Dear Mr. Gershwin-Ottawa Ballet
Dear Mr. Gershwin "Ottawa Ballet salute to the '20s and '30s with a brand new production of "Dear Mr. Gershwin" premiered at the Canadian Museum of Civilization Gala performance. The ballet covers two decades of music with exuberance and exciting styles. The first part dedicated to Gershwin's early compositions of many famous songs and melodies to old arrangements danced with much wit and highly entertaining evocation and style. A tap solo of Swanee danced by Mr. Frank Augustyn was indeed an exciting and demanding technical feat with intricate rhythms that made the audience sit up and take notice. What followed was a chorographical wonder of many dances reminiscent of the old Hollywood movies and the roaring twenties with a stylistic Charleston that brought the house down. The lyrical duet of the Man I Love danced by Pascale Nadeau and Henry Cornelle was dramatic and beautifully choreographed with high lifts moving through space like a Cinemascopic canvas of movement and sound. There were many surprises and exciting dances that made the audience want to get up and dance. The second part of the evening was dedicated to the more serious works of the composer. It opened with Rhapsody in Blue and ended the evening with a symphonic version of I got Rhythm. Here the work took a more serious balletic mood and throughout the evening the company danced the highly charged choreography with fervor and technical precision that was exciting and most entertaining. The success of this ballet is Domy Reiter Soffer's choreography and his constant invention. No doubt it will grace the repertoire of Ottawa ballet for many years to come and will continue to have the impact that the ballet had on the first night audience". Joanne Laucitus- (The Ottawa Citizen)
