Editor’s Note: In extending its tradition, The Utah Review, with the assistance of Christal Jackson, an English teacher and ELL coordinator at City Academy, asked two students to review Ballet West’s world premiere production of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Pamela Robinson-Harris, Ballet West’s rehearsal director, who has been the creative force behind Family Classics Series favorites including Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. For a preview of this year’s production, see this link to The Utah Review feature.
Before turning it over to the student reviewers, I wanted to note this new production snapped crisply in mood and pacing. Featuring Ballet West II dancers as well as trainees from the Ballet West Academy, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow conveyed the spirit of this seminal American ghost story. Readers will note that the student reviewers felt the same connection.
STUDENT REVIEWERS
Axel Egbert is a freshman at City Academy. He is very passionate about his hobbies, most of which are artistic.
My first watching experience of a ballet was The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I didn’t know what to expect and it still met my expectations and even went way beyond them. I’ve been fairly familiar with the story for a while now and I feel I understand it a tad bit more after seeing Ballet West’s take on it.
There were many engaging factors that caught my attention as well as many people of different ages. This production included something for everybody. My nearly 11-year-old brother had the chance to see this the day before I did. He told me that he enjoyed it and thought of the narration to be a unique factor for a ballet. I also enjoyed the narration as it aided the progression of the story for somebody who, perhaps, wasn’t as familiar with the story, but I noticed a lot of action almost constantly on stage, theatrical elements with exaggerated movement, and clear costuming and set design for the Post-Revolutionary War time period and context of scenes.
The constant action and theatrical elements gave the audience something to look at during every moment which can be an important lending factor to a show for a family to see with small kids and this production does that wonderfully. A specific example of this would be the narrator [the ghost of Diedrich Knickerbocker]. There was a dancer on stage [Mateo Salinas] a recorded narration [Adam Sklute, Ballet West artistic director]. When he was on stage, there would regularly be laughs throughout the audience.
The story of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is set around the 1790s. Knowing that, the costumes were effective in conveying that while still allowing the dancers to move freely. There was still a fair amount of variation, however. That made characters, especially main characters, more clear. The set was also very effective. They were able to change the set quickly with projected backdrops and physical objects that established the setting of each scene. Some great examples were the schoolhouse and the Van Tassel home.
One of my favorite scenes was the Headless Horseman chase [Chase Peterson]. It’s been my favorite scene in other renditions as well, so I was curious to see how they could do that in ballet. As the set changed to a large bridge in the middle of the stage and the Headless Horseman appeared, I was stunned. The dancer’s costume looked like it fully covered their head with a pumpkin in hand and even with that they were able to move very well on the stage.
Overall, this was a great experience and I’m glad I had this opportunity. I’d absolutely recommend this to anyone looking for a great spin on a classic ghost story.
Paxton Klain is a junior at City Academy. His love for theater has been more recent, but still huge nonetheless. He enjoys analyzing films, stories, and plays. And, he always strives to be the best person he can be every day.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was a joy, and, in some cases, a fright to watch, keeping me entertained all the way. Though the book is horror, the play is recommended for four-year-olds and up, meaning that it’s not super scary and is meant to be family-friendly. And for good reason, there were a lot of kids at this performance, even during intermission. I noticed a lot of kids mimicking the dancers’ movements that they saw on stage. Even though it’s a family-friendly performance, their use of costume design, set design, and the fog machine created an ambience that made it seem more alive and as if you were there with them. I remember reading the book as a kid, and a lot of the scenes that I remember are adapted perfectly in this play, keeping Washington Irving’s famous ghost story alive through the choreography and atmospheric stage designs.
If you’re unfamiliar with the story of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, it follows Ichabod Crane [Adrian Fite], a superstitious school teacher who competes with the confident Brom Bones [Pieter Gunning] and his gang, the Sleepy Hollow boys, to catch the attention of Katrina Van Tassel [Annalise Wood]. As jealousy starts to begin to grow between Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones, it is only one night when Ichabod encounters the Headless Horseman, leading to a spooky conclusion.
There is no dialogue spoken, as it is a ballet. However, there is a narration that gives context about the scenes, so that people who have never seen The Legend of Sleepy Hollow can still get the full context and be guided through the full story. The music itself is classical and beautiful, but it also captures the chilling parts [with selections by Georges Bizet, Karl Goldmark, Richard Meyer, Ottorino Respighi, Camille Saint-Saëns with an arrangement by Deborah Baker Monday and Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari]. The music would often interact with the actions done on stage, like during a scare, the music would spike up. A small thing like that added to the intensity, but also made me feel like I could hear the action as well as see it.
If I couldn’t convince you that the play was more kid-friendly, you would be surprised if I told you that the ballet also included kid dancers. They would gossip among themselves and would fill in the background to make the scene feel more alive. The kids were the students in the classroom, and a group of them played The Bats of Sleepy Hollow [Adalina Choque-Mendoza, Alyxandra Luras, Gwyneth Jolley, Sloane Muñoz, Sofia Venari, Leah Wu]. The bats were a fan favorite throughout the entire audience; they got many laughs from everyone whenever they showed up. I think it’s because of their playful kid-like attitude.
The actor-dancer [Mateo Salinas] who performed alongside the narration had a lot of dramatic and cartoony movements. The actor-dancer himself didn’t speak, but synchronized himself with the narration so his movements made it seem like he was the one speaking. That also is the same for Ichabod Crane: the cartoonish movements from the actor were often used when he was surprised to capture the character, and kept the kids engaged, catching laughs from the kids and the adults. It was obvious that the choreographer [Pamela Robinson-Harris] had fun when making the movements for the ballet, and really enjoyed making it as enjoyable for the kids.
Overall, I really loved this performance. The story was true to the book but engaging to watch throughout it all. The music was beautiful to listen to while also capturing the essence of what was happening on stage. And, even though it was family-friendly, the story still captured the eeriness and spookiness as if I was reading the book for the first time again as a kid. The total run time is about 75 minutes, including the intermission, but for opening night, it was only 73 minutes, which tells me that the actors hit every mark and truly put on their best performance. I had overheard the occasional conversation on my way out after the performance, and I heard nothing but positive things from adults and kids alike. So, the opportunity to watch this on opening night is one that I’ll never forget.