Press Play - Brooklyn Ballet

 

 

Brooklyn Ballet is one of NYXT´s newest video content partners, and for this edition of Press Play we talked with their Artistic Director Lynn Parkerson. The Brooklyn Ballet is located in Downtown Brooklyn and you can watch their videos at nyxt.nyc/brooklynballet.

 


 

NYXT: How did Brooklyn Ballet come to exist? What is the group’s contribution to education?          

Lynn Parkerson: Brooklyn Ballet was born in Brooklyn in 2002, the first of its kind in the borough in over 40 years. I saw a need for a classical ballet company reflecting the diverse communities of Brooklyn, and founded the Company to fill an important gap. In 2009 we opened a home base in Downtown Brooklyn for company rehearsals, our school, and administrative offices. We serve Brooklyn through all branches of our organization: our Company, School, Take Ballet to the Streets, and Elevate programs. 

 

The professional company presents work in an annual performance season at the Mark O’Donnell Theater in Brooklyn, with tickets at accessible prices for all audiences. Additional performances, including the radically inclusive Brooklyn Nutcracker, are held at The Kings Theatre and St. Francis College. The Company and Youth Ensemble also perform in Take Ballet to the Streets, a free, site-specific dance series bringing ballet into unexpected public spaces providing community access to the art of ballet. Take Ballet to the Streets appears in community centers, parks, waterfront piers, senior centers, health centers, museums, and schoolyards – all places where new audiences can encounter ballet. Last year we reached 6,275 audience members.

 

Brooklyn Ballet has been offering its Elevate outreach program to Brooklyn public schools since 2003. In sixteen years, Elevate has reached more than 12,000 Brooklyn children. Originally developed by Oona Haaranen and myself, Elevate uses the “Language of Dance” (LOD) system to teach children ballet vocabulary and achieve a physical and intellectual understanding of dance.

 

Brooklyn Ballet School currently serves 300 adults and 497 children who attend weekly dance classes. We strongly believe that Brooklyn residents should not have to travel to Manhattan to receive rigorous, conservatory-level training.

 

NYXT: What were some of Brooklyn Ballet’s accomplishments in 2019?

Lynn Parkerson: In the 2018-2019 school year, 598 students enrolled in Brooklyn Ballet School’s weekly classes. Our Conservatory dancers also have access to workshops with professional guest artists and opportunities to perform in the Brooklyn Ballet Youth Ensemble (BBYE). This season, BBYE performed in The Brooklyn Nutcracker, the Atlantic Antic, and the Fort Greene Summer Literary Festival.

Brooklyn Ballet's Elevate programs served over 500 students in 2018-2019. We offered scholarships to 33 Elevate students to continue their training. Last year, we gave scholarship assistance worth $18,572 to Elevate students.

 

This past year, Brooklyn Ballet’s Company performed at the Summer Streets Dance Festival at Astor Place, Light Up the Holidays at Metrotech Commons, Downtown Brooklyn Gets Lit at Albee Square, the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Festival, Dance as Sport performance at The Hoxton Hotel Williamsburg, adidas x speedfactory activation on Orchard Street, the International Day of Friendship, St. Francis College, and the Bensonhurst Center for Rehabilitation. Brooklyn Ballet’s profile continues to rise as a result of making dance accessible to all.

 

In 2019, Brooklyn Ballet produced First Look – a dance series for emerging and established choreographers. We supported 12 NYC dance artists by providing low-cost rehearsal space, producing the concert at no cost to the artists.

 

In September we began work on our upcoming 2019 Season “Revisionist History 2”. We’ll present Pas de Quatre, a ballet created by Jules Perrot in 1845 for the reigning ballerinas at that time. Brooklyn Ballet’s ballerinas of color have learned the work and make it their own. Brooklyn Ballet collaborator, dance historian, and winner of this year’s Tanz Preis Munich, Claudia Jeschke, staged Pas de Quatre for Brooklyn Ballet.

 

This year, we are delighted to present The Brooklyn Nutcracker at the Kings Theatre on December 13-14. In 2018 nearly 4,000 people attended the show. We received enthusiastic write-ups from press outlets including The Dance Enthusiast, which praised the 2018 production calling the dancers “joyful and buoyant” and “each in their own style, yet in ideal harmony.” The production features world-class dancing, innovative costumes and set design, with 40 children from Brooklyn Ballet’s School performing. Because we are committed to diversity and accessibility, we will present a special community matinee for public school students, senior center members, foster children, and adults with disabilities.

 

 

NYXT: The Brooklyn Nutcracker is coming up soon. At what stage of production and rehearsals are you at right now? 

Lynn Parkerson: We are ramping up to start rehearsals in just a few weeks for our production of The Brooklyn Nutcracker at the Kings Theatre on December 14. We had nearly 50 local children audition for the production over the weekend and are just confirming our final cast list before we head into the studio mid-October. Because this is our 4th year of producing the Brooklyn Nutcracker, our rehearsal process is about restaging and refining the work that has already been created. There will be one new scene featuring 3 children hip hop dancers as Flatbush Angels. We will rehearse 4 days a week up until showtime and work with a cast of over 65 dancers. The Brooklyn Nutcracker at the Kings Theatre - December 14, 2pm and 7pm, December 13 11:30am (special community matinee),1027 Flatbush Avenue.

 

NYXT: How is The Brooklyn Nutcracker different from other versions of The Nutcracker and why do you think that this interpretation is relevant nowadays?

Last year, lots of productions were under fire for culturally offensive concepts and choreography - after all The Nutcracker made its premiere in 1892! Some changed their costuming or certain gestures to make things more “politically correct.” At Brooklyn Ballet, we are taking a different approach. Over the last 3 Nutcracker seasons, we have been building this production, adding new excerpts each season up to this year yielding a fully realized Nutcracker complete with a diverse cast and a comprehensive scope of world dance. From traditional Flamenco to Red Silk Dancers from China, an authentic Middle Eastern Belly Dancer, and a Native American Hoop Dancer, this is New York’s first and only production to represent the accurate characterizations of each divertissement and character. Additionally, the production is also forward thinking from a technology perspective, using dynamic motion-responsive and fiber-optic costumes as well as a commissioned digital set. I’ve been interested in and inspired by Brooklyn’s diverse communities since the inception of Brooklyn Ballet so it seems fitting that we be the first company in New York to look at this family favorite and make it relevant to the people in our communities here in Brooklyn and the greater New York City area.

 

NYXT: Tell us about the choreography, creation process, and the creative directors involved in The Brooklyn Nutcracker.

Lynn Parkerson: I have been thinking about and conceptualizing The Brooklyn Nutcracker since I moved to Brooklyn in 1998. Just looking around the neighborhoods as the Company travelled around Brooklyn performing at public schools, watching the renovation of the Kings Theatre, eating and being with people in diverse communities made it imperative to create a Nutcracker for and by Brooklyn. I called in experts, choreographers that specialize in Baroque (Thomas Baird) Hip Hop (Michael Fields and Crew) Afro-Caribbean (Sydney Mosley and Co), Classical Chinese (Red Silk Dancers), Middle Eastern Belly Dance (Sira Melikian), Flamenco (Aleisha Bryan), Native American Hoop dance (Nakotah LaRance) and dance historians, Meira Goldberg and Claudia Jeschke.

 

In addition to creating the large scale staging concept and narrative, I direct and choreograph the dialogue between these dancers of different stripes throughout the production and I created the sweeping Snow sense that ends the first act. I work with our art director, Avram Finklestein, on the visual concepts, set design and costumes and David Forni on the Lighting design. Several costume designers have contributed to the ballet, Sylvia Nolan resident costume designer from the Metropolitan Opera, Rebecca Pailes-Friedman from Pratt, specializing in wearable technology, and Nick Vermeer from NYCResistor who creates motion sensor costumes.

 

NYXT: How was the casting process? Who are the main performers? 

Lynn Parkerson: At Brooklyn Ballet, we do have a Company roster of 10 dancers that perform with us throughout the year. They will be joined by 22 additional dancers for The Brooklyn Nutcracker. Many of these are special guest dancers from all disciplines that go beyond our Brooklyn Ballet artists, we have invited these guests to be a part of the production so that we can authentically represent many genres of world dance. We welcome back Nakotah LaRance, 6-time World Hoop Dance Champion and Native American with his signature and dynamic mix of traditional hoop and hip-hop dance, Aliesha Bryan, winner of the NY State Flamenco Certamen, Sira Melikian, NYC based belly dancer, Brooklyn Ballet’s Drosselmayer pop ’n locker Michael “Big Mike” Fields  and Sugar Plum Miku Kawamura who is joined by Maxfield Haynes of Complexions Contemporary Ballet as her Cavalier.

 

NYXT: What is coming next for the Brooklyn Ballet during 2020?

Lynn Parkerson: Brooklyn Ballet plans to produce a Home Season in 2020. We have a partnership with The Actors Fund Arts Center, and we will continue to use The Mark O'Donnell Theater for our season performances, with an additional showing at St.

Francis College in Downtown Brooklyn.

 

We will produce five performances at The Mark O’Donnell Theater at The Actors Fund Arts Center in February of 2020. The premiere of “At the Intersection” with live music composed by Malcolm Parson, and a re-staging of the historic work “Pas de Quatre” in collaboration with dance historian Claudia Jeschke.

 

I am choreographing “At the Intersection" with additional choreography by Michael "Big Mike" Fields. Malcolm Parson composed the music "Trains!" for the work. The piece is a multi-genre dance for an ensemble of 4 hip-hop dancers and 6 ballet dancers. Collaboration is at the heart of Brooklyn Ballet's mission and the piece is fully collaborative between choreographer and composer. What began as an interest in a drum solo, evolved into a work exploring the rhythms of subway trains. The schematic of the work became the 24-hour subway ridership, with themes of contrasting public and private spaces. The work we present in the 2020 season will include a live drummer, cellist and pianist.

 

The second work in our Season is the historic “Pas de Quatre” originally choreographed by Jules Perrot in 1845. Re-staged by Claudia Jeschke, “Pas de Quatre” is a quintessential Romantic ballet, which originally featured the star ballerinas of that era. The piece highlights each individual dancer’s technical strengths, while also showcasing the unity of the group. A talkback will follow select performances to give audiences context about the history and influence of the work.

 

In addition to these performances, Brooklyn Ballet Company and Brooklyn Ballet’s Youth Ensemble presents repertory at site-specific events throughout the city as part of our Take Ballet to the Streets Program. Take Ballet to the Streets is Brooklyn Ballet's free performance series in unexpected spaces, making dance accessible to all. Every year Brooklyn Ballet performs in free events at St. Francis College, the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Festival, the Atlantic Antic and many others.

 

A performance of Henri Justament's "La Tirolienne."

 
 
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