Ballet West II takes the spotlight for a light-hearted family “Aladdin”
Ballet West II and the Ballet West Academy have their moment to shine in the company’s Family Series production of Aladdin.
Ballet West II is the small pre-professional corps that often performs smaller roles in mainstage Ballet West productions like The Nutcracker, but they get to perform the leads in Aladdin. Ballet West Academy is the school for training future ballet dancers of all ages and levels.
Choreographed by Pamela Robinson-Harris and Peggy Dolkas, Aladdin is a one-hour story ballet with narration, and succeeded in its aim Friday night at providing a fun introduction to ballet for families.
This Aladdin avoids the Disney clichés, and instead focuses on the original tale included in One Thousand and One Nights. With silent pantomime, Annalise Wood as Scheherazade spins the tale of a poor young man who wins the heart of a beautiful princess with a little help from some magical genies.
Andre McGregor II was a versatile Aladdin with mischievous energy in the first act, developing into an earnest and stately bearing in the second.
As Princess Kalila, Jaya Dhand was elegant and effortless in her solos. Dhand and McGregor were well matched in their second act pas de deux, exhibiting balance and confident lifts. Their partnering was dramatic, with a shared focus on extending as much as possible through the music.
The second act also featured magical jewels that come to life to dance at Aladdin and Kalila’s wedding. Téa Hinchley as Black Opal and Mirin Hirano as Tiger’s Eye showcased technical skill with dynamic musicality. The other jewels—Carly Allyn, Sophia Nanni, Olivia Book, and Callie Herbert—all engaged the audience with their individual qualities in shorter solos.
Lucy Fuoco as Malik the monkey and Winona Neal as Samirah the tiger cub had playful chemistry in their fighting and chasing, and Milla Botha and Natalie Clayton were adept and humorous as Hajar the camel. As the Sultan, Lund Fuller excelled with over-the-top reactions. The production relies heavily on broad comedy geared for young newbies with cartoonish characters and exaggerated gestures. The slapstick fight scenes and magic carpet chases all earned loud laughter from the audience.
Robinson-Harris and Dolkas were masterful at selecting music to complement the story. With recorded selections from music of Dvořák, Grieg, Nielsen, Rimsky-Korsakov, Kouchyar Shahroudi, and Sibelius, Aladdin has a rich and romantic score that adds to the vivid fantasy of the ballet.
Ballet West’s Aladdin will be repeated 2 p.m. and 7 p..m, Saturday. balletwest.org
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