Former
Israeli Eleena
Melamed
appears in
American
Ballet
Theatre's
"Giselle" at
the Detroit
Opera House.

10

This will be Melamed's second
leena Melamed learned bal-
appearance
in Detroit. Last year, she
let before she learned Eng-
was
in
Swan
Lake and had to take on
lish.
a
new
part
because
of problems expe-
When she moved to the
rienced
by
another
dancer.
United States from Israel with her
She also has performed in Romeo
mother and sisters, Melamed was a
and
Juliet, Don Quixote and Coppelia.
preschooler and could only speak
"I
love being on stage," said
Hebrew.
Melamed,
who frequently returns to
To ease the transition from
Israel
to
visit
with her father and other
Jerusalem to New York after her
family
members.
"I always found joy
divorce, Hedva Melamed enrolled her
in
dancing
and
in
bringing the joy of
youngest daughter in ballet classes.
dance
to
others."
Through the universal language of
Performing with the
dance, the youngster was able
American
Ballet Theatre
to relate to others until she
Eleena Melamed:
and
other
formidable
could master the spoken lan-
Communicating
companies, Melamed has
guage of her new country.
through the uni-
Although dance started as a versal language of traveled to audiences
around the world. Most
dance.
social activity, it quickly
memorable was dancing
became important for itself,
on a beach in Brazil for
and Eleena Melamed devoted her tal-
people
who
could not afford theater
ents to the professional stage.
tickets.
With hard work to pursue her
Although Melamed has little free
dream, she was accepted by the Amer-
time
after
rehearsals and perfor-
ican Ballet Theatre and appears as a
mances,
she
has been active with
peasant and corps dancer in Giselle,
Young
Judaea.
She also finds time to
which will be presented Feb. 5-8 at
spend
with
her
puppy, a Chihuahua
the Detroit Opera House.
who
travels
with
her.
"A lot of us can relate to this bal-
"When
I
was
younger,
I didn't real-
let," said Melamed, 19, whose late
ize
how
hard
ballet
would
be, but I
maternal grandfather, Nachum
wouldn't
trade
it
for
anything,"
Shamir, was an Israeli diplomat serv-
Melamed said. ❑
ing in the United States.
"Giselle is about a woman in love
Giselle will be performed 8 p.m.
with a prince who is lying to her
Feb.
5, 6 and 7 and 2 p.m. Feb. 7
because he already has [committed
and
8
at the Detroit Opera House.
himself to] another woman, and the
$15-$62.
(313) 874- SING.
ballet becomes [a tale of] revenge."

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-

1/30
1998

95