Schneider, the troupe's resident choreographer, composed several pieces for the concert. Cabana herself, a former soloist with the Cleveland Ballet and a guest star with Edward Villella at Ballet Oklahoma, contributes a trio of works. Elizabeth George, a UA dance student who is getting ready to launch herself as a professional dancer, performs the piece with Thomas Gilliam. This is the same UA prof who so memorably danced a reverse striptease at a university concert last fall, provocatively adding button-down shirt and other business attire to his workaday underwear and black socks. Ensemble member Chieko Imada, the fluid dancer best known for her work in the modern troupe Tenth Street Danceworks, dances a modernist solo choreographed for her by Charlotte Adam, Tenth Street's artistic director.
Popular dance gets an outing too.
Cabana said that the troupe disbanded a few years back so that she could focus on developing her school. Now that the school is well established, Cabana has retooled the pro troupe with a couple of goals in mind. The company not only provides a new opportunity for her advanced students, some of whom have become apprentices in the Ensemble, but it gives the city a much needed chance to see classical ballet. This concert's combo of dance styles, Cabana hopes, will do a little proselytizing for the art form. And that people who are not necessarily modern fans will do the reverse.