In a one-night-only event, Dance Alive National Ballet will present two original Halloween stories for the first time, and audience costumes are encouraged.
“Scheherazade” and “Vampyra” will show Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, followed by a Masquerade Ball from 9:30 to 11 p.m. at the Phillips Center Squitieri Studio Theatre.
“It’s a perfect event for Halloween,” said Kim Tuttle, the ballet’s executive artistic director.
“It’s a good time, ballet from a high-level dance company, and the dancers are stupendous.”
In the first story, everyone is alive, while in the second, everyone isn’t.
“It’s not a stuffy old ballet,” said Linda Rocha, Dance Alive’s director of development.
Set in an exotic fantasy land somewhere in Arabia, “Scheherazade” is a romantic ballet based on the 1,001 nights stories from the Middle East.
With passionate aspects ranging from love to murder, audience members’ every emotion will be touched, Tuttle said.
The Shah constantly chooses beautiful women to marry but because of his former wife, he’s distrustful and ends up killing them on their wedding night.
The ballet opens with his wife Zobeide in an affair with the Golden Slave. The Shah demands their execution. After their deaths, Scheherazade marries the Shah and hopes to change him.
Each night for 1,001 nights, she tells him wondrous tales but doesn’t finish them before he falls asleep. He learns to trust her, and together, they reign with grace.
Tuttle said she choreographed the romantic ballet with beautiful Russian music by Rimsky-Korsakov. She described the dances as dramatic, stylized and like a grand opera.
“The dance between the beautiful wife and Golden Slave will be sensual and luscious,” she said.
Amanda Maier, a 19-year-old UF business management sophomore, has been a dancer since she was 3 years old and has seen many professional dance productions, including “Swan Lake.”
“I love watching the grace and movement the human body can create with music,” Maier said.
Then, in a tongue-in-cheek approach, “Vampyra” will be a fun and campy story, Tuttle said, where the main character really enjoys being a vampire.
It’s the total opposite of “Scheherazade” but still has a high-quality dance.
Vampyra is the queen of the vampires, and she has an outrageous Brazilian sidekick who helps her go after her victims. The victims are her many lovers and when she takes their lives, some are surprised, while others are happy about being sacrifices.
Tickets for the ballet are $10 for students, and $15 to $40 for the general public. Both acts will last about 40 minutes each.
Tickets for the ball are $35. Both can be purchased at the Phillips Center Box Office or by calling 352-392-2787.
