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Joffrey Ballet's 'Cinderella' floats into Los Angeles


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01:35 PM PST on Thursday, January 28, 2010

By FIELDING BUCK
The Press-Enterprise

Joffrey Ballet's "Cinderella" doesn't have anything to do with Disney, but a dancer in the title role says it has all the fantasy and romance a child could wish for.

"Cinderella is a children's story, so we will have a younger crowd than we usually have," Yumelia Garcia said in a phone interview. "Every little girl wants to see it because every little girl wants to be Cinderella."

Joffrey is on tour with the production, which is at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion through Sunday.

"Cinderella" features the music of Serge Prokofiev and choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton that Garcia calls "very pure classical."

"He's very pure in the lines. He really doesn't do anything extra. There's no room for adding your interpretation. Since most of us in the company aren't trained Royal Ballet, it's a true challenge for all of us. We almost have to change the way we move. ... In America, there is more freedom in movement, in general."

Garcia said she has rapport with her prince, danced by Mauro Villanueva.

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The Press-Enterprise
"The music gives you goose bumps just listening to it. ... You're just barely touching the ground," ballerina Yumelia Garcia says of performing in Joffrey Ballet's "Cinderella."

"I'm very lucky that we have worked with each other through the entire season," she said. "Everything that we have done throughout the season, including 25 shows of 'Nutcracker,' we did together. He was my cavalier for 'Sugarplum.' "

Garcia is on stage for most of the ballet, which is usually three acts but in this production is performed in two. She said a solo in act two is her most challenging moment, but it is followed by one of her favorite interludes with the prince.

"After the solo, we have this beautiful duet when we run into each other in the castle. The music gives you goose bumps just listening to it. ... You're just barely touching the ground. The prince is picking you up, and you're just floating. It's the first time I feel like Cinderella because it's just so magical."

Reach Fielding Buck at 951-368-9551 or fbuck@PE.com

Joffrey Ballet

When: 7:30 today; 2, 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday

Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 North Grand Ave., Los Angeles

Tickets: $30-$120. 213-972-7211, www.musiccenter.org


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