Cinderfellas
Male danseurs bring classic fairy tale to a turning point
By Jenny Lower 06/04/2009
One of the hardest things about being a man playing Cinderella’s ugly stepsister, John Piel says, was getting used to the fake boobs. “It was really weird working with them. The first time I tried them on, I kept touching them. The other dancers were like, ‘Girls don’t do that.’ ”
Then there were the pointe shoes. Though male dancers typically wear soft shoes, the show’s difficult choreography and humor required Piel to find a special company that catered to his size-11 feet. “One of the female dancers put her pointe shoe inside of mine. They’re huge.”
Piel and his counterpart, Sergei Domrachev, are bringing new life and a touch of the Commedia dell’Arte to the Ventura County Ballet Company’s June 6 and 7 productions of the classic fairy tale at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center. Casting a burly redhead and a small, energetic Russian as Cinderella’s homely, awkward sisters helps “open up ballet to a lot of people who think of it as so stiff and proper,” says Kathleen Noblin, VCBC’s founder and executive director.
The sisters’ exuberance has energized the rest of the cast as well. Their characters were developed after discussions with choreographer Rodney Gustafson, artistic director of State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara, and Marina Fliagina, VCBC’s associate artistic director and ballet mistress. Fliagina, who plays the wicked stepmother, is also Domrachev’s wife. The final dynamic — Piel plays the “shy diva” straight (wo)man to Domrachev’s boisterous show-off — often created a comedic arms race during rehearsals, with Domrachev upstaging Piel each time the latter did something funny. Fliagina struggled to keep a lid on things, scolding her husband, “You are my daughter!”
Not all was fun and games, however. Though Domrachev, who spoke by phone in between rehearsals for another show, jokes that his repertoire is full of “woman stuff” (he has played Mother Ginger in The Nutcracker and female roles in various Russian productions, where drag is more common), for Piel the transition was more difficult. He discovered that dancing weighed down by extra layers of skirt and petticoats required kicking his leg twice as hard. And when it came to actually dancing in those pointe shoes? “Now I have a lot of respect for women. I put them on for five minutes and, oh, my feet were hurting.”
Introducing the stepsisters as comic relief is part of VCBC’s effort to revitalize a classic tale that has been done “ad nauseum,” Noblin says. “You’re trying to find something unique. Children often have the vision of Disneyland that you’re competing with.” Not to mention that most kids are now exposed to a flood of media that can make sitting through a two-hour ballet comparatively dull. And if they don’t enjoy ballet as kids, Noblin observes, they won’t mature into adults who support it.
How, then, to make a slow-moving art form that’s in danger of becoming quaint, suddenly hip and relevant? Cast an international pop culture star as your male lead, and quadruple your tween audience.
Aaron Smyth, a dashing 17-year-old who recently competed on Australia’s Got Talent, was discovered at the American Ballet Theatre in New York by Gustafson, a former ABT member, who flew there to cast the role. His quest became a running joke, says Jennifer Rowe, the State Street ballerina who plays Cinderella. “Rodney called me every day from New York. ‘I’m looking for your prince, Jen!’ ” Smyth, who plans to return to Australia after the show, will enroll at ABT this fall.
Already, there have been encouraging signs that VCBC’s efforts have been successful. Noblin has witnessed a demographic shift over the years at the company’s annual production of The Nutcracker. “The audience has changed. I’m seeing all ages and races coming in, people I know have saved their money. I’m seeing common people. It’s no longer this white elitist thing.”
Nor, Cinderella’s men are proving, is it just a female thing. After all, Riel’s portrayal was inspired by a male dancer he saw playing the stepsister role years ago in Pennsylvania. “I just laughed and laughed and laughed,” he says.
Perhaps boys attending this performance will come to realize what Riel, Domrachev and Smyth already know: that it’s possible not only to be a guy and dance, but to steal the show.
Saturday, June 6, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 7, at 2 p.m., at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, 800 Hobson Way, Oxnard. Tickets are available online at venturacountyballet.com, or by calling 486-2424.
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