For a decade, Jan Fugit has been giving young dancers a chance to develop their talents at a little place called the Ballet School.
"When we first started, we wanted to give children who are very dedicated to dance a pre-professional path in dance, to give them a taste of what it's like to perform," said Fugit. In 1991, she and Carole Ann Clark started the school, located at 1326 S. 2100 East. "The second thing we wanted to do was to give recreational dance classes to those who want to take class but have no intentions of pursuing it as a profession."
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the Ballet School will present an original version of "Coppelia" in the Alice Sheets Marriott Center for Dance on the University of Utah campus.
Performances are May 31-June 2 at 7 p.m., with an additional matinee on June 2 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5, available at the Ballet School and will also be available at the door.
"We have always danced the classics," said Fugit. "I decided on 'Coppelia' because it seemed to fit and was the most logical for the school. It's a great story. We have about 70 children participating in the program. And we needed to have a ballet that would be an enjoyable experience for them."
Fugit tapped into Ballet West for some help. Soloist Rene Daveluy began talking with Fugit a few months ago about staging and choreographing "Coppelia." "I love the classic stories," Daveluy told the Deseret News. "I became very interested."
"Coppelia," written by "Nutcracker" author E.T.A. Hoffman, tells the story of Franz, Swanilda and a reclusive, eccentric inventor named Dr. Coppelius. One of the doctor's inventions is a life-size mechanical doll named Coppelia. Through a series of miscommunications and plain foolishness, Franz, Swanilda, the doctor and the doll get mixed up in a love triangle that results in a humorous plot.
"We did have to come up with additional roles to accommodate all the dancers involved," explained Fugit. "We added some little sisters and things like that. For example, we created Greta, Swanilda's little sister."
Fugit also decided to change the divertissement at the end of the traditional ballet to having the children ushering in the dawn. "It felt better to have the children do that," Fugit said. "One of the things we really worked on was teaching these young children how to act. We wanted them to become a character and take an active part of the ballet."
Dancing the role of Franz will be Ballet West principle-dancer Jeffrey Rogers. His friends will be danced by other Ballet West notables Paul Murphy, Michael Greer and Zeb Nole. And former Ballet West artist Steven Mueller will be dancing the role of Dr. Coppelius.
"We needed to make sure there were no gaps within the dancing," Daveluy said. "We didn't want the production to become unbalanced. It's not supposed to only focus on the guest artists. It's supposed to be one continuous professional production."
Daveluy has opted just to choreograph and stage the production with Fugit. "Working with the children feeds me," Daveluy said. "They are so charming and really want to work. When I was young, I had professional dancers who gave me insights and coached me. It helped me, and I hope I'm helping the children when I work with them."
E-MAIL: scott@desnews.com