Carolina Ballet
Carolina Ballet turns 10 with a season designed to be a testament to all it has achieved under the leadership of its founding artistic director, Robert Weiss, former New York City Ballet principal dancer and former artistic director of Pennsylvania Ballet.
“I thought it would be a great opportunity to be a founding director—to start from scratch was very appealing,” Weiss says about his choice to create a company in North Carolina. “It would be my vision.”
Before Carolina Ballet, no resident, professional company existed in Raleigh. Ten years later, CB has toured throughout the state, performed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, danced in Hungary and toured to China in 2006. The company performs a repertoire that features classical and contemporary choreography by Weiss as principal choreographer and Lynne Taylor-Corbett as principal guest choreographer.
Weiss says he is most proud of the volume of new works that CB has produced. “We’ve created more than 60 ballets in 10 years,” Weiss says. “I believe we create more new works than any company besides New York City Ballet.”
“The most gratifying thing as a dancer is getting a piece choreographed on you,” says principal dancer Margaret Severin-Hansen, who has been with the company since 1998, after graduating from the School of American Ballet. “We have that luxury here all the time.”
Weiss is not afraid to experiment with the classics. Severin-Hansen comments that Weiss possesses a talent for shortening full-length ballets for audiences, while maintaining the integrity of the story in ballets such as Swan Lake and the upcoming Sleeping Beauty. Numerous works by Weiss’s mentor, Balanchine, and Antony Tudor, José Limón and others also sprinkle the repertoire.
“I hire people because they have something interesting to say,” Weiss says. “I use their innate qualities—the way they move and the way they are emotionally.”
Severin-Hansen is thankful to have danced a long list of principal roles at CB. “It has allowed me to see how much I like acting—to actually become Juliet or Carmen,” she says. “I came in with the technique part of it. CB gave me the artistry part of it.”
Similarly, third-season corps dancer Jan Burkhard notes that CB values her as much as the principals. The SAB-trained dancer says the corps members don’t just stand in the back. At CB, corps members, soloists and principals rehearse together. “We don’t ever miss out on what principals and soloists are doing. It motivates me to reach their level,” Burkhard says.
Weiss’s original vision, for CB to be a top-ranking company that constantly produces new ballets, influences all of his current decisions. “I am trying to create a literature [of works] here that I hope will be used by other companies. I want my work to speak for itself outside of North Carolina,” he says. “I hope I find the support I need to take the company to an even bigger and better place.”
Allison Duke holds a BFA and BA from the University of Utah, teaches at Ballet New England in NH and writes about dance in New England.
