NGB ready for Swan Lake

This weekend, Next Generation Ballet’s award-winning dancers are joined by guest artists Eddy Tovar and Sara Sardelli, soloist for the Sarasota Ballet, for the classical ballet Swan Lake.

Don’t miss Hannah Bettes as she performs in her most challenging role yet with NGB before moving on to study at the Royal Ballet in the fall.

“I’m so excited for Swan Lake,” said Bettes. “This is my first full-length ballet, so I’m on stage a lot more.”

Bettes won the 2012 Prix de Lausanne "audience choice" award in February, and she won the Gold Medal in the senior women’s division at the YAGP final competition in New York in April.

Despite her competition prowess, playing the lead in a full-length ballet is a very demanding role.

In Swan Lake, Bettes dances the roles of both the white and black swan. She’s had to learn not only extensive and technically difficult choreography, but also the stylistic nuances of the characters.

“It’s a very tough role even for professional dancers,” said Tovar before a recent rehearsal with Bettes. “She has to change her personality and be intense.”

Tovar was a principal with Texas Ballet Theatre and Orlando Ballet. He was featured on So You Think You Can Dance with Los Angeles Ballet in George Balanchine’s Who Care’s?

Eddy Tovar with Sara Sardelli

In Swan Lake, Tovar dances the role of Prince Siegfried. Though he’s danced the role with Orlando Ballet, he’s had just two weeks to learn the choreography for NGB’s production.

“Every production has slightly different choreography,” he said. Rehearsing with NGB dancers at the Patel Conservatory has been a gratifying experience for him.

“I can see the talent of the students. They are ready...they look like professionals,” he said.

Choreographed by Peter Stark and Ivonne Lemus after the original choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, this two-act world premier features marvelous sets and costumes.

With a hauntingly beautiful score by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, this classic story of princesses turned into swans has moved audiences for more than 100 years.

With just two shows on Saturday, the event is sure to sell out. Click here for tickets, before it's too late!

Spotlight on Ivonne Lemus, NGB instructor

When Ivonne Lemus toured in Swan Lake with the Ballet National of Cuba, she danced in various roles in more than 76 performances of this classical ballet in one year.


“Swan Lake is in my blood,” said Lemus, who performed with the professional company for 13 years.

Lemus has been a full-time ballet instructor with the Patel Conservatory since 2007, and is the Ballet Mistress for Next Generation Ballet. As such, she is training its dancers for their upcoming production of Swan Lake in May.

The title of Swan Lake is synonymous with classic, elegant perfection.

“It is a drama. It’s sad, but beautiful and lyrical,” said Lemus.

To create the refined gracefulness of the swans in the lake, the ballet corps must display precise symmetry, an enormous challenge for any ballet company. Dancers must have not only incredible technique, but very stylistic artistry.

Next Generation Ballet is staging this show with young, pre-professional dancers, but with no less precision or professionalism.

Lemus has been working hard in creating a ballet corp that will rival any professional company.

“To explain with my English how they have to look and feel on stage, everyone has to be one. Twenty-eight girls have to move their arms at the same height,” said Lemus in her heavy Spanish accent.

“We’re doing a lot here. It’s very professional, they’re training like a company,” said Lemus.

“Our program prepares kids to go to a professional ballet company and fit in as soon as possible in the corps. If you don’t do well in the corp, you don’t move up.”

NGB taking on Swan Lake in only its second year is an enormous undertaking, but one that Lemus says they’re ready for.

“We won Outstanding School last year [at YAGP]. We started in September and it happened by April, that is incredible,” said Lemus.

She has her work cut out for her. The story of Swan Lake is usually told in four acts. NGB will perform it in two. Lemus has watched several performances of this classical ballet including from Royal Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre. She’s studied hard in order to make sure the audience understands the whole story.

In the studio, the dancers work exhaustively six days a week. “The level of maturity needed is very hard. They have to know how to move their arms and heads to create emotion,” said Lemus. “It’s a big deal.”

She shows how arms in a typical fifth position are slightly tilted to emulate the movements of a swan.

After years of performing this classical, exquisite ballet, passing on her knowledge and expertise to our ‘Next Generation’ of dancers has been a privilege.

“I’m so proud of the ladies, and the opportunity that Peter [Stark] has given me,” said Lemus.


Swan Lake will be performed May 12 at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. in Ferguson Hall. For tickets, click here.

Spotlight on Landon Harris

When Landon Harris auditioned for NGB’s ballet summer intensive in Denver, Colo. last month, he immediately knew he wanted to train with Peter Stark, NGB’s artistic director.

“I liked all of his corrections and the way he put the class together,” said Landon, 14, of Denver.

At the time, Landon was looking into a full-time ballet program for the fall. But his plans soon changed. He and his family decided to pack up and move to Tampa so Landon could begin his training with Stark right away.

Landon joins the Patel Conservatory this week as a NGB New Artist. He’ll perform along with NGB dancers this Friday in On the Edge and in May in Swan Lake.

“We knew we’d be leaving with him sooner or later for his training. We thought in the fall. We just pulled our time frame up a little,” laughs Bev Harris, Landon’s mother, who’s been busy this week looking for a place to live in Tampa.

Landon’s mom and twin brother, Ashton will live here while dad George, a financial business consultant, will commute from Denver whenever possible to spend time with the family.

Bev is accustomed to following her son across the country in pursuit of his dreams. Last year, Landon was part of the cast of the Broadway tour of Billy Elliot. In fact, he first heard about the Patel Conservatory when he was here at the Straz with the show last year.

“Touring was a great experience. I got to work with a Broadway company, with Tony Award winning actors and actresses,” said Landon, who played one of the boxing students and a ballet student. “It made me more professional...and more comfortable on stage.”

Landon began dancing when he was three years old with the Academy of the Colorado Ballet. In 2009, he began studying at the National Ballet Academy of Denver. He's performed in numerous productions with the Colorado Ballet, including The Nutcracker, Midsummer Night's Dream and in Swan Lake.

He recently placed 1st in Contemporary and 2nd in Classical in the junior division of the the Youth America Grand Prix regionals in Denver. He will compete at the finals in New York City in April.

He also performs with Silhouettes, a professional dance company in which dancers perform “in shadow” behind a screen. His position with NGB will be his first full-time ballet program.

“Yesterday was my first full day, and I’m feeling it,” he said. “It’s a lot of hands-on training. It’s constant, but it’s what I love.”

“For Landon, the tougher it is, the better it is,” said Bev.

An avid skier and snowboarder who tackles the toughest trails and moguls, Landon loves a challenge.

“I like the difficulty and challenge [of ballet]. You have to make it flow but also be masculine and strong,” he said. “You’re always working, you never really master it.”

Don’t miss Landon and NGB’s stunning New Artists this Friday, Mar. 23, 2012 in On the Edge and in Swan Lake on May 12, 2012.