- April 17, 2024
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The Sarasota Ballet is in transition, and its director wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’re on a nice climb at the moment and I want to keep that going,” says Director Iain Webb. “It’s about raising the bar each time.”
Webb says one of his initial road maps when planning the 2018-19 season, had fewer mountains to climb. But the more he thought about what he wanted, the more he realized he needed to challenge his dancers.
The company always rises to the occasion, he adds with a partially serious, mostly comical knock on the wood table in front of him. But it’s getting harder every year as he continues to increase his standards.
Webb notes that his higher expectations extend to the business side of the company as well, reflective in the many internal changes the ballet is undergoing.
The first big change over the summer was in the makeup of the board of directors, which was chaired for the past eight seasons by Hillary Steele. The board veteran is now transitioning into a member of the trustees, and Richard Johnson, who previously held the role of board secretary, was voted to take her board seat.
In August, Executive Director Joseph Volpe also announced the company would hire a general manager to oversee day-to-day business as well as broaden the ballet’s impact. After spending more than a decade with international theater design company Theatre Projects, Chad Morrison is now filling this role.
“I am thrilled to be joining The Sarasota Ballet and helping to continue to cement the company’s position in the dance world,” Morrison says in a release.
Two company dancers — one current and one former — are also taking on new roles this season. Principal Dancer Kate Honea is taking on the role of assistant ballet mistress, and former company member Octavio Martin has been named the new assistant ballet master.
For both Martin and Honea, this means switching gears to assist with rehearsals, setting ballets (helping choreographers teach the company new pieces) and offering insight to younger dancers.
“There’s almost a line in the studio, and crossing over that line and suddenly facing a room of dancers is a difficult transition,” Webb says. “It’s a very delicate scenario — you have to take control of a room, you have to have that confidence.”
Their roles will be similar in difficulty but different in that Honea’s position is part time because she’ll also maintain her role as principal dancer. She likens herself to a trainee under Assistant Director and Repetiteur Margaret Barbieri, who has taught her all 16 years she’s been with Sarasota Ballet. Someday when Barbieri’s work is done, Honea hopes to fill her shoes full time.
“I’m excited to learn the ropes and help out in a different way,” Honea says. “I love performing, but this is a new step, and I think it’ll be a challenge but something to look forward to.”
Martin, whose last season with Sarasota Ballet was 2011-2012, will be back as assistant ballet master full time. This means he’ll continue to teach company classes as he does currently, but he’ll also play a major role in helping restage ballets the dancers have already performed and teach new choreography during rehearsals. He’ll also teach up-and-coming dancers in Sarasota Ballet’s pre-professional program, The Margaret Barbieri Conservatory.
“What can I say?” he says when asked what he’s most excited about. “I’m so happy. For me to be back and work with the company is a wonderful feeling. I don’t have words to describe it.”
Martin looks forward to sharing the knowledge he gained from his career, whether that means showing a young dancer how he should hold his hands to embody a role Martin played previously or general notes that will better the whole company’s performance.
Honea’s first task in her new role was to help rehearse some of the pieces the company performed this summer during its Joyce Theater tour in New York City. She had already performed Sir Frederick Ashton’s pas de trois from “Les Patineurs” several times, so she was particularly excited to help the dancers learn a piece she’s comfortable with.
She also helped teach Principal Dancer and Resident Choreographer Ricardo Graziano’s “Symphony of Sorrows” pas de deux, which she has also danced before, but found more challenging this time around as someone who only knew the woman’s part.
“I had to work with the parts I didn’t dance, so for me that was a good learning experience,” she says. “As a woman, we don’t really know what the guy’s doing behind us.”
Martin’s work in his new role also started with helping the company prepare for the Joyce tour, for which he helped rehearse Christopher Wheeldon’s “There Where She Loved,” a piece he’s danced before.
Honea and Graziano were both dancing on the Joyce tour, so Martin worked closely with Barbieri to look at the big-picture aspects of the performance, helping refine details to make the program cohesive.
Webb knew these were the right roles for Honea and Martin to transition into because they’re open to learning and they have the knowledge of the company’s legacy that they can pass on.
“We trust them,” Webb says. “We know that these are the right positions for them to move into … We take the responsibilities of passing on Ashton ballets very seriously, and we know we can trust them and they will nurture it.”
Director Iain Webb shares his thoughts on this year’s lineup.
Oct. 26- 28 at FSU Center for the Performing Arts
“Appalachian Spring” (Company Premiere)
Choreography by Martha Graham
Music by Aaron Copland
“I’m thrilled to see the company taking on a Martha Graham piece,” Webb says. “I never did, I don’t think the Royal Ballet ever did ... I used to go to these evening classes of Graham and struggled and went through immense pain, so when the dancers were learning the technique the first day I felt all these pains mentally coming back.
“This has got such an incredible storyline and clever design. When people think of modern dance they think there’s no set, no story, no tunes, but it’s got everything.”
“Symphony of Sorrows”
Choreography by Ricardo Graziano
Music by Henryk Górecki
“Paquita”
Production by Galina Samsova
Original Choreography by Marius Petipa
Music by Ludwig Minkus
“I felt that this would be a good strengthening piece for the ladies to start with straight away,” Webb says.
Nov. 16-17 at Sarasota Opera House
“Rhapsody” (Company Premiere)
Choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton
Music by Sergei Rachmaninoff
“There Where She Loved”
Choreography by Christopher Wheeldon
Music by Frédéric Chopin and Kurt Weill
“The Concert” (Company Premiere)
Choreography by Jerome Robbins
Music by Frédéric Chopin
“This is just nonstop. It’s one of those ones where people can’t believe sometimes what they’re watching,” Webb says. “It’ll be a lot of fun for the dancers and the audience. It’s a win-win.”
Dec. 14-15 at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
“Les Patineurs”
Choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton
Music by Giacomo Meyerbeer, arranged by Constant Lambert
“Enigma Variations”
Choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton
Music by Edward Elgar
“Diamonds”
Choreography by George Balanchine
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Jan, 25-28 at FSU Center for the Performing Arts
“Four Scottish Dances”
Choreography by David Bintley
Music by Malcolm Arnold
World Premiere
Choreography by Ricardo Graziano
“Varii Capricci” (Company Premiere)
Choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton
Music by William Walton
Feb. 15-17 at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts
The Sarasota Ballet Presents: The Martha Graham Dance Company
March 8-9 at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
“Apparitions” (Company Premiere)
Choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton
Music by Franz Liszt
“Stars and Stripes”
Choreography by George Balanchine
Music by John Philip Sousa, arranged by Hershy Kay
April 26-27 at Sarasota Opera House
“Giselle”
Production by Sir Peter Wright
Original Choreography by Jules Perrot and Jean Coralli
Music by Adolphe Adam
“It’s (Giselle) one of those where I’m looking at the company, and to revisit it now is important because we’ve built an amazing repertoire of one-act ballets, but this is the start of my plans to introduce full-lengths within the next few years,” Webb says. “It won’t be all triple bills.”
Tickets prices for all programs vary. For information or to purchase tickets, call The Sarasota Ballet at 359-0099.
