Ballet

Columbia’s professional ballet companies make holiday hallmark happen in a pandemic | Arts

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The road may have been a little rocky, but Columbia’s two professional ballet companies are back in action, returning to the Koger Center for the Arts with back-to-back productions of “The Nutcracker” just in time for Christmas.

First up is Columbia Classical Ballet, with three performances running over the weekend of Dec. 4 to 6, followed by the Columbia City Ballet’s rendition, running the weekends of Dec. 12 to 13 and 19 to 20.

Originally premiering in Russia in the 1890s, and set to soaring music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, this perennial holiday crowd-pleaser follows a little girl’s adventures on Christmas Eve, as she enjoys her parent’s festive holiday party, and then dreams of a magical realm of anthropomorphic dancing candies, toys and snowflakes.

2020 marks the 52nd year that William Starrett has been involved with the work, first as a young guest artist featured as the Nutcracker Prince in productions that traveled nationwide, and now as the Artistic and Executive Director of the Columbia City Ballet, and choreographer of the company’s annual December offering.

“The board felt it was important to provide the community with a “Nutcracker,” Starrett said of the decision to hold the production this December. “If people feel safe (in attending), we owe it to the community to provide this.”

For Starrett, the biggest challenge in adjusting to the parameters forced by COVID-19 has been scale, both onstage and in the audience, which has been limited to about 473 seats per performance. Starrett’s solution was to add several matinee performances, which will ideally provide enough seats to meet demand.

Since much of the organization’s support comes from private donors and corporate benefactors, selling out the entire 2200-seat Koger was never a make-or-break proposition, he reasoned.

“It’s not always about the money,” he emphasized. “People have to have the art. If you have exorbitant ticket prices, that’s not serving the community.”

Safety precautions were of paramount importance, with somewhat fewer dancers featured than usual, choreography that involved small clusters of performers located around the stage, and smaller groups of dancers rehearsing in three separate rooms. Dancers are offered a free flu shot if desired, temperatures are checked daily, and weekly COVID testing is provided by downtown neighbor Main Street Physicians.

Costume design and storytelling became part of the solution as well, as Starrett has set the ballet’s story in 1918, during a global outbreak of Spanish flu. Facial masks then as now were common, and these complement stylish fashions originally designed for the company’s 2018 “Great Gatsby” ballet.

Radenko Pavlovich, artistic director of the Columbia Classical Ballet, is following the same safety guidelines established by the Koger for his “Nutcracker.” Audience members must remain masked. Seating is in pairs, which are distanced from each other, and only alternating rows will be filled. He too has limited the size and duration of rehearsals.

“This has been an absolute nightmare,” Pavlovich said of the enormity of the task of keeping everyone safe and healthy, “but also very challenging — and I love challenging stuff.”

Daily temperature checks, masks and hand sanitizers have been the norm, with the artistic director observing that the company has been understanding and supportive of these measures.

Pavlovich isn’t worried about any impact to the quality of the performances, even if his audience size is diminished. Adherence to the classical tradition of ballet indicated in his company’s name is his ultimate goal, he stated. While he referred to revamping the production’s second act, his efforts focused on energy and physicality.

“I wanted to make it more dynamic,” he explained, while remaining true to the original choreography and story. “All within classical guidelines.”

And while there may be spectacle and plenty of athleticism on display, he notes that “it’s not a circus; it’s not gymnastics.”

Referring to the art form’s roots in the French court of King Louis XIV, and its subsequent refinement in 19th century Russia, Pavlovich asserted, “We have to stay true and preserve the art, and the tradition.”

For this year’s iteration, Pavlovich has enlisted some name brand star power, including Elgin native Brooklyn Mack, who began his dancing career as a young teen under the tutelage of Pavlovich. A former principal dancer with the Washington Ballet who has performed with the American Ballet Theatre and the English National Ballet, Mack returns to Columbia in the winter to perform in the annual LifeChance fundraising performance, but 2020 marks the first time he has danced the lead male roles in Pavlovich’s “Nutcracker. “

His former student has always maintained close ties to his hometown, and Pavlovich explained that Mack had finished a season in England when the COVID-19 outbreak took hold and performances began to be cancelled worldwide. Dancers need to train to stay in shape, and so Mack has been a regular presence in Pavlovich’s studio during the last six months of quarantine.

Joining him will be another former pupil, Emma Stratton, who has danced primary roles with the Minnesota Ballet and the Colorado Ballet.

For those unable to attend, Pavlovich plans to offer a streamed version of the performance online, which will be available for purchase through the organization’s website through the end of December.

“Two wonderful home grown dancers that South Carolina can be proud of are leading the way to bring joy and holiday tradition back this difficult year, when we could all use it,” Pavlovich enthused.


Columbia Classical Ballet’s “The Nutcracker”

Dec. 4-6. $8-$18. kogercenterforthearts.org.


Columbia City Ballet’s “Nutcracker”

Dec. 12-20. $25-$52. kogercenterforthearts.org.

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