Q and A with Risa Kaplowitz, Artistic Director and choreographer

Q. Why did you feel inspired to create a new winter ballet?

A. My inspiration came from my daughter, Adrienne, who reminded me of The Snow Queen book on her bookshelf, which had been mine as a little girl. My mom had enrolled me in a book club and every month I would be so excited to see the book that would arrive. I've kept them all these years—a great lesson on how important it is to share great stories at a young age. You never know what they will inspire!

I had, frankly, been dreading another year of Nutcracker. DanceVision's production, which had been choreographed by Susan Jaffe was one of the region's best, but I felt that our dancers and the community needed an alternative to the seemingly endless number Nutcrackers being performed. It seems, in our area at least, that the holiday theater options have always revolved around seeing The Nutcracker or The Christmas Carol.

One of DanceVision's and my personal missions revolves around bringing great literature to life in a way that only ballet theater can do. The Snow Queen is a wonderful tale that is not widely known. When I was writing the synopsis, I realized that it often took me three sentences to relate what only a few gestures or dance movements could convey. Dance truly is the universal language. It is also DanceVision's mission is to educate young dancers and give them a professional performance experience.  Challenging them with new and unexpected choreography is vital to the training process.

The story is magical and compelling.  It has all the components of a great tale:  adventure, humor, joy, and heart.  The cast of characters is so diverse and fun; it includes robbers, a sorceress, doves, a raven, ice maidens, snow bees, a prince and princess, and even a devil. Its archetypes are universally appealing to all ages.

Q.  What is the choreography process like?

A. The music plays a huge role in this. Once I know the pieces that I will use, which requires hundreds of hours of listening to music to develop the score, I play it a zillion times until it becomes a part of me. I try to think about the steps and quality of movements that will relay the character. I have a good inner visual ability, so I can "see" much of it in my head before getting into the studio. Sometimes it works, but choreography is often a puzzle. The Snow Queen ballet is very much an ensemble work....there are often many people in each scene and that meant not only choreographing steps but also a huge amount of staging, which I did have trouble doing in detail until I got into the studio with the dancers.

Risa Kaplowitz setting a waltz step on Josiah Foster, who plays Prince Frederick.

Q.  Without giving away too much, what can audiences expect from The Snow Queen?

A. I hope they are moved on several levels. Foremost, I hope they will be enchanted by this compelling story.  With over 140 new costumes that we've made for this production and beautiful projection scenery which transports the audience to magical places, I am confident that this will happen. I also hope they are moved by the commitment and incredible talent of the young dancers. Often, a company like ours will import professionals. We do not need to do that because the dancers are impeccably trained. We have yet to perform where audience members—even balletomanes— are not amazed that the dancers are young and not yet professional.

And so it continues...

With just about 5 weeks to go, the cast and crew of "The Snow Queen" are hard at work.

Seamstresses for this production come in all sizes! The costume crew grew by leaps and bounds this weekend as some of our young dancers on breaks pitched in with sewing. They were a huge help with adding some of the finer details and notions.



Adrienne Kaplowitz, Annabel Azaro, Iris Foster and Zoya Pavlovsky

The robber men were able to try their costumes this weekend. As you can see from this sneak peek, some of them find it very easy to get into character.

Pablo Davila and Dan Sandford transformed into robbers.

Now that these costumes have been fitted, they will go back to the costumers for distressing to make them look old and dirty.

Have we mentioned this show includes a live fiddler? This is Larry Wohl, our fiddler extraordinaire, who will play at each performance.

This is a production you will not want to miss. Tickets are on sale now at www.dancevisionnj.org. Unlike previous performances, we only have reserved seating for "The Snow Queen," so buy your tickets early to insure you'll have the best seats possible!

Are you ready for some color?

With over 140 original costumes in this show, it's hard to know where to start! In addition, these costumes appear in several different settings. We have a Scandinavian town in the mid-1800's, a summer garden,  a royal palace, an encampment belonging to a large clan of robbers, and an ice palace. There are so many parts in this show. We have townspeople, robbers, ice maidens, doves, flowers, fairies, angels, soldiers and more. Not to mention the princess, her prince, a reindeer, a raven, and the Snow Queen herself.

Our costumers have literally and virtually travelled the world to gather the elements needed to create the looks required. We have dresses from France, skirts from India, and fabric and trim purchased in Manhattan as well as in local stores.

So, without further adieu, and without revealing too much advance, it is time for a little costuming sneak peek!

Our fearless costumers change plain white tutus to just the right color for the flower costumes.

Perfectly pink tutus waiting for embellishments.

A look at a color pallette from the town scene

The reindeer headpiece takes shape!

Satin samples for robber woman skirts

A close up of the silver fabric used to create the illusion of ice.

A peak at the princess bodice and plate (decorative top for the platter tutu)

Stay tuned for more to come! In the meantime, visit www.dancevisionnj.org to order tickets.

Tickets on sale now!

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The Animals of the Snow Queen

Various animals play a part in Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen." In DanceVision's ballet, there are doves, a raven and a reindeer. Of course, these parts are all played by dancers who must bring characteristics of the animal to life in the role. There's a challenge in doing so in ballet so that the audience understands the intention without the movement becoming too campy or too much of a caricature.

Here we see choreographer Risa Kaplowitz explaining how reindeer move as she begins to set choreography on Josiah Foster who dances the part of Bae (pronounced "bay"), a reindeer. Watch as real life reindeer behavior is translated into dance.

The Town Kids

We have taken to calling the children dancing in the first act's town scene the "Town Kids." They had their first rehearsal recently.  While not as raucous as the scene in the robbers' camp, this is definitely a joyous, celebratory scene as everyone gathers in the town square to celebrate Christmas Eve Day.

Some of the boys in the town scene.

Some of the young dancers in this scene are having their first introduction to character dancing. Character dancing is seen in many classical ballets. It consists of theatricalized versions of  mainly European folk dances such as the mazurka, the tarantella, and in this case, the polka. It was clear from the smiles and laughter that everyone was having fun learning the choreography.

Annabel Azaro and Eric Simon

The two smallest cast members in this scene,
Hope Blair and Leo Foster, take a turn.

Rehearsals: Week 1

It is simply amazing to watch the story of "The Snow Queen" suddenly come to life through the rehearsals. This entry will bring you a few glimpses from the first day of rehearsals.

Above, the ice maidens pose in a sequence from the Snow Queen's ice palace.

Act 2 of the production opens with a look at a raucous group of robbers, dancing and celebrating. Below, Mariel Edokwe and Morgan Wade try out dancing in an early prototype of robber costumes.

There are dancers of all ages in this scene, including real life brother and sister, Arman and Persis Rao.

Marie Alonzo Snyder and Pablo Davila practice a lift as Leland Schwantes and Annie Connors Schwantes listen for direction.

Finally, director/choreographer Risa Kaplowitz demonstrates a lift.

Stay tuned for much more! Our costumers have been traveling all over New York and New Jersey, collecting fabrics, trims and notions and will have more sneak peaks in the weeks to come. We'll also bring you interviews with director, Risa Kaplowitz, some of our dancers and other members of the production team.