protect the patrons and dancers, Mills said “The Firebird” — like all the company's 2020-21 season shows — will be performed in one act, run about an hour and be performed without intermission.
“The season has strangely worked out well for us. We've had really few instances of infection both in the school and in our professional company. Going into `Nutcracker,' he had both of our groups and pods for those eight performances; by the second weekend, we were down to only one group because in one of the groups, there was someone that had a close contact (with COVID) ... so we had to just shut the whole pod down. ... And the other group ended up doing five performances in three days for our second weekend. So, the protocols are working, and in the process, everyone is keeping a great outlook,” Mills said. “We're putting together a great show for people that are ready to get out of their house, maybe experience a little culture outside of the home, but this will also be available virtually.”
Due to social distancing procedures, the theater will be kept to about 35% capacity for the performances. So, tickets are limited.
But OKC Ballet introduced with this year's “The Nutcracker: Short and Sweet” a new virtual option for patrons who are more comfortable sticking with streaming. “The Firebird at Home,” a video-on demand option with unlimited viewing Feb. 13-28, is available for $34. “`The Firebird' is a very simple story ... so it'll be a great performance for kids, and of course, as always, something that ballet aficionados will enjoy as well,” Mills said.
`Firebird' still blazing
The breakout composition of Stravinsky's career, “The Firebird” elevated him to international acclaim. The original choreography was by Michel Fokine, but he wasn't the last choreographer to create a sensation with the dramatic title.
“Just 39 years later, George Balanchine in 1949 did his version in collaboration with Jerome Robbins, all at New York City Ballet. Interestingly, Maria Tallchief, a native Oklahoman, was `The Firebird' in the George Balanchine version in 1949. And of course, George Balanchine was looked at as being someone that completely turned classical ballet on its ear and changed everything,” Mills said.
“Balanchine in his decades of time at the New York City Ballet, he changed his works over the course of time. As a choreographer, that's always so great to be able to revisit something, to look at it with wiser eyes. So, I'm making a lot of changes — and the sets and costumes will be completely different.”
OKC Ballet last performed “The Firebird” with Mills' choreography in 2017 for a one-night-only show at Edmond's Armstrong Auditorium. The venerable company last fired up the iconic title on the Civic Center stage in 2012.
“It's a ballet that carries a lot of history, not only with its music, but with how it was created, where it was created. It's from the Ballet Russes when ballet was having its first revolution, really, with new choreographers, with new dancers and with people who revolutionized dance,” said Batista, who joined OKC Ballet in 2017.
Prior to performances of “The Firebird,” OKC Ballet dancers will perform short excerpts from the 1856 classic “Le Corsaire” and from Mills' 10-year-old contemporary ballet “Pushing Pennies.”
“It's definitely different. ... But I think as dancers we're just happy to adapt and to do what we have to do to be in the studios and perform and do our job and enjoy this art form,” Potter said.
“During these hard times, everyone is so ready to go out and have a night of doing something. ... I think people realize — I hope they realize — that when they do come to an event like ours, a show, it's a little bit of that time that they just forget what is going on in the world. They can just relax and not think about it for just a second. ... That's our job and that's why I love doing what I do.”