TRAVERSE CITY -- A trip to San Francisco's Japantown sparked the creative vision of Northwest Michigan Ballet Theatre's artistic director, Thomas Morrell.
That vision will come to fruition next weekend when the company stages the premier of his original full-length ballet, "The Princess Peony."
Based on a Japanese folk tale, Morrell painstakingly researched every aspect of the ballet -- from story line, to choreography and costume.
Morrell's eighth original ballet for the company, housed at the Ballet Etc. Dance Institute, has been his most challenging. Irish, Celtic and Biblical tales have served as previous inspiration.
"We never do the big war horse ballet, I wanted to do something memorable," said Morrell, who set the dance to a compilation score of traditional and modern Japanese music.
The ballet, featuring 18 members of the nonprofit youth company, will turn the Milliken Auditorium stage into a lush Japanese garden. Elaborate makeup and period costumes created by Laura Bremer and Sue Judson complete the transformation.
"My goal was to make each costume unique, a piece of art," said Bremer, who found a balance between authentic Japanese style and workable dancewear.
"A traditional kimono is tight fitting, obviously that wouldn't work for our dancers," said Morrell, who is thrilled with the results of the hours of work put in by Bremer and Judson.
Working around restrictive dancewear hasn't been the only challenge for the young dancers. Learning an unfamiliar style of choreography has taken months of practice and patience.
"This is a totally different style of dancing than anything I have ever done," said Jessica Reehorst who plays the part of Princess Aya.
"He (Morrell) wants this to be very legitimate, very authentic," said Reehorst, a freshman at Traverse City Central High School who has been dancing with the company for 10 years.
Performance times for "The Princess Peony" are at 2 and 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 13 and 2 and 5 p.m., Sunday Feb. 14 at the Dennos Museum Center's Milliken Auditorium. Tickets are $14 for adults and $10 for students and seniors for the Saturday shows and Sunday's 2 p.m. matinee. The 5 p.m. Sunday show is $10 for everyone. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit www.ballet-etc.com.
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