USC dancers perform alongside ‘Ballet Stars’ in 10th annual show
.jpg "NYC Ballet Principal Dancers Sara Mearns and Jared Angle perform Balanchine’s Mozartiana. Jared Angle will not appear in this year’s Ballet Stars concert, but his brother Tyler Angle will be. Both of the Angle brothers have appeared in previous Ballet Stars concerts.")
First-year dance student Maia Charanis and 30 other University of South Carolina dancers will share the stage with some of the world’s most elite performers Friday night.
USC’s Department of Theater and Dance presents its 10th annual “Ballet Stars of New York” gala performance, an opportunity for students in the dance program to perform neo-classical and contemporary ballets with members of the New York City Ballet, considered one of the most prestigious dance companies. The company members will trade the David H. Koch Theater at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Koger Center stage for this one-night-only performance.
“It’s unbelievable, and it’s an opportunity I didn’t think I would get,” Charanis said. The performance typically features juniors and seniors, but this year some freshmen have been selected to participate due to the increasing skill level of each year’s incoming class, according to Susan Anderson, artistic director of the USC Dance Company. Charanis, who attended the North Springs Charter School of Arts and Sciences in Atlanta, is part of a strong freshman class. USC’s dance program was named one of Dance Magazine’s “three programs to consider” alongside established heavyweights like the Juilliard School.
“We’re getting all the Sugar Plum Fairies from all the schools across the country,” Anderson said, referencing the coveted role in George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker.” “Our job is to bring them to the next level.”
Dancing with principal dancers from the New York City Ballet helps take them to that next level. The opportunity to perform with members of the New York City Ballet is also an opportunity to study some of the best professional dancers up close.
“It’s an experience for the dancers that can’t be put in terms of dollars,” Anderson said. “It’s like being a student on the football team and having seven NFL superstars on the field with you. It’s the highest art form you can produce.”
The dancers who will be participating in the performance have been rehearsing two and a half hours a day, five days a week for nearly two months. They will perform three ballets by the legendary choreographer George Balanchine, who founded the New York City Ballet in 1948, and one by contemporary choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. The choreography is “light and effervescent,” not bogged down in melodramatic romance stories or long tutus, Anderson said.
“It’s a wonderful dinner party with hors d’oeuvres, dinner and dessert,” Anderson said of the program.
If you go: Ballet Stars of New York, 7 p.m. Friday, Koger Center for the Arts (1051 Greene St.) Tickets: $35 for orchestra seating, $25 to $30 for balcony seating, $15 for students. Call the Koger Center box office at 803-777-5112 or capitoltickets.com
Amanda C. Coyne
This story was originally published April 15, 2015 at 1:56 PM with the headline "USC dancers perform alongside ‘Ballet Stars’ in 10th annual show."