It has all the elements of classical ballet: a fantastical setting, mythical characters, sparkling costumes, fleet moves on pointe, joy, pathos and a happy ending.
This weekend, Montara will become a little fishing village off the Italian coast when 80 Susan Hayward School of Dancing students age 3 through high school age present, for the first time, the classical ballet “Napoli.”
It will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 6, and 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 7, with “Under the Sea and Above,” a special matinee involving the school’s younger students age 3 to 7, at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 7.
The ballet was chosen by school founder Susan Hayward and Sade Warner, who started studying there at age 3 and returned to teach. “It’s a new twist on an old story,” said Warner.
“We thought the music was lovely,” said Hayward.
The story begins in the quiet fishing village of Napoli, where Teresina and her mother Veronica greet a new day — but their joy sours when Veronica becomes ill. At the docks, among sailors, pirates and a sand dune butterfly, Teresina learns of the Naiads, ocean nymphs whose magic may cure Veronica.
When a thunderstorm sweeps Teresina out to the colorful undersea kingdom, she meets the Queen of the Naiads, who gives her a tonic for her mother — on condition that she periodically come back to the sea. Teresina returns to the village during the festival of Saint Fortunato, patron of fishermen, gives her mother the healing tonic — and is called back to sea.
The ballet, created in 1842, was among the best-known works of August Bournonville (1805-1879), a Danish dancer, choreographer and longtime choreographer for the Royal Danish Ballet. At the Hayward school, it will be performed by roughly 35 dancers in each evening show and about 32 dancers in the matinee. Hayward adapted the ballet for female roles in the absence of male dancers.
She altered costumes stored at the school, and Warner and mother Saunie Warner created the dockside and underwater sets.
The story, told through mime, facial expression and acting, presented challenges for the principal dancers.
Kiyomi O’Connell, who alternates the role of Teresina with Lily Hall, started studying ballet at 3 and is now 16. For her, the role meant incorporating a sense of dancing under water. But, she said, she “loved” the settings of land and sea, finding in dance a passion that became part of her everyday life.
Hall too will dance as if under water while presenting Teresina’s emotions as she seeks to cure her mother. Having studied at the Hayward school since 6, now 17, Hall plans to keep on dancing in college.
“I think it’s great that dance is a big part of their life,” said Susan Hayward, who herself started dancing at 7 and studied ballet, tap, jazz dance and acrobatics.
She has taught for 50 years. “I didn’t think I would teach this long,” she laughed. She will by 70 this year, and plans next year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the old Montara schoolhouse where her school is located.
Some of its alumnae are celebrating too. Vivian Aragon is currently dancing with Garrett and Moulton resident company, “one of the best modern dance companies in San Francisco,” Hayward said. Her fellow alum Logan Learned is now a principal dancer in Sarasota, Fla.
And some are celebrating in advance. Hall has been accepted into the American Academy of Ballet summer intensive at State University of New York, Purchase, Dance Conservatory for July 2014. O’Connell has qualified for the “Genee” International Ballet Competition 2014 in Antwerp, Belgium.
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