Jane. A ballet in Kalamazoo

As we informed some time ago, the Kalamazoo Ballet Company premieres today, June 29 a new ballet based on Jane Eyre in Kalamazoo, Michigan:

KALAMAZOO BALLET COMPANY presents
Jane

The Kalamazoo Ballet Company will premiere this ballet at the Civic Auditorium. Choreographed by Therese Bullard and August Tye.

06/29/2007 07:00pm
06/30/2007 03:30pm
06/30/2007 07:30pm
07/01/2007 03:00pm

The Kalamazoo Gazette has more details:

The ``Jane Eyre''-based ballet has been decades in the making. Kalamazoo Ballet founder Therese Bullard started envisioning the ballet and first discussed it with then-student August Tye in `88, she said, and when she first mapped out the scenes the ballet would have run for six hours and been extremely cost-prohibitive because horses and carriages were originally plotted. Tye said the grant funding required for a normal full-length ballet runs between $10,000 and $20,000. Bullard slowly trimmed and adjusted the scenes and journeyed to the English moors to immerse herself in the world of Jane. (...)

Tye said ``Jane'' marks a new height in maturity for the creative team. The duo ``gave each other homework,'' Bullard said, and rehearsals have bounced from the South Street studio in Kalamazoo to Chicago, where Tye is a ballet mistress for the Lyric Opera of Chicago and founder of the Hyde Park School of Ballet and her own Tyego Dance Project.

For Therese Marie Rosenberg, who dances the title role, evincing her character's maturation is the biggest challenge. Since Rosenberg hasn't yet endured the heartache of a love triangle such as the governess Jane's situation with Edward Rochester (Peter Gaona) and the mad woman Bertha Mason (Heather Smith), she said she's been thankful to her fellow dancers and instructors for their guidance.

``I've had leads in other things, but this is by far the biggest and most difficult,'' she said. (...)

Designers tinker with set pieces in the building's south end, while dancers rehearse in front of a wall of mirrors and arched windows in the center and a young ballerina sits in a scissor-stretch and leans over a skirt she's stitching for one of the myriad costume changes employed in the production.

Bullard said it's been a challenge to put all the attributes in place in the tight time frame necessitated by the Chicago performers' schedules (in addition to Tye and Gaona, Tye's long-time dance partner Darrell Dautrieve, Katie McMann and others made the journey from the Windy City for two intensive weeks of rehearsals).

It's unusual to have the program written before the last nail has been pounded into a set piece, Bullard said.

``I'm thinking, my God, it's coming together,'' she said. (Elizabeth Clark)

Categories: Dance, Jane Eyre