Salsa—Cool! Warm! Hot!
Presented by Nashville Ballet
Feb 11-13 at TPAC's
Polk Theater
When it comes to sheer physical exertion in pursuit of art, no one in the city expends more energy than the dancers of Nashville Ballet. The company opens its third major performance of the 2004-05 season this weekend, and whatever the critical response, there can be no faulting the amount of sweat shed in the name of high achievement.
The centerpiece of the program is the world premiere choreography of artistic director Paul Vasterling's Salsa Dreams, a demanding, frenetically sensual series of dance pieces that celebrate the male-female dynamic, set to a salsa score performed by Lalo Davila y Amigos, a 12-piece orchestra led by local percussionist Davila.
This event represents a collision of cultures and styles—classical ballet technique, Latin folk forms and Afro-Latin popular music—and serves as further recognition that Nashville is growing year by year in its multiethnic character. It's also no accident that this program appears in the wake of Vasterling's summer 2004 experiences as a Fulbright Fellow in Argentina, where he taught and choreographed for two Buenos Aires dance institutions—Ballet Contemporaneo of the Teatro San Martin and Arte y Cultura—as well as the Ballet de Sur in Bahia Blanca.
"I've always wanted to do a salsa ballet," Vasterling says, a few minutes after putting his company through an intensely energetic rehearsal that requires maximum flexibility from the female dancers, athletic assuredness from the men, and studied musical awareness from all. The score, with a few exceptions, is a cascade of contemporary Latin sounds punctuated by piano, horns and insistent rhythms. "Salsa dancing is not what we're doing here per se," he continues. "This is the ballet version. We use our language of classical ballet and infuse it with the world of salsa. I was already listening to this music during my time in Buenos Aires. In addition, I've included several slow duets to give us a rest visually from the relentless up-tempo salsa feel. Those pieces are based on Latin American folk themes."
Among the program's dancers is Kim Ratcliffe, in her first season with the company after serving as an apprentice. She began studying with Nashville Ballet when she was 10, and is the first company dancer to have come entirely through the ballet's training program. "I have no prior salsa training," she admits, "but I've always been intrigued by it. What we're doing here is a hybrid, drawing on classical and jazz, and we have a sense of reference for both of those. The music has so much energy that if we don't push it, we risk falling flat and the music will take over."
"Salsa is about the sexy interplay between two partners," Vasterling adds. "Like authentic club salsa dancing, here the dancers challenge each other in a happy way, as opposed to the tango, where there's seriousness or sadness.
"I know my dancers really well. I know their strengths. We strive, every day, to make things look effortless. Yet what I'm looking for in this ballet is the kind of energy that's behind it—so, in fact, it doesn't look quite so effortless."
In light of Nashville's gradual demographic makeover, Vasterling is not unaware of the potential marketing pull of a salsa-based program, but he also points out that in this multicultural era, his ballet should appeal equally to people of different ethnic backgrounds. "For me, it's more about our work reflecting relevance in one shape or form. I see this program as more about letting people know that the ballet isn't only about Sleeping Beauty or Swan Lake."
Two other pieces fill out the evening of dance: "Seasons," a Vasterling creation set to the famous Antonio Vivaldi score, and "Clowns and Others," a 1970s piece probing the lighter and darker sides of human nature, set to the nimble piano music of the Russian neoclassicist Sergei Prokofiev. The choreography is by the late Salvatore Aiello, with company ballet master Timothy Rinehart Yeager overseeing its re-creation.
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