The Orlando Ballet School presented Summer Fantasy VI on Sunday July 24, at the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden and it was worth seeing. This is the event in the 5-week course where the students perform to the general public towards the end of the curriculum. There were two dancers from the Orlando Ballet Company and one full time student who has preformed in Michael Flatley’s “Lord of Dance.” All others were higher level students in the course from all over the world.
The tempo was a very fast paced presentation like the other arrangements I have seen of the Orlando Ballet Company that kept me mesmerized. From the first number to the last the students captivated the audience. Something a little different this time was at the end of each number the audience was allowed to applaud, with the dancers taking a well earned bow. This in no way slowed down the presentation. In fact, it made it nice for the dancers to know the immediate level of appreciation they received.
The costumes of the men were spectacular with deep purple vests while the women’s white outfits were stunning to watch. Like other productions I have seen this one was a generous mix of classical music with different dance moves that kept me awestruck at how simple they make it look on a much smaller stage.
The Garden Theatre was a very interesting place to watch this production. It was originally built in 1935 as a single screen cinema that was the first in Central Florida to be a talkie theatre. The interior has “Romeo and Juliet” balconies and Spanish courtyard style. After several renovations until closing in 1963 as a theatre it then became several businesses, among them a farm and tractor supply warehouse. The building was restored in 2003 by the City of Winter Garden to be the entertainment showplace it now is. The Garden Theatre now hosts plays, concerts, movies, and later this year more presentations of the Orlando Ballet Company. It is a great place to see a production because it is much smaller than other facilities and viewers are much closer to the stage for a deeper appreciation of what they are seeing.
Another reason I think this was another flawless production is that many of the names who choreographed, directed, and worked on other behind the scenes aspects were some of the same people who have done other Orlando Ballet productions throughout the year. Robert Hill and company should take their well deserved bows for the incredible productions they continually pull together in so short a time.
I like the idea of taking the ballet to the public by having it performed in a wonderful facility like this one, but I was also surprised that in the 18 rows of seating at least 9 were completely empty. I have to wonder what wasn’t done to bring in more people. I know it is an uphill battle for the ballet to gain new viewers but I don’t know what more can be done. I wish more people would be more open to seeing one of these wonderful productions.
Because this was a smaller facility I was fortunate to get many of the autographs of the student’s after the show. Many of these performers are another generation of dancers on their way up the ladder to a possible successful career in some form of dance.
Central Florida has a world class ballet company and school that just do not get the recognition they deserve.
