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ROCHESTER - When you think of Robert Louis Stevenson's swashbuckling adventure novel Treasure Island, ballet may not come to mind. But it will come to the stage this weekend.
Sole City Dance's first-ever original ballet will premier on Friday evening at 7 p.m. followed by two more shows on Saturday, including a 1 p.m. matinee.
Deborah Grammatic of Sole City Dance said on Tuesday this is the first original ballet the dance academy has ever produced, and they are extremely excited to see it come to fruition on Friday night.
"This is our own creation; it's the very first ballet we've produced, costumes and all," she said.
The archetype villain in the novel is the conniving Long John Silver, who will be played by one of the teachers at Sole City, Danielle Coombs, but the vast majority of the 30-member cast members are youngsters.
The plot follows the adventure of Jim Hawkins, in this ballet iteration J Hawkins, who finds a treasure map at a British seaside inn and hires out a ship to try to find the treasure.
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| HIGH-FLYING ACTION - Sole City dancers rehearse ahead of their three weekend performances of 'Treasure Island' at the Rochester Opera House on Friday and Saturday. |
Unknown to Jay and his friends, the crew on the ship they hire out are pirates who are familiar with the map and plan to bushwhack them once they get to the island where the treasure is buried.
The novel is fast-paced and exciting and full of twists and turns, and the ballet will be the same, Grammatic said.
"This ballet is very action packed, fast-paced show, with the children, especially our younger students, being a large part of the production," she said.
"All but one are students."
She said they took some artistic license to fashion it into a ballet, but stayed true to the novel's adventurous origins.
The play premiers on Friday with a show at 7 p.m. followed by Saturday performances at a 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.
For tickets click here.
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