Jalisco’s “reloaded” professional dance troupe had an exhausting workout practicing for two presentations on consecutive weekends at Guadalajara’s premiere venue, said Polish choreographer Dariusz Blajer (pronounced “bláh-yer”), the brand new director of the brand new Joven Ballet de Jalisco (Young Ballet of Jalisco).
Nevertheless, both the corps’ debut gala November 15 and 17 and the patriotic extravaganza they presented November 22 and 24 were well received with warmer-than-usual applause and nearly sold-out houses at the Teatro Degollado, Blajer added.
“The dancers worked hard. It was exhausting. But we enjoyed it and the public enjoyed it.”
Many observers wonder how the Ballet pulled it off, since Blajer just took charge in August of the 18-member group, resurrected from the ashes of the Compañía de Danza Clásica y Neoclásica de Jalisco. One asset is surely the director himself, with a wealth of experience from his early formation in Warsaw as well as 31 years working in Mexico.
“I think it was good to disband the Compañia,” said dance expert Nesly Mombrun, who works in cultural affairs in the city of Zapopan. “The new group under Dariusz is not going to make the same mistakes again.” Mombrun added that many of the dancers in the Joven Ballet were in the old company and that the new troupe includes four dancers from Cuba and one from Guatemala.
“It’s an all-Latino group,” he noted.
Except for Blajer, of course, who told El Informador newspaper in August, in his excellent Spanish, that his auditions focus on dancers’ “technique and talent.” without regard for their “religion, color, passport or sexual preference.”
There were many surprises for musicians involved in the Ballet’s two recent debut extravaganzas. Surely, this mirrors the state of flux, to put it mildly, that characterizes current cultural affairs in Jalisco. In addition to the meltdown of the Compañia and the switch of the governor and his coterie of cultural appointees, a budget crunch and the abrupt departure of stellar orchestra director Alondra De la Parra came crashing down the culture highway earlier this year.
The surprises in the Ballet’s first presentation, a gala consisting of fragments of beloved dances, were mostly for dynamic U.S. conductor Leslie Dunner, who said he discovered during practices a few days before the performance that some of his scores were incorrect.
“I had to construct some of the music,” he said, noting that difficult productions are one of his specialties. “I had to ask the musicians, for example, ‘Does anyone play anything in measure three?’” he said with a smile.
One result of this was that about half the music that was played in the gala was recorded. Since Dunner and the orchestra were stationed in a pit in front of the stage, his absence was not obvious to all in the audience.
“Leslie directed pieces at the beginning, middle and end,” said Zapopan cultural leader Mombrun, who was among the crowd attending the gala. “They didn’t want to lose the audience, because a lot of them come to hear the orchestra.”
Each piece in the hour-long gala was performed by just one or two dancers at a time.
“I expected a few more,” Mombrun said, “but it’s a small group. A company needs 30 or 40 dancers. But it was a good first effort, especially since they only decided on it three months ago.”
The Ballet’s subsequent presentation was a hard-to-describe event entitled “Tierra de Temporal,” in which the dancers had center stage, with significant involvement by the Orchesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, the Coro del Estado (State Choir) and its director Sergio Hernandez, who also performed piano solos. Several dramatic parts of the production, which focused on famed Mexican composers Blas Galindo and Pablo Moncayo, featured narration and splashy multimedia effects.
State Choir singer Debra Rodriguez enthusiastically pronounced the two-hour event “a spectacle” with “never a boring moment,” while another involved musician less enthusiastically called it “a mishmash.” Clearly, coming near the November 20 holiday celebrating the Mexican Revolution, the potpourri, with its Viva Mexico twist, twanged mightily at the audience’s patriotic heartstrings.
Rodriguez underscored that on this occasion, the Ballet did several pieces as a whole company. She noted that there were folkloric, classical and contemporary segments.
“Somebody put a lot of work into the costumes. The men sometimes danced in dress suits and ties, and in the folkloric parts, the dancers wore simple beige leotards with red and green sashes,” that added a nationalistic touch.
Blajer pointed out that the Ballet will present “The Nutcracker” in the Degollado December 20, 21 and 22 and that he will be involved. He said his choreography on those occasions will include some parts different from the traditional ones and that the company will be augmented by many additional dancers, including children.
Blajer also noted that he plans several other presentations aimed at children and the young at heart — “In February, we’ll do “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” in the Degollado, a one hour and 50 minute production, and in April, we’ll do “Sleeping Beauty” in the Instituto Cultural Cabañas.”