(Continued from Page 8)
hysterical allegory of the life of male
American ballet dancers - those
typically late starters who are seduced
by the spirits of the dance into spending
the rest of their lives making ballerinas
look good by lifting them all over the
place.
In Kazmidity opened with a girl
(Jennifer Habig) in a Joffrey football
jersey, jeans, and athletic shoes
frolicking with her similarly bejeaned
boyfriend (Stephen Sturmer) who also
sported, to the audience's delight, a
University of Michigan t-shirt. After
being surrounded by several Kazmites
(mutant spirits of unfulfilled
ballerinas) wearing classical tutus,
Sturmer was lured into a net and
dragged off to the Kingdom of Kaz-
midity.
The spectacle of Sturmer in t-shirt
clumsily partnering the demanding
Queen of the Kazmites (Tina Leblanc)
in full ballerina getup was droll in the
extreme. As the variations of the ballet
progressed and as his skill in par-
tnering improved, Sturmer's clothing
and his demeanor gradually were tran-
sformed from college casual to danseur
noble. At the end of the ballet, the tran-
sformation complete, Sturmer joined
the royal court of the Kingdom of Kaz-
midity - leaving his football jersey
clad girlfriend still frozen in space
where the Kazmites had left her.
Wednesday, April 20th, The Joffrey II
presented a different program of three
new ballets and one repeat (Bermuda
Blues) from Tuesday evening's
program.
Pas des Deesses, a ballet
choreographed by the founder of the
Joffrey troupes, Robert Joffrey, led
the program. Inspired by a lithograph
of the four most famous ballet dancers
of the mid 1800's, Pas des Deesses
(music by John Field) features
variations for three female dancers in
the very different styles of each of the
three great nineteenth century
ballerinas: Grahn, Cerrito, and
Taglioni. The three Joffrey II
youngsters ( Jennifer Habig, Linda
Bechtold, and Elizabeth Parkinson)
and their gallant cavalier Robert Gar-
dner (as Arthur Saint-Leon) danced the
ballet well.
The pas de deux from the Act III
wedding scene of Coppelia
(choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev
and Hans Meister) was next on the
program. Unfortunately, of all the works.
presented by The Joffrey II during their
visit to Ann Arbor, this demanding
variation from one of the most famous
ballets in the repertoire was danced the
least successfully. Leblanc (Swanilda)
and Graham (Franz) were not yet
secure enough in individual technique
and partnering to make this pas de
deux the cheerful, buoyant, and easy-
looking piece it should be.
Due to two injuries in the company,
Flights, choreography by Leslie-Jane
Pessemier, music by Albert Glinsky,
was substituted for another work
originally on the program. While not
especially memorable, the ballet was a
lively and well-danced affair.
Bermuda Blues, repeated from the
night before, rounded out Wednesday's
program.
Although perceptive balletomanes
might have had a glimmer that
something was up when they noticed
that Beth Bartholomew's (Bermuda
Blues) name was not listed on the
programs for either of The Joffrey II's
performances, most people in the
audience probably didn't know just how
special Tuesday and Wednesday
evening were - especially to Beth Bar-
tholomew. Formerly a student at the
School of the Pennsylvania Ballet in
Philadephia, Bartholomew had recen-
tly auditioned for the American Ballet
Center (the Joffrey School). Two weeks
before the Ann Arbor performances,
she had been accepted both as a student
and asa back up dancer for The Joffrey
II. The actual week of the Ann Arbor
engagement, an opening presented it-
self in The Joffrey II for a female dan-
cer and Bartholomew suddenly found
herself on the road as a full-fledged
member of the company.
Talking with Bartholomew backstage
after her Wednesday evening perfor-
mance, one could feel how new and ex-
citing the whole experience was to her.
"A girl moved up to Joffrey I, the main
company, and I was put in Joffrey II,"
she said. "I'm very excited and hap-
py. '
Questioned about the abruptness of
the change from student life to being on
tour, Bartholomew replied, "The dan-
Members of the Joffrey II strikea pose in Ashton's Monotones IL
cers and the administration have all
been really helpful to me ... It's my first
tour. I like it because we get to see so
many different places." Thus, in Ann
Arbor, The Joffrey II really showed
what it does the best - dance and give
talented young dancers a leg up on the
way to success. Mazel tov Miss Bar-
tholomew!
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