Summer Performance: A Night of Variety

Olympic Ballet Theatre’s 2019–2020 Performance Season will open on Saturday, August 3rd with its Summer Performance, held at 7pm at the Edmonds Center for the Arts. The program will feature brand new premieres, Act I of the classic Don Quixote, and new works choreographed by Karen Herr and Alberto Gaspar.

Don Quixote, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to a score by Ludwig Minkus, premiered in 1869 in Russia. It has undergone several revisions over the past century, but continues to be a tour de force requiring a company of many skilled dancers. Act I, set in a bustling seaside marketplace in Barcelona, introduces us to Kitri, her beloved Basilio, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Kitri is betrothed to another, the foppish nobleman Gamache. Enjoy the antics as Kitri and Basilio attempt to outwit Kitri’s father and Gamache in this timely romantic comedy told through dance!

Alberto Gaspar, OBT’s leading company dancer, will demonstrate his capabilities as a choreographer, presenting his new ballet titled Transfigurations. Gaspar intends to explore the inner processes of the mind and the development of the ego, the balance of processing the world outside and our inner self. Describing the inspiration behind his ballet, Gaspar says, “The objective of studying this emotional process is to observe this paradigm and emotional process, getting closer to observing reality and seeing things the way they truly are."

Karen Herr, whose teaching and choreographing career stretches over 25 years, had the daunting challenge to choreograph a ballet for over 50 Olympic Ballet School students in conjunction with the OBS Summer Intensive running through the month of July. Summersteps focuses on how steps are vital to both the dancer-in-training and humanity as a whole. Herr explains, “Using rhythmic drive and nuanced refrains, Summersteps weaves together steps to explore themes of progression and community…we celebrate these vital components of the study of ballet.”

There will only be one showing of this eclectic performance, be sure to not miss it! The performance will be held Saturday, August 3rd at the Edmonds Center for the Arts. Tickets can be purchased through olympicballet.org, or by calling the box office at 425-774-7570.