Ballet Austin searches for next idol

By Jennifer Meazell
Daily Texan Staff

With the continuing emergence and popularity of talent competitions like “American Idol,” “Skating with Celebrities,” “So You Think You Can Dance?” and “Dancing with the Stars,” it has been shown that people love watching and voting while individuals struggle to make their dreams come true. All the major networks have done it and this week, Ballet Austin jumps on the bandwagon of turning art into competitive entertainment.

The idea of a choreography competition has been brewing in the mind of Ballet Austin’s Artistic Director Steven Mills for four years, and it has now become a reality. The work of three choreographers will be shown through Ballet Austin’s dancers and judged by a panel and the audience, with almost $20,000 at stake. This is Ballet Austin’s first attempt at competitive dance performance, but Mills hopes to make it biannual, pending the success of this event.

“It is a way to bring artists together through an ‘American Idol’ idea,” Mills said.

Though there will be a panel of three judges, which mirrors “American Idol,” a couple of key elements will not be seen in this week’s competition. There will be no stereotypical judges: No pushover, no middleman, and definitely no overly judgmental Simon Cowell cutting down contestants with cheap shots. And unlike the hit TV show, there will be no flood of unqualified contestants who, while humorous, are ultimately sad. Ballet Austin made all of the attempts necessary to recruit the best choreographers in the nation.

Entries from 50 choreographers were recieved after a call for choreographers was placed in Dance Magazine and Pointe Magazine in May 2005. After carefully narrowing down the field, Ballet Austin directors sent six contestants to three judges in New York. After the judges picked the three they felt were on the cutting edge of dance, the creative process began.

The three finalists, Thang Dao, Sonya Delwaide and Thaddeus Davis, had only 40 hours to work with the Ballet Austin dancers to create their piece. The choreographers were free to come up with the design, steps and music. However, they were not in it alone; the process allowed the dancers to contribute their own input, resulting in a collaborative effort. The only restrictions placed on the pieces was that they couldn’t include more then eight dancers and had to fall between 15 and 20 minutes in length.

“We tried to leave it as open as possible,” Mills said. “The piece could be ballet, modern dance —­ even baton twirling if they wanted.”

It is the freedom of expression in this competition that brought these three finalists into one performance. They are similar in background, with impressive résumés filled with notable achievements, including prestigious awards, degrees from respected dance schools and work performed in various venues. But it is their individual flair and personal style that sets them apart.

This weekend the audience will not be passive viewers, but interactive members of the production. This is one ballet at which cell phones are encouraged, not forbidden, for at the end of each performance, they will be asked to turn their phones on and call a number to vote for their favorite. Each night the audience favorite is awarded $1,000.

Saturday will bring a close to the competition and leave the judges with the difficult decision of awarding the prize money to their favorite of the three promising choreographers. Each judge has $5,000 to divide how they see fit. They can give the entire amount to one finalist or divide it among the three.

The task of judging art is difficult, but while the audience has only personal taste to go on, the three judges are a panel of internationally-renowned ballet scholars, Virginia Johnson, editor-in-chief of Pointe Magazine, John Meehan, director of American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company and Dwight Rhoden, artistic director of Complexions.

“It is art, and art is subjective, always personal taste,” Mills said. “It is difficult to judge art, but that’s what we are asking people to do.”

Performances run Feb. 16 through Feb. 19 at the Paramount Theatre.

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