Apprentice Junior Edition

It has been a long while since I attended any dance showcase of young dancers. But I have always been impressed by the contemporary ballet strength of company proartedanza. So I was curious to see their Summer Intensive Program (SIP) performances on Saturday. 3 levels of young dancers (Apprentice, Aspirante, Junior Aspirante) joined them for 4 weeks of daily practices.

Looking over the large cast list for each piece, I was skeptical that it would be 90 minutes of dizzying and frenetic dance. But the choreographers did a good job of giving space to highlight the dancers in short segments of solos, duos and other small groups. When an entire cast was used, it was usually in exciting formation dancing especially in the second piece which used excerpts from The National Ballet repertoire (Fearful Symmetries and Fractals).

I was impressed with all dancers but was a bit shocked at the talent of the Junior Aspirantes in When I Was Older. I wasn't expecting 12-14 year olds to be that skilled. This company typically uses classical music in their pieces but tonight's incorporation of pop and hip-hop was nicely done and appropriate given the dancers' youthfulness.