The idea of creating a ballet of George and Ira Gershwins' famed American folk opera "Porgy and Bess" caused some concern for Ann M. Williams, artistic director for the Dallas Black Dance Theatre.
"First, we decided to use Miles Davis' version of the score," Whiting said during a phone interview from her office in Dallas, Texas. "And it's a jazz score."People usually listen to jazz at home sipping a glass of wine. They don't envision dancing to it - especially the type of jazz Miles played."
But the challenge intrigued Williams and her company, and they moved forward with the project.
Salt Lake audiences can see the result on Wednesday, Nov. 7, when the Dallas Black Dance Theatre's all-dance version of "Porgy and Bess" comes to Salt Lake Community College's Grand Theatre, 1575 S. State Street. The program will begin at 8 p.m.
Tickets are available for $15 at all Smith'sTix outlets, the Salt Lake Community College courtesy desk at the Redwood campus and the SLCC's South City Campus student activities office at the Grand Theatre location.
"After thinking about how to approach this project, I immediately contacted Hope Clarke to choreograph it," said Williams.
Clarke, who had choreographed an operatic version of "Porgy and Bess" for the Houston Grand Opera, is most recognized as the choreographer for the Broadway musical "Jelly's Last Jam," for which she received a Tony nomination.
"I saw what she could do with the opera when she did it in Houston," said Williams. "I was interested in how she would approach this as a ballet."
Another concern Williams stewed about was the music. The jazz renditions of the Gershwins' music were drastically different than what the dancers were used to hearing.
"The works were difficult to move to," Williams explained. "But Hope did it. And she created movements that complemented the musical proportions."
However, there were still some bits of music that had a hard time flowing just right during the transitional scenes.
Enter Dick Hyman, the composer/ arranger who has done music for several Woody Allen films, including "Mighty Aphrodite" and "Hannah and Her Sisters."
"We brought in Dick to compose music to fill in the gaps and help the ballet flow," said Williams, who formed the DBDT in 1976, after dancing and training under Alvin Ailey and Arthur Mitchell. "Dick did just that, and he also composed some music that added excitement to the scenes."
The planning for "Porgy and Bess" began in March, 1997. Later in the year, Clarke had begun working with the Dallas Black Dance Theatre. As for the soloists - all of whom are from various parts of the United States - Clarke worked with them individually in their various hometowns.
"The whole cast came together for the first time last June," said Williams. "It was wonderful."
The world premiere of DBDT's "Porgy and Bess" took place in the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater last September.
The two-act production about love, deceit, betrayal and murder, was received with critical acclaim.
"We did three shows there," Williams said. "It was magical."
This is the only version of "Porgy and Bess" that is solely comprised of dance, said Williams.
"We were lucky to get the blessing of the Gershwin estate to create this work," she said. "And we are also very honored to get permission from the Davis family to use his music."
Williams said she was amazed that no one had thought to create a ballet from this story before.
"We did it because it was time for it to happen," she said. "And we were very fortunate to have the caliber of people we had who worked on this production. This is definitely one of the company's featured works."