After seven years with the Colorado Ballet, Dana Benton is about to take on the biggest role of her career.
The 25-year-old soloist will rotate with two of the company’s veteran stars — Maria Mosina and Sharon Wehner — as Swanilda, the lead role in “Coppelia,” opening Saturday for eight performances.
“I’m just so thrilled,” the Canada native said. “It’s challenging, of course, but I love being in the same room with Sharon and Maria and just rehearsing with them. It feels so great.”
In their book, “Dance Classics,” Nancy Reynolds and Susan Reimer-Torn call “Coppelia” the most famous comedy ballet of all time.
” ‘Coppelia’ is a sparkling, fun-filled tale, providing many opportunities for joy-filled dancing and two wonderful roles — the dotty old scientist, Dr. Coppelius, and the rambunctious young girl Swanilda,” they write.
Originally choreographed in France in 1870, the ballet survives today in versions based on an 1884 reconstruction for the Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia, by celebrated choreographer Marius Petipa.
The Colorado Ballet has long had the work in its repertoire, but for this production it will present a slightly different version assembled by Gil Boggs, the company’s artistic director, and ballet mistresses Sandra Brown and Lorita Travaglia.
As a former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre in New York City, Boggs frequently appeared in the work, sometimes switching between its two principal male roles from night to night.
“It’s a very light ballet,” he said. “It’s a good family ballet, and it’s comedy. It’s going to give the dancers another aspect of performance artistry to attempt.”
Based on a tale by E.T.A. Hoffmann, “Coppelia” focuses on two young lovers — Franz and Swanilda — who have a spat over his infatuation with a woman he sees on the balcony of a mysterious dollmaker, Dr. Coppelius.
Swanilda later sneaks into Dr. Coppelius’ shop and discovers that her rival, Coppelia, is really a doll. In the ballet’s tragicomedic climax, she impersonates the doll, convincing Dr. Coppelius that he has succeeded in making his creation come to life.
Boggs believes Benton fits the role of Swanilda to a T, because of her youthfulness, innocent air and petite size.
“I feel really comfortable doing it,” the dancer said. “The character is kind of along the same lines as myself. So it’s not very hard to act through it, just being a little flirty and a little bit mischievous.”
A big challenge for her and the entire company has been perfecting the mime — the gestures the nontalking dancers use to convey their thoughts and feelings to fellow characters and the audience.
“You can get up there onstage and start moving your arms around very fast and people won’t understand,” Boggs said. “So you simplify it and have the dancers sort of say it to themselves before they do it.
“It looks very easy, but it’s really difficult to convey your message, to get it across the footlights, so people really understand it.”
Performing Franz opposite Benton is Viacheslav “Slava” Buchkovskiy, a recent addition to the company about whom Boggs is very excited.
“From a technical standpoint, God was in a good mood that day,” the artistic director said. “He has some of the best facility I’ve ever seen in a dancer. He has it all there to become a principal of the company.”
For this production, the Colorado Ballet has rented sets and costumes, which were created in 1991 for the American Ballet Theatre.
“We did have our own scenery, but it was a little bit old and it wouldn’t do the production justice,” Boggs said. “The sets from ABT are beautiful. You always want the curtain to go up and people are going ‘Ah.’ ”
“Coppelia”
Dance. Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets. A comedic ballet classic about a mysterious dollmaker and a doll that appears to come to life. 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. March 1, and 2 p.m. March 2. 2 hours. $19-$145. 303-837-8888 or .
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
