On April 15th, myth and the music of Mendelsohn will transform the Tribbe Arts Center at Shell Point into an enchanted forest filled with magic and intrigue when Gulfshore Ballet performs A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The classic Shakespeare fable has been modified by Gulfshore Ballet Artistic Directors Iliana Lopez and Franklin Garnero into an hour-long production that showcases 45 students.
“When you come to see Midsummer Night’s Dream, you’re going to see a beautiful ballet of little and older girls just loving what they do, and beautiful costumes, beautiful choreography, just expressing to you the mythical, magicalness of ballet and this ballet,” promises Ella Litvak, who portrays one of the dragonflies that populate the sylvan forest where the story takes place.
In Shakespeare’s version, the story centers around three groups of characters, including four young lovers from Athens who run off into the surrounding woods after two of them are told they cannot marry. There, they encounter fairies, a host of woodland creatures and, of course, a mischievous sprite by the name of Puck. For this performance, Lopez and Garnero have pared the storyline down to focus only on the prank that Puck plays on his king and queen, Oberon and Titania.
“We don’t feature the couples,” Iliana Gomez confirms. “We feature the main characters, which are Oberon, Titania, Puck, Bottom and the Butterfly and the Indian Boy.”
In both versions of the story, Cupid’s arrow strikes a flower, infusing its nectar with magical powers. When someone’s eyes are sprayed with the nectar, they fall in love with the very next person they see.
“Puck is a mischievous character [and] he wants to play a joke on Oberon,” Gomez expounds. “So he sprays the flower on Titania’s eyes, but instead of being Oberon next to her, it’s a donkey. It’s Bottom, the donkey. So she falls in love with a donkey.” [1543 from 0:36 to 0:57]
But Oberon is not amused. Now he and his errant pixie have to reverse the spell and cause Titania to fall in love once again with the King. In that effort, they are aided by a host of colorful and beautiful butterflies, fireflies and dragonflies, like the one Ella Litvak elegantly portrays.
“The dragonflies are one of many mythical creatures in the ballet, and we come on stage and we dance … around the main characters and we also dance with the Butterfly,” says Ella. “The Butterfly, she guides us where we’re going, and kind of help tell the story and everything like that.”
The Butterfly is danced by star student Chloe Sierra, whose challenge is to appear ephemeral and seemingly lighter than air.
“Whatever the music is speaking, I have to portray that in dancing, so whenever I come on stage I feel like I have to like fly,” Sierra remarks.
As Midsummer Night’s Butterfly, Sierra glides gracefully across the stage, sailing effortlessly through turns as if she’s barely touching the ground. Her natural talent has been developed and honed by arduous training that includes four or more hours of practice virtually every single day.
“Once you start your day, you think about, oh, ballet,” says Chloe of her single-minded dedication. “You have ballet and you circle your things around that instead of you focusing on something else and then ballet later. It’s ballet first and then everything else.”
That commitment has paid off in the form of an invitation to join the professional ballet company that Lopez and Garnero have recently formed.
“Chloe is going to be a trainee at the company,” Lozez announces. “So it’s wonderful to have our students make that transition, and actually stay here and not, Chloe’s not going to have to leave to another professional company because that’s what happened in the past. Our students were graduating and those that were serious about dance went into other professional companies. But now we can offer them that right here in Fort Myers, a professional ballet company where those kids that want to pursue a dancing career can stay here. And we’re very, very proud to say that Chloe is gonna be one, is the first one really from our students.”
While Florida Gulfshore Ballet’s inaugural season starts later this year, you can appreciate during A Midsummer Night’s Dream all that Chloe Sierra, Ella Litvak and the school’s other students have already achieved. There are two performances. In addition to the performance at the Tribbe Arts Center at Shell Point on Saturday, April 15, the school, located on Youngquist Drive in South Fort Myers, will host a brunch and fundraiser from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, April 16th that will feature in conjunction with its 2-4 p.m. brunch and fundraiser.
FAST FACTS:
- King Oberon is played by Anton Iakovlev
- Darli Iakovleva portrays Queen Titania
- Alex Manning appears in the role of Puck
- Franklin Garnero plays Bottom
- Chloe Sierra is in the 11th grade and first year of college.
- In European folklore, midsummer night is the one time each year when supernatural beings like fairies and woodland creatures are able to inhabit and interact with the real world. The date appropriately falls near the summer solstice, which was traditionally a time for fertility rites and festivals devoted to love.
- Gulfshore Ballet is Southwest Florida’s premier not-for-profit school of Classical Ballet. The school has an internationally acclaimed teaching faculty and offers area students the unique opportunity to study with professional instructors of the highest caliber. The training at Gulfshore Ballet combines Cuban, American, and Russian technique and brings a quality of excellence not normally found outside major metropolitan cities.
- The qualities gained from the disciplined study of classical ballet are advantageous throughout life. Beyond receiving high-caliber ballet training, Gulfshore Ballet students learn self-discipline, concentration, focus and creative expression—all of which serve to build character, confidence and a positive self-image.
- Gulfshore Ballet was founded by Melinda Roy, a former Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet. Ms Roy operated the school for 10 years, setting the foundation for Gulfshore Ballet to provide classical dance training and education of the highest caliber. Melinda Roy retired in 2011, but Gulfshore Ballet was fortunate to have former Miami City Ballet Principal Dancers Franklin Gamero and Iliana Lopez take over as Artistic Directors.
- Iliana Lopez & Franklin Gamero were born in Valencia, Venezuela. They began their careers at Ballet Nacional Teatro Teresa Carreño. Both went on to dance at San Francisco Ballet, Cleveland Ballet and as soloists with the Deutsche Opera Berlin and the Deutsche Opera am Rhein in Düsseldorf. In 1987, they became Principal Dancers with Miami City Ballet, where they remained for 18 successful years.
- Florida Gulfshore Ballet will be the first and only professional ballet company in Southwest Florida. In addition to excellence on stage, FGB is committed to the widest possible public audience through touring, educational programs, and community engagement.
- As artistic directors, Iliana and Franklin will leverage their professional reach around the country, in Europe and Latin America to attract talent that might not otherwise consider Southwest Florida. Iliana and Franklin’s exemplary reputation worldwide, along with their exclusive access to the repertoire of famed choreographer Jimmy Gamonet de los Heros, gives Florida Gulfshore Ballet unique appeal to top dancers with international reputations who are looking to advance their careers.
- The company is planning its inaugural full season in 2023-2024, with two introductory Feature Performances in April and May of 2023 in Fort Myers and Naples, respectively. Three different programs plus a Nutcracker will be performed during the 2023-2024 season at elite local performance spaces that include Artis-Naples, the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, The Charlotte Performing Arts Center in Punta Gorda and BIG ARTS Sanibel.
- For more on the programming you can enjoy during Florida Gulfshore Ballet’s 2023-2024 season, please visit https://fgballet.com/dances/
- Sunday’s fundraiser at Gulfshore Ballet School will help defray the high cost of pointe shoes, production sets, costumes, theater rent and more. Companies like Gulfshore Ballet depend on donations, gifts, and support from sponsors and outside sources. The April 16th brunch is a terrific opportunity to meet the principals and students and watch them perform.
- As Chloe Sierra observes, ballet is a lifestyle in which the dance take primacy and everything else revolves around that. It’s hard on the dancer’s mind as well as their body. It’s difficult to date, have a significant other or friends outside of ballet because no one else can truly understand the discipline and the time required. So the applause conveyed by audiences at performances provides crucial validation that makes the effort and sacrifice worthwhile.
- Located at Shell Point, the 45,000-square-foot Tribby Arts Center features an array of fine and performing arts venues, including the state-of-the-art Connie Brown Theater, which seats 401 people and includes a mezzanine area and full stage. The center provides programming in the visual, performing, and literary arts.
- For tickets, please call the box office at 239-415-5667 or email boxoffice@shellpoint.org.
To read more stories about the arts in Southwest Florida visit Tom Hall's website: SWFL Art in the News.