Making a pointe: Ballet West's 'Evening of Ballets' includes 'Carmina Burana'

When John Butler's "Carmina Burana" premiered in New York in 1959, there were many debates. "It depends on whom you talk with," said Richmond Ballet's Malcolm Burn, "but the debates ranged from high-pitched arguments to fistfights.

"The conflicts surrounded the fact that people were arguing whether or not the production was modern dance or ballet."

The truth, according to New Zealand-bred Burn, is that it is both.

"John trained at the American Ballet School at the same time he was training with (modern dance pioneer) Martha Graham," Burn said with a knowing smile, during an interview in the Ballet West administrative offices. "In fact, John didn't see the blending of the styles as stifling. No. He saw the combination as a way to expand the dancers' physical vocabulary."

Burn was in town staging "Carmina Burana" for Ballet West. The first time the company presented the work was in 1974. The last time was 1995.

Also on the bill for Ballet West's upcoming program, "Evening of Ballets," is Marius Petipa's "Le Corsaire Pas de Deux" and Andre Prokovsky's "Vespri."

· · · · ·

Burn and his company have a close relationship with "Carmina" and its late choreographer. "The Richmond Ballet ended up custodians of John's works, because John was with us until his final days. My boss (founding artistic director Stoner Winslett) went to see him before he died, and he told her to preserve the works."

After the death of Butler in 1993, Winslett dived into meticulous research. In 2003, Richmond Ballet held a seminar that featured dancers who appeared in all of Butler's original premieres, and codified the dances, which are now in the Library of Congress. "It was interesting to see how the ballets have changed over the years. All dances have that tendency to evolve. And that was one of the reasons we needed to get some of the original dancers."

After much discussion and stagings, Butler's "Carmina Burana" is very much back to what it originally was, said Burn. "But at some point in the production's history, John made the dancers dance on pointe. The funny thing is there aren't a lot of places where it happened. The women wear pointe shoes, but are dancing most of the time on half-pointe.

"But when they do go on pointe, the audience can see why. The dance becomes bigger. The extensions are longer. And there is such a visual impact that you can see why it's done the way it is."