Anchorage Daily News

Not every dance tells a story. Some dances focus on emotions or a state of mind, like fear.

Others on abstract ideas like memory or trust. Some, truthfully, make it tough to know what the heck is going on. Often, that's a cue the choreographer just wants the audience to absorb the visual feast at face value.

But Alaska Dance Theatre's resident choreographers are storytellers. Andrea Andresakis of New York City and Gabriel Otevrel of Germany have much to tell Anchorage within the time frame of their 10-month contracts.

The pair will have three works in this weekend's Winter Repertory Concert, which will also include two pieces by ADT staff members and one by guest artist Annie Arnoult Beserra of Chicago.

Andresakis will premiere a work set to the music of the Beatles. In it, she rewinds the lives of folks who are down and out, showing how they landed where they did.

Otevrel will premiere two works. "Sueno" is about a mentor who recently died. Instead of an obituary, the choreographer has imagined a reverent and joyful reflection on their time together. Otevrel's second piece, "Hospice," is autobiographical as well. It was inspired when his robust dancer father landed in the hospital with chronic asthma.

"My parents are from Prague. They escaped during the war and everything, and they're both incredibly hard workers," Otevrel said. "My father was the sort of person who would never give up, always go, go, go. And when someone like that had to go to hospital, I thought, 'This will be it.' "

Otevrel's father recovered, but the experience marked his son. "Hospice" follows one person who is scared of death, wants to fight it, but eventually finds acceptance and a belief in a better hereafter.

Read on for a closer look at these resident choreographers and their new works.

'SOMEONE IS SPEAKING'

Choreographed by Andrea Andresakis

Back story: Andresakis visited New York City over Christmas and encountered an unusual old woman living in the same building.

"She's kind of out of it; I think she's on meds or something," she said. "But then I found out that she was on the Olympic swim team and is a medalist, and it just made me realize that people's lives take dramatic arcs. ... You can't always tell when you see people on the street, even homeless people, where they've been. They've been young. They've been in love.

"So that's the idea of this piece -- showing the lonely people of the world and looking back to see how they got where they are. And to show there's always hope. "

The sound: Immediately, Andresakis connected her idea to the lyrics in "Eleanor Rigby":

"All the lonely people/Where do they all come from?/All the lonely people/Where do they all belong?"

So she went with an all-Beatles soundtrack -- "Eleanor Rigby," "Lovely Rita," "Here, There and Everywhere," "No One" and "Let it Be."

The look: Stylistically, Andresakis stews a vast array of ingredients in her dance pot. The piece is en pointe, so it has a ballet foundation. But arabesques and sashaying are just one aspect. There is theatrical miming and slithering modern ground work. There is Broadway, such as heels clicked together spryly in the air, and folk dancing, in which dancers hold hands and move in a circle.

"I'm interested in blending styles," she said. "I have one of my couples doing some salsa en pointe and doing a little sugarfoot, a swing move, because it works with that part of the story; the couple is out on a date and social dancing."

Need to know: Although "Someone Is Speaking" might sound familiar to fans of the musical flick "Across the Universe," Andresakis still hasn't seen it. "I really want to see that movie, but I thought if I saw it in the middle of creating this work, I'd want to change everything."

'SUENO'

Choreographed by Gabriel Otevrel

Back story: When French choreographer Maurice Bejart died in November, Otevrel felt the sting of loss. "What he had to give, what he had to share ... he was a complete genius," Otevrel said. "I learned so much from him. Being in his company gave me a lot of hope. By having his name on my resume, every dream for me was possible."

Otevrel wanted to pay tribute to Bejart. He was sad but didn't want to create something funereal. Instead, the dance focuses on the joy and hope, the admiration and awakening that he felt while working with his mentor. "Sueno" is Spanish for "dream."

The look: Often, yoga-like moves on the floor segue into expressive, modern movements. The sweeping arms, extended legs and giant spins seem designed to take up as much space as humanly possible, while underlining Otevrel's theme of artistic flowering.

The sound: Segments of the piece alternate between the vocal stylings of Spanish singer Maria del Mar Bonet and instrumental pan flute music from Latin America.

Need to know: One of the featured dancers in this work is Gabriel's wife, Brittney. In his other work, "Hospice," she dances the role of death.

Find Sarah Henning online at adn.com/contact/shenning or call 257-4323.

ALASKA DANCE THEATRE'S WINTER REPERTORY CONCERT will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Discovery Theatre at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets, $27-$31, with discounts for students, seniors and military, available at 263-2787 or centertix.net. There will be a free pre-concert discussion at 6:30 each evening.

2-Minute Biography: Andrea Andresakis • In school: The native New Yorker studied drama in high school at the famous School of Performing Arts in Illinois. She studied dance at The School of American Ballet in New York.

• Onscreen: She played a small role as herself in "Fame," both the movie and TV series.

• Onstage: She has danced with companies such as the New York City Ballet and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She has also performed at Broadway's Majestic Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera.

• Behind the scenes: She has taught internationally and choreographed and directed for theater, musicals and opera.

2-Minute Biography: Gavriel Otevrel

• In school: He learned the basics at his parents' dance school in his hometown of Augsburg, Germany, then studied with several other European teachers.

• Onstage: He danced with companies such as the Basler Ballet, the Bejart Ballet Lausanne and the Boston Ballet, which allowed him to work with notable choreographers including Twyla Tharp.

• Behind the scenes: After shoulder surgery, he focused his energy on choreography and teaching in America and Europe. His first piece performed in Anchorage was 2003's "White Dreams," presented by Alaska Dance Theatre.

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