“Little Women Ballet” takes over historic Los Angeles site

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“Little Women Ballet” takes over historic Los Angeles site

As contemporary Angelenos, seeing the immersive “Little Women Ballet” might be as close as we can get to stepping into a time machine.

The series of dance works based on Louisa May Alcott’s beloved 19th-century novel is staged in the stately Victorian homes of the Heritage Square Museum in Northeast Los Angeles. Dancers and actors are dressed in period-inspired costumes, ranging from cap-sleeved pioneer dresses to Steampunk-style outfits. Before each performance, the scene is set by a narrator who speaks with a primitive, puritanical accent reminiscent of a bygone era. And the production demands full audience participation: as guests, we are invited to do everything from visiting the homes of the March sisters from the novel to stepping in to play roles to advance the plot.

We begin by dividing into small groups and following a character – in my group’s case, the girls’ wealthy Aunt March – leading us to the various houses where the ballet will be staged. The show is intimate: The dancers are not even two feet from the audience, which has a limited number of seats and space to stand in the small rooms. They’re so close that you can hear the thuds of their ballet slippers on the carpet and make eye contact, which feels both intimate and slightly disconcerting.

Directed and choreographed by Emma Andres, the experience debuted in May with a spring iteration before bowing into its fall production last month. At the end of November, the series will conclude with a winter immersion before presenting a full version of the story at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in December.

The trilogy came about organically. “We wanted to move this project forward in stages to see how it would develop and be received by the public,” Andres said. “When I created Spring Immersion, I didn’t know I would also create Fall and Winter.”

Andres created this work with the intention of making room in ballet for more female-focused stories. “The story of ‘Little Women’ is complicated, but I thought it would be great for a narrative ballet,” she said. “I see myself in the four sisters and felt they were a group of young women who could inspire young audiences to watch and influence. Even though they come from an era about 100 years before ours, they still have traits that are very relevant to us in 2024.”

A couple performs a ballet in front of an audience at the Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles

Ellen Relac and Alberto Hernandez, as Meg March and John Brooke, perform in a room at the LA Heritage Museum.

Built in the Victorian era, the Heritage Square Museum is in many ways the perfect backdrop for this production.

“We don’t have the privilege of being in Concord, Massachusetts, where Louisa May Alcott grew up, but I feel like Heritage Square really shows where we developed OUR performance, which was California,” Andres said.

Dancing in old houses required careful planning. Fortunately, the spikes were found to move easily on carpeted floors. “(The mat) acts like rosin, so it provides that friction that’s actually very nice and never slippery,” Andres explained.

However, there were other design challenges, particularly the low chandeliers. To avoid disaster, the team measured all the pieces and recorded the dimensions in their studio at the Pasadena Civic Ballet. The dancers also walked through the space and noted every piece of furniture and potential pitfall during a dress rehearsal.

Denise Moses as Aunt March narrates a scene in front of the audience

Denise Moses as Aunt March performs a scene in front of a group of guests.

Andres grew up dancing with the Pasadena Civic Ballet, which she attended from ages 4 to 18. “It’s a very unique studio, because they create all their own ballets,” she said, including renditions of Disney titles like “Peter Pan,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Snow White” and “The Little Mermaid.” Alice in Wonderland.

The company has been led by Diane De Franco Browne, Tania Grafos and Zoe Vidalakis since 2000. Browne served as production advisor on this project. “I watched these three really creative women come together and create a very inspiring and creative environment growing up,” Andres said. “I think a lot of my passion for the arts came from watching them growing up.”

Guests gather outside one of the Victorian buildings that make up the Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles.

Guests gather outside one of the Victorian buildings that make up the Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles.

The Pasadena native graduated from UC Irvine in 2020 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in choreography and a minor in literary journalism. After the pandemic hit, Andres returned to Pasadena and became director of the Pasadena Civic Ballet, helping it build several outdoor dance studios to keep dance live. “Although I was really happy to come back, it was very difficult having all of our students on Zoom. But luckily we got back to life pretty quickly,” Andres said.

It was at this time that she first conceived the idea of ​​a ballet on the theme of “Little Women”. Locked indoors, she watched Greta Gerwig’s 2019 take on the classic work and shortly afterward screened the three previous feature film adaptations (from 1933, 1949, and 1994) and read the book.

“I’m glad I (first) read it when I was older because I feel like I relate to it much more than I would have when I was a kid,” Andres said. “I feel like translating it into a ballet is a way for young audiences to really identify with the emotions of the characters and their personalities.”

She began by writing a six-minute synopsis of the book for Pasadena Civic Ballet in 2021, featuring the school’s students. “I tried to target key points in their lives,” she said. “I went straight to Jo’s to meet Laurie and then straight from there, John and Meg’s relationship. Because when Meg starts to fall in love, it’s the first time Jo really sees that their family might fall apart when people start growing up.

Four men of different ages pose during a performance at the immersive “Little Women Ballet”

From left, Chris Flores, Evan Hernandez, Ross Clark, Jacob Robleto and Alberto Hernandez perform in the immersive “Little Women Ballet.”

She visually established each character’s personality by creating recognizable dance patterns for each of the sisters, which endure in the current production. “Each of the sisters has a pose that symbolizes their interests and personality,” Andres said. “Jo raises her hands as if she is reading a book, Amy as if she is painting a canvas with a brush, Beth on a piano and Meg’s hands are close to her face to symbolize an actor’s mask.”

Dance sequences were created to illustrate scenes from the girls’ lives, including Amy and Laurie’s courtship in Paris, Beth’s final days with Jo, and Jo’s romance with Professor Fredrick Bhaer.

Los Angeles, CA - September 29: The

“Little Women Ballet” returns for two performances this winter

Winter Immersion takes place November 22-24 at the Heritage Square Museum. Tickets cost $60. The full ballet will take place Dec. 7 at the Wilshire Ebell Theater. Tickets start at $28. For more information, visit littlewomenballet.com

Andres deliberately chose to have all the sisters dance on pointe, except for Jo, an unconventional character in her tomboyish nature. Jo dances with flexed feet.

“Some of our dancers are not pointe dancers, but they are excellent ballet dancers,” she said. “If I feel like someone will play the character really well, that’s more important to me than doing pointe work. But I’m hoping that for the feature film, it’ll just be Jo who doesn’t wear them, to emphasize the idea that she’s not only breaking societal norms as a woman of the time, but she’s also breaking the ballet standards.

The show itself does the same.

A ballerina poses in front of guests at the immersive “Little Women Ballet”

Madison Marsh plays the role of Amy March. Dance sequences were created to illustrate scenes from the sisters’ lives.

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