Inspired Expression: The Sarasota Ballet’s Final Two Programs of the Season Showcase Dance Artistry

By Scott Ferguson | March 2024

When dancers take the stage for Portraits of Expression, Program 6 in Sarasota Ballet’s 2023-2024 season, they will begin with a literal gem of ballet repertoire — George Balanchine’s Emeralds. The first segment of the acclaimed choreographer’s ballet Jewels, Emeralds is set to music by Gabriel Fauré and staged by Sandra Jennings.

The Sarasota Ballet performed the full-length ballet Jewels in 2016. In this program, Emeralds is followed by Las Hermanas (The Sisters), with choreography by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, music by Frank Martin and staged by Margaret Barbieri, The Sarasota Ballet’s assistant director. The mood then shifts to the jazz-infused ballet Who Cares?, another Balanchine-choreographed work set to the music of George Gershwin.

 “Emeralds is just one of the most absolutely beautiful ballets,” says The Sarasota Ballet Director Iain Webb. “It’s one that all ballerinas want to do. The middle section of the program, Las Hermanas, it’s based on the play The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia-Lorca. It’s a masterpiece, but it’s very challenging for the performers because it requires very intense acting — they have to convey a wide range of emotions through dance. We finish Program 6 with Who Cares?, which is all Gershwin, with almost our full company on stage.”

Webb describes Emeralds as “sophisticated; like a fine perfume.” He says he deliberately contrasted the glamour of the ballet with the high drama of Las Hermanas, and notes that Barbieri is the perfect person to stage this production.

“Las Hermanas was originally performed by the Stuttgart Ballet in 1963,” he notes. “When it was brought to The Royal Ballet in 1971, Margaret was in original cast as the Youngest Sister – one of the principal roles. Same set, same everything. She’s been there right from the beginning with it, so she has firsthand knowledge of the story. When a character looks at someone, Margaret remembers the look that dancer got back in return.

“I’m personally grateful for Lady MacMillan (widow of choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan, who died in 1992) to say we can do it and to give it to Margaret to stage. That says a lot for our company, our dancers and Margaret herself.”

Anna Pellegrino, a soloist who trained with at the Eastern Connecticut Ballet and joined The Sarasota Ballet in 2018, portrays one of the five sisters in Las Hermanas. She’s up for the challenge, in part because she was in the cast of the ballet in the company’s 2019-2020 season — but as a different sister than the one she portrays in this production.

How does she express the deep emotions of Las Hermanas, which explores themes of maternal domination and sisterly jealousy?

“You have to do it all without words,” Pellegrino explains. “With dancing, you really have to think, ‘If my wrist is this way versus this way, what is that saying?’ We might get direction to use a certain hand gesture, but as a dancer you have to ask yourself, ‘What is that hand saying?’ Because I feel like if there’s not an intention behind it, then what you’re trying to portray doesn’t read to the other characters on stage or to the audience.”

The pulsing energy of New York City is on display in Who Cares?. The ballet is set to many of Gershwin’s most popular songs, including Strike Up the Band, Sweet and Lowdown, Lady Be Good, Embraceable You, I Got Rhythm and many more. Think Fred Astaire (one of Balanchine’s favorite dancers), and you can picture the buoyant, exhilarating spirit of the work. 

Program 7, Inspirations, is thelast of the season. It opens with The American, created by Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheedon and staged by Margaret Barbieri. The music is by Antonin Dvořák, a Czech composer whose compositions, notably his New World Symphony, often weave in themes from American folk tunes, spirituals and other indigenous music.    

Jennifer Hackbarth, a principal dancer with the company, says Inspirations is “a very diverse program, like all of the wonderful programs we do here. As an artist, I’m very excited to challenge myself with a lot of variety. Triple bills are always fun because you get to challenge yourself and explore the artistry and the different aspects of the dance and the music.”

Hackbarth learned her craft at the Milwaukee Ballet School, the John Cranko Schule in Stuttgart, Germany, and the School of American Ballet in New York City, before joining the New York City Ballet. She spent six seasons with the Semperoper Ballet in Dresden, Germany.

“At that point I felt it was time to make a change and move back to America,” explains Hackbarth. “So I thought about what would be the best place to go. I have so many things that I want to do. As a dancer, I thought, ‘Where can I get everything?’ And there was no question of where to go. I ended up here at The Sarasota Ballet, because of the variety of pieces they do.”

Of The American, Webb says, “It’s a great joy for me to enjoy watching and listening to Margaret stage this ballet. “Christopher Wheedon is one of the most important choreographers of today. You might ask, ‘How did you get him?’ The short answer is that when Christopher was a young dancer, he had just joined The Royal Ballet and Margaret was director of the Classical Graduate Programme at London Studio Center. I said, ‘There’s this young kid in The Royal Ballet company and he’s got a lot of talent, not just for dancing but also for choreography.’

“Margaret contacted Christopher straight away and his first professional commission work was done for her. He later gave her permission to stage The American, so that’s a nice full circle. And we’ve got such a beautiful range of talented dancers in the piece. I think all those elements are going to combine to bring something very special to the stage.”

Lyric Pieces, the middle ballet of Program 7, is choreographed by Jessica Lang to solo piano music by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. Lang, a director and choreographer based in New York City, is currently Artist in Residence at The Sarasota Ballet.

“I’d been talking to Jessica for a long time about working with the company,” says Webb. “Last season she created one of her best works for us, Shades of Spring. I had been looking to do Lyric Pieces with her, and now I’ve brought it into the second season of her working with us. It’s a great piece.”

Sinfonietta is the final piece in Program 7, with choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton, music by Sir Malcolm Williamson and staged by Margaret Barbieri. The ballet includes Toccata, the first segment that ushers in some precise and fancy footwork; Elegy, a reflective piece spotlighting a female soloist and a group of male partners; and Tarantella, named after an Italian folk dance that’s said to be inspired by the frenetic movements of a person bitten by a tarantula.

Reflecting on Programs 6 and 7, Webb says, “I think these last two programs of the season are going to create a real buzz. They have so much energy; they’re not to be missed. The company loves them, and the audience will, too.”