Hansel and Gretel and The Firebird by Dance Prism Ballet

Dance Prism Ballet will open its 41st season with a pre-Halloween pairing of Hansel and Gretel and The Firebird, magical tales of fiendish spirits vanquished by kindness and beauty. The family-friendly performance will be followed by a complimentary reception to meet principal characters. While completely opposite in setting the two works reflect one another in remarkable ways. The Germanic fable of Hansel and Gretel follows the narrative famously related by the Brothers Grimm and amplified by the lively rustic dances and wistful melodies of the Humperdinck opera. The impoverished but irrepressible young siblings are exiled by their cruel mother from their village to the dark and dangerous wood where they are captured by a bizarrely carnivorous witch and her feline familiars. They are to be added, they discover, to her larder of transfixed local children transformed into gingerbread cookies.

The Firebird, inspired by the glowing bird symbolic of beauty and magical powers in ancient Russian folklore, is by contrast set among 13 elegant princesses, similarly held captive, though by a terrifying ogre. To free the princesses, a brave prince has while hunting, spared the life the life of the Firebird, in vain challenges the demon's lethal tyranny, However, it is the radiant Firebird whose feathers hold even greater power, who breaks the evil spell. In the current production, choreography for Hansel and Gretel was co-created by company Artistic Director Mary Demaso and Associate Director Miranda Bailey, former soloist and current Ballet Mistress of Columbia (SC) City Ballet; the company's setting of The Firebird is inspired by the original production created for Ballet Russe in 1910 by Mikhail Fokine and Igor Stravinsky and adapted by Demaso, who says that combining the two ballets provide a wonderful array of characters and dances to engage both children and adults: "lively Slavic dances one minute, ethereal evening stars the next- and then a phalanx of season-appropriately scary demons that set off the virtuosity of the principal characters." She adds, however, that pairing the two works emphasizes their common assertion that triumph over evil is ultimately made possible by acts of kindness.

The family-friendly performance will be followed by a complimentary reception to meet principal characters.

URLs:

Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/1971851-1?pid=5248

Instagram: https://go.evvnt.com/1971851-3?pid=5248

Prices:

Adult: USD 35.00,

Children under 12 and Seniors: USD 28.00

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