Photo taken by Gary Sloan
Elisabeth, a company dancer, has grown tremendously during her time at Ballet Theatre. Her first memory of JMBT was at age 15 when she took an open class taught by Mr. Mateo. At the time she had two options: join JMBT's Young Dancers Program or train with another ballet company in the area. It was a difficult decision at the time, but she chose to join the Young Dancers Program, and after completing here training worked her way up to apprentice status with the company. The following year she was asked to be a full-time company dancer. "All I wanted to do was dance!" she exclaimed, when I spoke with her about her experiences. She has now been a member of the company for over 8 years.
With the closing of the last show, Out of the Dark, I was interested in uncovering favorite moments, secrets, feelings, etc. from that performance. Elisabeth, whose character was a member of royalty, immediately responded to my question by saying, "This might sound strange, but it truly happened." She then described the afternoon of the final performance of Mozart Concerto when, while dancing with fellow company member Henoch Spinola, she experienced the slowing of time. She felt as though their 2 minute pas de deux stretched into 20 minutes. Elisabeth explained how she had a closer & deeper connection with her character as well as with each movement she performed. Having already performed in this role in 2006, she felt there was more time during the rehearsal process to think about the choreography, play with the movements, see if they felt different this year, how she might want to add to them, and finally how she actually performed them. "I felt I had more coordination and harmony with my body," she stated, and she sincerely enjoyed performing this character again.
With the closing of the last show, Out of the Dark, I was interested in uncovering favorite moments, secrets, feelings, etc. from that performance. Elisabeth, whose character was a member of royalty, immediately responded to my question by saying, "This might sound strange, but it truly happened." She then described the afternoon of the final performance of Mozart Concerto when, while dancing with fellow company member Henoch Spinola, she experienced the slowing of time. She felt as though their 2 minute pas de deux stretched into 20 minutes. Elisabeth explained how she had a closer & deeper connection with her character as well as with each movement she performed. Having already performed in this role in 2006, she felt there was more time during the rehearsal process to think about the choreography, play with the movements, see if they felt different this year, how she might want to add to them, and finally how she actually performed them. "I felt I had more coordination and harmony with my body," she stated, and she sincerely enjoyed performing this character again.
When I asked what her favorite piece performed at Ballet Theatre was she could not chose just one! After thinking it over, with a smile upon her face, she mentioned House of Ballet (Schnittke, 1993), which was last performed in 2007. She said, "It was honestly just fun to perform. I became a new person once I had my costume and makeup on, with the lights shinning brightly, and having an audience in front of me. My character genuinely came to life." The second piece she mentioned was The Sirens (Vivaldi, 1989) last performed in 2009. She expressed her enjoyment of the music and the powerful core group of women on stage throughout the piece. The last piece she chose was Streams, which premiered in the spring of 2009 and was set to the music of Ravel. Elisabeth felt the entire experience of working on that premiere was wonderful and she let me in on the secret that she only had one day to teach Henoch their very long duet, when he had to step in for an injured performer at the last minute. It was a challenge that she knew she had to face, but she performed it with great confidence.
When she is not spending countless hours in the studio, Elisabeth enjoys heading home and being with her family. In the summer she loves being outdoors and spending time in the sun. Someday Elisabeth would like to go on a European tour to explore the many museums, famous sights, and diverse cultures that Europe has to offer. She specifically mentioned wanting to visit the cities of Milan and Paris.
Finally, we had the opportunity to talk about the upcoming show (Uncontainable, running April 29-May 16), and her thoughts about it. In Fearless Symmetries (Adams, 2008), Elisabeth's character is a powerful force. Her character has a certain degree of control over other dancers and intentions for them and herself. She describes her role as fast, aggressive, and having a lot of solo work. In this piece, Elisabeth spends most of her time on stage dancing solo movements. She explained, with Adam's fast-paced score and Mateo's swift choreography there is no time to make mistakes and if you do you must be quick in picking up the next movements to stay in pace with the music. One of Elisabeth's quotes that stood out to me was, "There is a certain fearlessness that you must have to do this part." This quote struck me as appropriate given the name of the piece, Fearless Symmetries. It's also a true statement because this piece requires the dancers to be willing to step outside of their comfort zone and be ready to push themselves to the limits. As for the new piece (which is still nameless), Elisabeth finds the opportunity to work with José on a completely new piece from scratch is exceptional. She used the words "organic" and "spontaneous" to describe the choreography process. "Having the chance to produce something quickly and stage worthy is such a valuable experience," she said.
Please click here to watch a short excerpt of Fearless Symmetries, featuring Elisabeth Scherer!
Please click here to watch a short excerpt of Fearless Symmetries, featuring Elisabeth Scherer!
Photo taken by Gary Sloan
Kehlet has been part of the José Mateo Ballet Theatre community since his first open class in 2006. Meeting some life long friends and finding a dance theatre space and company that sparked his interest happened at this first ballet class. Taking classes with members of the company inspired him to continue attending open classes and work toward dancing as a member of the company himself. Two other main intrigues were the actual building, The Sanctuary Theatre, and José Mateo himself. Kehlet states, "There is nothing like Ballet Theatre." With these aspects of Ballet Theatre in mind, Kehlet made a pivotal decision to move to the Cambridge area in hopes of dancing at JMBT. Within the season of his arrival he became a full-time member of the company. He has now been dancing with the company for 4 years.
In the premiere of Timeless Attractions (part of the company's last concert Out of the Dark) Kehlet was a featured dancer in one of the 4 pas de deux (entitled Rustico). After thinking about different aspects of this piece, set to the music of Alberto Ginastera, he told me how difficult the role really was for him. He revealed how physical the piece was and that required great strength and endurance. "My solo was long and included many jumps, turns, and high-energy movements. " Right after his solo he continued to show his strength in a pas de deux with fellow company member Angie DeWolf. Kehlet also described this part of the performance as a feat of speed and intensity. His and Ms. DeWolf's pas de deux in Timeless Attractions demonstrated a relationship that involved fierce emotions and expressive dancing.
Kehlet's favorite José Mateo Ballet Theatre piece is Danzones Balleticos. This piece debuted in 2004 with JMBT's Artistic Associate of Education and former company dancer, Cosmin Marculetiu as the lead male dancer. The piece was performed again in 2008 with Kehlet now playing the role. Danzones is a piece choreographed to the music of several Cuban composers and reflect the energy and spirit of Cuban social dance. Kehlet's description of the piece is flirty and upbeat to watch and to dance! He loved having the opportunity to take the character Cosmin created and use his own inspirations to enhance the piece.
Kehlet's favorite summer activity is going back to his family's lake house in Central New York, where he has the chance to reconnect with his old friends from home. Almost every summer they take a camping trip together in New York. He hopes to explore Europe in the future with with his fiance & fellow company member, Elisabeth Scherer. He wants to spend a solid amount of time getting to see many of the countries within the Europe. Also, he would love to travel down to the Southern tip of Africa to see the "flying sharks," in spite of the fact that he does not necessarily like sharks. He can't help but be intrigued by these amazing creatures capable of flying 15 feet out of the water and it is a sight he is planning to see in the future.
This will be Kehlet's second time performing in Fearless Symmetries and provides an exciting opportunity for him to see how he has grown as a dancer. He explained this by saying, "I want to allow my character to just come through, to do the piece better, and play more with the music and movements." He is looking forward to working with his partner Jenna-Marie Nagel (see the previous blog entry) again and strengthen their partnering.
"I believe José and I have a positive relationship, in that he trusts me to make good decisions," Khelet said while we talked about the opportunity to rework a role by taking chances and risks with the choreography and timing. Kehlet feels he is growing every day as a dancer and a person. He talked about how much he values the relationship he has created with Mr. Mateo and the opportunities he has given him as a dancer in the company.
Chatting with Elisabeth and Kehlet helped me feel truly connected with the performances and pieces. Moreover, I now know these dancers as kind, intelligent, and fascinating people, something I'm sure you will agree with!
"I believe José and I have a positive relationship, in that he trusts me to make good decisions," Khelet said while we talked about the opportunity to rework a role by taking chances and risks with the choreography and timing. Kehlet feels he is growing every day as a dancer and a person. He talked about how much he values the relationship he has created with Mr. Mateo and the opportunities he has given him as a dancer in the company.
Chatting with Elisabeth and Kehlet helped me feel truly connected with the performances and pieces. Moreover, I now know these dancers as kind, intelligent, and fascinating people, something I'm sure you will agree with!
-Cori =)
P.S. --- Don't forget to purchase your tickets for the upcoming show - UNCONTAINABLE - opening Thursday, April 29th! You do not want to miss this amazing performance of Fearless Symmetries and the Premiere of José's new piece!
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