Ballet San Antonio sinks their collective teeth into a challenging new production--Bram Stoker’s 'Dracula.' I spoke to Creative Director Gabriel Zertuche.
“It’s a very haunting ballet; it’s very chilling in moments. There are moments where it definitely reaches a dark place, and it’s haunting.”
He says Dracula is like few other ballets that Ballet San Antonio stages.
"So much of what we do is so cheery, light and bright," he said. "And this kind of tells you that ballet can tell you many different stories, and can have many different emotions. It’s difficult to do with ballet, but we’ve managed to do it well with Dracula.”
It’s not a contemporary tale, so creating the time element was critical. Music, costumes and setting were all key.
“The music is incredible. The composer, who is Phillip Feeney out of England, has done a tremendous job" he said. "The music also helps us tell the story, and transports the audience to that place.”
He says Dracula is yet another high water market for Ballet San Antonio's creativity.
“It is a local production. It’s a big scale ballet. But the concept was local here in San Antonio," said Zertuche. "It was choreographed here in San Antonio. The fabrication of the costumes and the sets and design was all done here in San Antonio. So it tells you that we are going in the right direction of bringing quality to this city.”
It’s being staged in the city’s brand new venue, the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.
“Opening night is this Thursday, October 16th and we run all the way through October 19th.”
We’ve more on Dracula here.
