The Alaska Dance Theatre studios in Midtown were livelier than usual last week as a dozen dancers rehearsed for the world premiere of "Othello" -- a ballet based on Shakespeare's play.
The full-length piece is the work of the dance theater's resident choreographer Gillmer Duran. I watched as he directed Artur Sultanov (Iago) and Mina Lawton (Emilia, Desdemona's lady in waiting and Iago's wife) through a pas de deux in which they alternately groped for one another and pushed away.
"I'm getting tired of you," Duran said, summarizing the emotional direction. "They're still in love but reject each other a little bit."
Lawton gave Sultanov a head-butt to the solar plexus as the piece climaxed.
"I have both a classical and contemporary dance background," Duran said. "I like to go back and forth." The variety should help maintain interest in the work, which opens on Friday and is expected to run about 90 minutes with one intermission.
In addition to music by the Anchorage band Gypsy Underground, Renaissance composers and Max Richter, a contemporary German minimalist, Duran's "Othello" will feature lines from the play featuring the voices of several Alaska actors including Mark Robokoff, Elizabeth Ware and David Edgecombe, who also has an onstage role. Othello's lines will be spoken by Allan Hayton, who had that role in the 2008 Ware-Edgecombe setting of the tale in the Aleutians.
But in this case, the dance is the thing. "Othello" will mark the debut of the theater's resident professional company. The idea is to build up a troupe of professional dancers who return to Alaska for long residencies year after year, producing an ever-expanding dance season and -- in the best scenario -- eventually evolving into a full-time corps of professional dancers in Alaska.
Such an ensemble has long been a dream of the company. Niki Maple, who has the role of Carla, first came to Anchorage from Arizona to dance with the theater group five years ago.
"At that time they were talking about the idea of getting a resident company started," she recalled. "It's been great to see it come together, finally, this year."
The "Othello" ballet has also been a long time coming. Duran said the process really began when he worked with Karel Cruz, who will have the title role, 15 years ago in Venezuela. Cruz eventually met and married Lindsi Dec; the two now dance with Pacific Northwest Ballet in Portland. Later, Duran performed in "Romeo and Juliet," with Sultanov in San Francisco.
"We were all such good friends. I had this vision, wouldn't it be nice if we could all work together on something," Duran recalled. He considered casting the friends in a retelling of "Othello," perhaps as a trio piece. "I sort of kept it in the pocket where I keep ideas for emergencies. I had no idea that it would be a full-length ballet in Alaska."
"We've been talking seriously about doing 'Othello' since 2010," said Sultanov, a native of St. Petersburg, Russia, who has previously performed in Anchorage in the annual productions of "Nutcracker." "When it was finally approved, Gillmer sent me a contract a year and a half in advance."
Working out everyone's schedule was a major challenge, Duran said. "Like a chess game," he said.
The other big challenge was turning a three-hour play into a ballet of six scenes without "leaving things out that are relevant."
"Everyone knows the story, but it's not often told in dance," Duran said. "The main character is very unique, very human, very Shakespearean. There's this multi-cultural aspect about it. All of the conflicts are there. I love telling stories, but I need to make it accessible to the audience."
From the dancers' perspective, the work is "challenging but do-able," said Lawton.
"Gillmer's been giving good instructions, even facial expressions, right from the beginning," said Sultanov. "Even in rehearsals we started feeling the characters."
Working up a brand new ballet is very different from reviving an existing piece, said Barry Kerollis, a company dancer who hails from Philadelphia and has the role of Cassio.
"With other pieces, you might look at a video and follow what someone else has already done," he said. "Here, everything is new. The movements are made directly on the dancer for that dancer. And there's a sense of collaboration. The first day, Gillmer told me, 'I want to do this with you.' It's his choreography, but he wanted my voice in it. It's almost a conversation."
The process gives dancers "a bit more freedom to add something extra," said Sultanov.
"I feel very proud of the work coming out of this studio," said Duran. "It's like a new style cooking right here in our own back yard.
"But it's scary too. How will Anchorage react? Do Alaskans really want to see a tragedy in February?"
Scary but rewarding, Duran added. "It is a relevant story to me, and I hope to the rest of the community. I like taking risks. It's part of being an artist. And, if not, where are we going to go?"
"Othello" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Discovery Theatre. Tickets are $25 at centertix.net. Videos of the work in progress can be viewed at theater's website, alaskadancetheatre.org.
The theater plans to produce a video about the story, the ballet and the process that can be used for educational purposes.
'Restless' writer gets a rest
On Monday, Dana Stabenow wrapped up a grueling book tour for her latest mystery, "Restless in the Grave" (Minotaur, $25), on home turf, at Fireside Books in Palmer. The native Seldovian, who now lives in Homer, had made stops earlier this month in Tucson, Houston and Seattle's giant Elliott Bay Book Company, among other places.
The tale brings together the main characters who have thus far managed to stick (mostly) to their own series of whodunnits: Kate Shugak, private eye, and Alaska State Trooper Liam Campbell. As they say in Niniltna, two conflicted heads are better than one when it comes to figuring out who sent an aviation mogul to his fiery death in a sabotaged plane.
The book hit No. 5 on the Pacific Northwest Independent Booksellers Association best-sellers list last week.
Fest for Fred
Last Monday the Matanuska-Susitna College commemorated what would have been the late Fred Machetanz's 104th birthday with a party, complete with a cake adorned with one of his famed blue polar bear images executed in icing. (Who would eat such a pretty thing?)
The college has an annual Summer Arts Festival in honor of the famed artist who did much to support the institution. That event will take place June 2.
Reach Mike Dunham at mdunham@adn.com or 257-4332.
By MIKE DUNHAM
Anchorage Daily News