Colton Ballet presents ‘Becoming’

(Featured photo is from the new work called “Becoming Her.” Photo by Charmain Z. Brackett)

Colton Ballet’s spring performance blends old and new.

Some pieces have been the company’s repertoire for decades while another makes its debut as part of Becoming at 7 p.m. April 28 at the Imperial Theatre.

“It runs the whole gamut,” said Zanne Colton, one of the company’s directors. “There’s something for everyone.”      

Dans le Bois is one of those favorites making its return to the stage after 16 years. It’s a pas de deux inspired by a day in Paris during the 1890s.

 “It’s a very old-fashioned, well-crafted piece,” she said.

This dance has special meaning as it was one of the first pieces that the late Ron Colton, who founded the company, performed in Augusta. It was given to him by Stanley Zompakos, who was a soloist for Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and New York City Ballet, under the legendary George Balanchine.

Zompakos, who died in 2012, choreographed many ballets for companies in the Southeast during his career and was responsible for bringing Colton to Augusta.

 Ron Colton debuted Dans le Bois in 1965 as the Hazar with Zanne Colton as Can-Can dancer and Bon Ellis as Coquette.  

“It’s a fun piece,” Zanne Colton said.

Another work being performed again is Saudad Amore choreographed by Amanda Hulen in 2013. Last performed in 2018, it will feature John Mingle and Madison Ryan of the Alabama Ballet.

Mingle and Ryan will bring a classical work to the Imperial stage as well — the pas de deux from Don Quixote.

That work is in stark contrast to Valerie Grieg’s A Place to Dance which hasn’t been seen since the 1980s.

 It marries the art of dance with athleticism to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. A Place to Dance was chosen for the Andrew M. Mellon Choreographic List.

Debuting during the performance will be a piece called Becoming Her by Caitlin McCormick Phibbs, a former Colton Ballet dancer.

Now a resident of Charleston, S.C., she’s returned home several times to set works on dancers at Colton. Becoming Her shows the various stages in a woman’s life from childhood to being in love to becoming a mature woman who has come into her own.

“There are five different solos,” Colton said.

Each dancer focuses on one moment in time.

 Tickets for Becoming are available at the Imperial Theatre website.