Sacramento Ballet's Inside the Director's Studio with Lila York (Image by: David Alvarez)

Inside the Director’s Studio allowed ballet enthusiasts to experience an intimate performance by the Sacramento Ballet on Friday night. Inside the Director’s Studio: Ballet/Modern Fusion with Lila York was held at the Sacramento Ballet Studios on 1631 K Street.

The event showcased Lila York’s choreography and the Sacramento Ballet’s immense talent and energy. There were close to 100 people who attended the event. Artistic Director, Ron Cunningham, served as master of ceremonies for the evening. Mr. Cunningham started by thanking several people in the audience. Jim Hargrove was acknowledged and it was also acknowledged that it was his birthday. The Sacramento Ballet had made some treats for him and Ron Cunningham proceeded to indicate other treats made by the dancers were available for sale in the lobby.

Sacramento Ballet's Inside the Director's Studio with Lila York (Image by: David Alvarez)

Ron went on to discuss upcoming events; “Upcoming events; we have the Celtic Experience on March 18 and 19. It’s going to be a fun evening. We’ll have some Irish step dancers and some Irish bagpipers. Please come back and enjoy the Celtic Experience.” He continued, “Our next Inside the Director’s Studio will be the Russian Experience with Viktor Kabaniaev, that’s on April 21st. “

Cunningham went on to make an announcement saying, “You are the first to hear it; our first Beer and Ballet performance will take place on April 30th, that’s a Saturday. The rest of the Beer and Ballet performances will take place at the end of May. I know a lot of you look forward to it but it’s going to be really special this year because the dancers only work half a day tomorrow Saturday and when they get finished they’re going over to ‘Brew It Up!’ to brew their own beer to sell at Beer and Ballet.”

Alex Stewart was introduced and recognized for a program he did last year called At the Ballet, a musical theater show. That well received show prompted At the Ballet II and Alex indicated the show will be presented on May 6th, 7 and 8 and then the 20th and 22nd. Those shows will be presented at the Sacramento Ballet Studio. Last year’s performance sold out and standing room only was available. Alex ended up giving away 2 free tickets to the event to the person who correctly answered a trivia question.

“I’d like to introduce Lila York to you” said Cunningham. “Lila is a very well known dancer for the Paul Taylor Dance Company. She danced with them for over a dozen years. She was one of my very favorite modern dancers. She was so wonderful on stage with such energy and when you see her ballet you’ll know what kind of energy she had.” Ron said.

Many of the dancers were ill with the flu and Lila had also caught it and apologized for her voice. She started off by saying “Let me tell you a little about Celts. It’s basically images from Irish history. I was commissioned by the Boston Ballet to make a work that was not playable by an orchestra. At the time my family was planning a trip to Ireland and Scotland to see where my grandparents and great-grandparents had come from.” Reading Irish and Scottish history helped Lila establish the framework to create an Irish piece. She thought about including step dancing into that work as well. Lila indicated that translating the movement and rhythm of Irish step dancing into classical ballet posed a challenge.

Sacramento Ballet's Inside the Director's Studio with Lila York (Image by: David Alvarez)

Lila went on to say that Celts is in 5 sections that went in chronological order starting with the first piece taking place in a kind of a Stonehenge setting. She went on to say that in Irish mythology Ireland was named after a pre-historic fertility goddess named Ire. One section of the dance depicts Celtic warriors and Lila went on to say how vicious these fighters were. She compared them to the movie Braveheart.

There were 25 dancers on hand to graciously and beautifully move to Lila York’s choreography. The finished dance had been completed recently and the dancers had been practicing that same day. Ron Cunningham went on to indicate that the dance was going to be performed in a rough form and would be interesting to see the finished product translates on stage with the wonderful lighting, costumes and everything else.

Sacramento Ballet's Inside the Director's Studio with Lila York (Image by: David Alvarez)

Music was provided via the sound system from a CD brought by Lila. Dancers sat on the right and left hand side of the studio. A drumbeat started the dance with dancers meeting in the middle for the performance. Irish bagpipe sounds followed and dancers took the customary Irish dance stance with their hands down on their sides.

Beautiful Irish music accompanied every dance step and the 25 ballet dancers graciously moved from one side of the studio to the other. A battle scene depiction showed off some wonderful moves. This scene turned ballet into what seemed like a full contact sport. Timing and movement had to be precise in order not to cause some type of injury.

Images of River dancing and Braveheart were conjured up when watching this magnificent performance. The dancers made everything appear gracious and easy and watching them perform I couldn’t help but think what a wonderful experience this intimate performance was. The flu that had afflicted the dancers was hardly noticeable aside from the coughing but their performance was flawless.

Sacramento Ballet's Inside the Director's Studio with Lila York (Image by: David Alvarez)

The musical raw energy from some of the pieces was converted to wonderful fluid movements showing off the choreographer’s piece. What seemed like effortless movements by the dancers brought delight to the audience. As the performance ended I could hear praises such as “Wow! Beautiful! Bravo! Loved it!” I think everyone in the audience felt Irish and proud of it after the show. A magnificent performance had unfortunately come to an end.

After the performance Ron Cunningham returned to the microphone “Anyone have a question you’d like to ask Lila or the dancers?” Questions were asked and answered by both Lila and the exhausted dancers. This interaction, I believe, is truly what makes shows like Inside the Director’s Studio so valuable. The audience gets to ask questions about the performance witnessed as well as what goes on behind the scenes.

Sacramento Ballet's Inside the Director's Studio with Lila York (Image by: David Alvarez)

Hearing the background about a ballet performance and what goes on backstage is quite valuable. The close interaction is worth the price of admission to the Inside the Director’s Studio performance. Asking questions and hearing the answers by Sacramento Ballet performers and choreographers are also valuable. One of the last questions was very intriguing when a young girl asked “What do you do when you mess up during a performance?” that got a good laugh but I have often thought about that. Responses from Lila and a couple of the dancers were quite helpful for the young dancer who asked the question.

Sacramento Ballet's Inside the Director's Studio with Lila York (Image by: David Alvarez)

The next Inside the Director’s Studio is scheduled for April 21. Log on to the Sacramento Ballet’s website for more information on all future performances scheduled. The Sacramento Ballet continues to bring our community the experience of moving art and allows us the opportunity to enjoy local talent at its best.