Ballet tends to stir up images of pink tutus and pointed-toe shoes, but audiences will find more than lace and slippers in Oklahoma Festival Ballet's latest preformance.

Starting 8 p.m. tonight, the OU resident ballet company will treat audiences to a variety of music and dance ranging from classic to contemporary.

The show will open with "Pas de Quatre" by Jules Perrot. This ballet is a well-known divertissement, having no solid plot with the focus being on dance technique and movement. The ballet originates from the Romantic Era, a time when ballerinas were practically idolized. "Pas de Quatre" was first performed by four leading ballerinas for Queen Elizabeth. This historical context played a significant role in the 1941 rendition choreographed by Anton Dolin, said Mary Margaret Holt, artistic director for the school of dance.

"The ballet was performed by four of the five greatest ballerinas of the Romantic Era," she said. "The ballet is designed to show off the gifts of each dancer."

"Harlequinade Pas de Deux," choreographed by Steve Brule from the OU School of Dance, is the next featured ballet. The fast-paced ballet is based on the characters of commedia dell'arte, a type of Italian comedy that began during the Renaissance.

Brule said the ballet is centered on a light-hearted exchange between two dancers, one male and one female.

"I tried to keep it kind of flirty, and they have fun together," he said. "I kind of made him a baffoon, and the female is a little teasy and flirty."

Brule said he also relied heavily on comedy.

"I like to use comedy when I teach because I communicate better with people when I do, so I also used it in this. I used facial expressions and movements to convey the humor. It's verging slap-stick at some points," he said. "I hope the audience laughs and gets some comic relief."

George Balanchine's "Serenade" is a classic four-part performance featuring dancers bathed in moonlight.

Ballet performance



o Pieces range in choreography by Balanchine to one by an OU student.



o Performances are at 8 p.m. Dec. 1-3, Dec. 8-10 and 3 p.m. Dec. 4



oTicket prices are $10 for students, $15 for OU faculty/ staff and senior adults, and $18 for adults. Tickets can be purchased at the Catlett Music Center.

Holt said Oklahoma Festival Ballet is the only university ballet company that has been given permission to produce a full version of "Serenade".

The ballet was originally written for a group of Balanchine's students. One of Balanchine's former students came to OU to choreograph this rendition of the ballet for the Oklahoma Festival Ballet. Haylee Dallas, ballet and business finance junior, is dancing in "Serenade" and said it was an honor to work with such a choreographer.

The show concludes with Bruce Well's "Les Patineurs", or the ice skaters, which creates a holiday vision of dancers gliding on a frozen pond against a twilight winter sky.

Dallas is also performing in "Les Patineurs" and said the dance certainly has a joyful mood.

"We are all supposed to be friends skating in a park and we have these beautiful, big fluffy costumes," she said. "It is definitely festive, but also romantic -- there's a sweet aspect of lovers holding hands."

Producing the show was no easy feat. Cherith Rice, stage manager for the production and drama sophomore, said although the preparations have been a challenge, she is confident the audience will be pleased with the final product.

"The fact that it's four separate ballets makes it pretty complex," she said. "There is so much art involved. There's art in each movement. It's even beautiful to see the timing to the crew backstage and just watch how everything flows together. Once it's all together, it's really beautiful."

Rice also said she hopes for a good student turn out.

"I would like to see more students come. It would be great to see more students involved in performing arts because we have we have an amazing program," Rice said.

In fact, Holt said OU's ballet program ranks third in the nation. She also said the school aims to constantly challenge its students with advanced ballets.

"Each ballet in this show is different from one another, but we chose these four ballets for this season because they are hard to perform, but our students are capable, and we wanted them to challenge themselves," Holt said.

She also said this is Oklahoma Festival Ballet's first main-season performance in the newly renovated Holmberg Hall.

"When we were deciding which ballets to perform we knew we wanted ballets that were suitable for this beautiful new setting," she said.

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