Finding the Right ‘Cinderella’

Prokofiev’s “Cinderella” has always been the overlooked stepsister ballet of his popular “Romeo and Juliet.” Choreographers have tackled it, but they’ve all run into similar problems.

The score is darker and more pessimistic than “Romeo,” and the short scenes in which the Prince roams the world, in search of Cinderella after she leaves the ball, can tax the resources of even the biggest-budget companies.

Choreographer David Allan, who created his version of “Cinderella” for Marin Ballet in 1991, says it was a huge undertaking.

Still, he feels the revision produced by UC Irvine’s dance department as its first full-length ballet--opening Friday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre--realizes the ballet’s potential more completely than his earlier staging did.

“I’ve redone some stuff I didn’t get in originally,” Allan said this week between rehearsals. “That’s the way premieres happen. You have to make priorities. People will see here in Irvine more my original intentions.”

The production in Northern California came about because the company wanted a springtime alternative to the Christmas chestnut, “The Nutcracker.”

“I said I was interested, but I didn’t think Disney needed my help turning the pumpkin into the coach, the rats into coachmen,” he said. “The Disney [animated film] version does fine without me. Instead, I would like to draw more on Russian fables and tales.”

He started working with Russian emigre and former Kirov Ballet star Natalia Makarova, who had recently moved to Sausalito.

“She talked about a lot of the Russian versions,” he said. “For instance, Cinderella would go into her garden, and the Fairy Godmother would awaken all the animals in the garden. That set off several ideas. So I have the Fairy Godmother transform Cinderella’s kitchen into her magical garden. It happens right before the audience’s eyes. That’s really the magic for the audience.

“I’ve changed a lot of things,” Allan said. “I always felt presenting the dance master as an old man was boring. There’s a lot of humor in the music for him. So I changed him into a very fashionable, almost risque, figure.”

He also changed the Prince’s global search for Cinderella.

“I always felt there wasn’t enough time musically to develop the characters choreographically,” Allan said. “Every version I’ve seen falls short, with the Prince schlepping around the world. He’s the prince. He would call everybody back to the palace.

“So I create a different look in which the Spanish, Arabian and Polish women dance for him . . . like in the ‘Nutcracker,’ where various people dance for Clara. He looks at them, looks at their faces, looks at their eyes and realizes they’re not Cinderella.

“So it’s not, ‘If the shoe fits, you get the guy.’ I don’t think that’s a very ‘90s concept.”

How does the prince find his match?

“I don’t want to give it away,” he said.

“It’s really a very classical fairy-tale story ballet. Basically, what I wanted to express in ‘Cinderella’ is the blossoming of the love of Cinderella and the Prince, the obstacles in their path and the birth of their relationship.”

Allan, a soloist and choreographer with National Ballet of Canada from 1977 to ‘88, joined UCI’s dance faculty in 1996. He is also an artistic advisor and teacher for Ballet Pacifica in Irvine.

San Francisco Ballet principals Evelyn Cisneros and Stephen Legate will dance the lead roles on Nov. 21 only, a performance to cap UCI’s fund-raising ArtsWeek. (It will be Cisneros’ final Orange County performance; she is retiring from the San Francisco company in the spring.)

Former National Ballet of Canada principal dancer Veronica Tennant will host the Nov. 21 performance. For the other performances, two casts of UCI dancers will alternate in the main roles.

Allan has worked with Cisneros, Legate and Tennant at the Canadian and San Francisco ballets.

“Veronica commissioned my first professional ballet in 1983,” he said. “I went on to do eight ballets for her. It’s fitting that she comes [for this].

* David Allan’s “Cinderella” will be danced Friday and Nov. 20 at 8 p.m., and Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. San Francisco Ballet principals Evelyn Cisneros and Stephen Legate will dance the main roles Nov. 21. For all performances except Nov. 21, tickets are $6 to $16. Nov. 21 tickets are $10 (UCI students only) to $50. (949) 824-4259.