Ballet is a balance of grace, beauty, power and, often, stories.
“Ballet has really been like one of the most important relationships of my life — it's always been like a partner I've always had with me,” said City Ballet of San Diego dancer Ariana Gonzalez.
Ariana and fellow dancer Brian Heil are looking forward to their company's upcoming high-drama performance of "Carmina Burana" — both are dancing major roles.
“'Carmina Burana' is much more on the story side of the scale from abstract to not. So that one will require a great deal of acting along with the dancing,” Heil said.
The performance will be grand and accompanied by a live orchestra and choir voices, said Geoff Gonzalez, choreographer — and husband of Ariana Gonzalez.
He said that adds to the intensity of the ballet.
“I have this story that you follow from this man who goes through this whole period of gaining and gaining and then losing everything all at once,” Geoff said. “Then you also have the story of the music and how it kind of was created, and at the time it was created, especially around the jazz age.”
The upcoming May program is twofold — first is Mozart’s Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra. It's a technical, elegant and romantic ballet, said artistic director Steven Wistrich.
“It's a very, very soothing kind of score. It just kind of puts you at ease,” Wistrich said. “The dancing is, I would say, neoclassical — which is kind of based on classical dancing, but it has a bit more modern edge to it. And they wear very, very beautiful tutus.”
After an intermission comes the iconic music of Carl Orff’s "Carmina Burana" and the accompanying contemporary ballet performance focused on the great stock market crash in 1929.
“My favorite thing about dancing is telling a story — getting lost in somebody else’s life story. This to me is why I love dancing so much. So I am just thrilled to take on such a dramatic, darker role in this,” Ariana said.
Heil said it's a challenging ballet to theatrically perform.
“It starts off with the ending of the ballet — it starts off with the climax so you can't come into it halfway, you already have to be at like 110%,” Heil said.
These performances close out City Ballet’s 31st season with a striking balance of opposites.
“They couldn't be more different from each other in the way they look — the music is completely different, the costumes are completely different,” Wistrich said. “So we like to put programs together that will actually be surprising.”
The Mozart Concerto was last performed by City Ballet of San Diego in May 2018 and "Carmina Burana" in November 2019.
This time it's in a new setting — the concert hall at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido.
Geoff said the size of the venue allows him to expand his vision.
“I'm able to just kind of step outside of that box a little more now and incorporate more people, more looks and some more set pieces and just kind of grow on the idea,” he said.
Heil and Ariana have danced in this ballet before and said to take part is one of the pinnacles of their long resumes.
“It's not everyday you get to have a full-length story ballet created on you. And the fact that it's my husband doing the creating is really special,” Ariana said.
For Heil — it's magic.
“It was always sort of my dream to be on stage performing by myself with the orchestra, with the choir and that is the reality of what's going to be happening — so it's a dream come true for me in a lot of ways,” he said.
City Ballet of San Diego: "Carmina Burana"
8 p.m. Saturday, May 4, 2024
2 p.m. Sunday, May 5, 2024
California Center for the Arts Escondido
340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido
$35+. cityballet.org
