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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT JANUARY 25, 2024
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All eyes on Graziano
Sarasota Ballet celebrates Ricardo Graziano’s 10th anniversary as resident choreographer. MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
S
ome people used the pandemic to brush up on their cooking skills or work on DIY projects
around the house. Ricardo
Images courtesy of Frank Atura
Olivia Dugan and Ricki Bertoni perform in Ricardo Graziano’s “In a State of Weightlessness,” his most critically acclaimed ballet.
Graziano choreographed his way through COVID. One of his pandemic-era creations, “Schubert Variations,” will make its world premiere on Jan. 26-29 when the Sarasota Ballet celebrates Graziano’s 10th anniversary as resident choreographer. “Having created part of the ballet during COVID time, ‘Schubert Variations’ started by being an ode to a dancer’s career and passion for movement and the will to get back on stage,” Graziano says. “Three years later, the ballet is still about movement and being able to show off each dancer’s talents while pushing them beyond their limits and encouraging
Ricardo Graziano is celebrating his 10th anniversary as Sarasota Ballet’s resident choreographer.
them to move bigger and faster.” In a Zoom interview between rehearsals, Graziano revealed that “Schubert Variations” is an abstract ballet that “gives dancers a chance to show off their techniques.” There are 11 dancers on stage during the one-act ballet — a principal couple, a female soloist and four corps de ballet couples. The set and costumes are minimalist, with the dancers wearing brightly colored leotards. “Schubert Variations” is one of three Graziano ballets in the Sarasota Ballet’s fourth program of its 2023-24 season, aptly titled “Graziano Celebrated.” The other two are “Sonatina,” one of Graziano’s most classical works, and “In a State of
Macarena Gimenez and Maximiliano Iglesias perform in Ricardo Graziano’s “The Pilgrimage.”
Weightlessness,” his most critically acclaimed ballet. Set to the music of Antonín Dvorak, “Sonatina” was choreographed for the Sarasota Ballet’s return to live performances following its 2020-21 digital season. A crowd pleaser, “Weightlessness” premiered during the ballet’s oneweek residency in 2015 at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in the Massachusetts Berkshires. Set to the contemporary classical music of Philip Glass, it features five couples who enter and exit the stage. The dancers perform a sequence of fluid pas de deux that leaves audiences mesmerized. This is not the first Graziano retrospective the Sarasota Ballet has staged — there was one in 2019 — but this one marks the end of Graziano’s decade-long role as resident choreographer, a period during which he created 11 major ballets. The end of the residency, which
typically lasts between three and five years, will give Graziano the opportunity to create ballets for other companies. Asked who and what has influenced him as a choreographer, Graziano replied, “In general, what I bring is the experiences that I’ve had in life, all the people that I’ve worked with, all the ballets I’ve performed.” While wearing his choreographer hat, Graziano has had the chance to create a ballet with Spanish flair — “En Las Calles de Murcia,” first performed in March 2015 — but he has not yet created a ballet to showcase his Brazilian roots. A native of Brazil whose grandparents were Italian, Graziano is both a principal dancer and resident choreographer with Sarasota Ballet. He came to Sarasota in 2011 from Oklahoma, where he spent five years with the Tulsa Ballet.
IF YOU GO
Graziano Celebrated When: Jan. 26-29 at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail Tickets: $40-$125 Info: Visit SarasotaBallet.org
SEE GRAZIANO, PAGE 2
Victoria Hulland leaps in Sarasota Ballet’s “Valsinhas,” choreographed by Ricardo Graziano.