Photo by Jessica Kaminski
Valerie Harmon in 'MKE Mix'
Milwaukee Ballet’s “MKE Mix” will showcase three one-act ballets by company dancers working in collaboration with their colleagues. Eric Figueredo, Garrett Glassman, and Amanda Lewis are the choreographers. Each has proven choreographic skill and knows their fellow dancers’ strengths and passions better than any outsider.
This is the company’s second such concert. The first was in February 2020, when Artistic Director Michael Pink asked three dancers to reimagine work by the legendary Ballets Russes. Glassman was one of those choreographers. His piece was titled I Do, Don’t I? As reviewer, I called it “athletic physical theatre with masterful slapstick.”
This time Pink gave Glassman, Figueredo, and Lewis complete freedom in subject, style, casting, and cast size. When the group decided that each choreographer would also dance in another choreographer’s piece, and that any dancer could be cast in several pieces, Glassman decided to facilitate rehearsal scheduling by recreating I Do, Don’t I?
Raucous Bachelor Party
It’s hilarious. To music by Igor Stravinsky, Glassman gives us four drunken groomsmen and a nervous bridegroom at a raucous bachelor party. This time, fellow choreographers Figueredo and Lewis play the groom and bride. Randy Crespo, Alexander Koulos, Barry Molina and the only original cast member, Marko Mikov, are the goofball groomsmen.
“It’s definitely different this time,” Glassman says. “But the main thing is focusing on what we know worked really well the first time. The drinking games and the groom having a panic attack half-way through the party. We see the bride … but I don’t want to spoil the ending. I like a story that the audience can follow and enjoy and understand,” he summarizes. “I wanted this to be the kind of piece that’s more about the story than the dancing steps.”
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Glassman joined Milwaukee Ballet in 2012 as a member of the Second Company, MBII, and was promoted to the main company in 2014. In 2018, he choreographed Affixed for the main company, an abstract work “about society being stuck to our screens,” as he put it. Audiences for The Nutcracker know him as the toymaker Drosselmeyer.
Recent Nutcracker audiences know Figueredo as the enchanting Madame Bon Bon. A Rio de Janeiro native, he represented Brazil in international dance competitions as a teenager and received a scholarship to Houston Ballet Academy. On a friend’s recommendation, his first professional company audition was for Milwaukee Ballet. His VISA secured, he was hired here in 2022. He’s choreographed several times for MBII. His newest can be seen this spring in the MBII showcase, Momentum.
Mutual Support
This is his first for the main company. “It’s based on the people I work with,” he tells me. “We all went through a loss together last fall. One of our friends in MBII passed away. But like just holding hands, we supported each other and got through it together. It inspired me to create something for them to enjoy dancing, and the audience to enjoy watching.”
He’s cast four women—Marie Harrison-Collins, Daniela Maarraoui, Kristen Marshall, and Jacqueline Sugianto—and four men—Josiah Cook, Randy Crespo, Marko Micov and Troy Santulli. His dance, still untitled at our visit, features music by Philip Glass, Nils Frahm, Ezio Bosso and Caio César.
Lewis’ piece is titled This Little Life. Her cast of 13 includes Glassman. “I prefer bigger groups,” she explains. “I think I have a pretty good eye for that.” About the style, she says “You’ll slowly see things get less and less classical. The women change from point shoes to flat shoes, to socks, to barefoot, let down their hair and shorten their skirts. But it all has a similar feel.
“The whole concept is that people change people,” she emphasizes. “Is it your mom who’s been your biggest supporter, or the best friend you’ve known for 12 years, or the random lady you met this morning at Colectivo and will never see again? How can people change the way you think and the choices you make? You’ll see repeating steps, but they’re different almost every time because of interactions with other dancers.”
Thematic and Uplifting
Accompaniment features a poetic spoken word piece by Michael Crean, jazz-influenced music, and thematic songs such as Tomás Almeida’s “Don’t Hold Your Pain Inside.” She assures me there’s a very uplifting track at the end.
An Ohio native and graduate of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, Lewis joined Milwaukee Ballet’s Pre-Professional Program in 2020, spent two years in MBII, and was promoted to the main company in 2023. She’s had success as a choreographer all along and won the People’s Choice Award at the New Century Dance Project choreographic competition in Santa Fe last year.
“I hope I keep going,” she tells me. “I’m still navigating it. There’s so much to learn, there’s so much to get better at. This has been an incredible learning experience for me.”
Performances are Feb. 7-16 at the Baumgartner Center for Dance, 128 M. Jackson. For times, dates, or tickets, visit milwaukeeballet.org or call 414-902-2103.
