On April 6th at 2 p.m, “Bailando con Maria” was performed by the Philadelphia Ballet II (PBII) in Leffler Chapel and Performance Center. This original ballet arranged by PBII Director Eddy Tovar shared the story of a young girl named Maria. She lives in Mexico and has a passion for dance, which is opposed to her parents’ dreams. As they want her to become a doctor or a soccer player, it conflicts with her wants and desires to be able to go to a dance school.
One day Maria shared her dreams with her teacher and was told that there was a dance school not far away from where they were. As soon as Maria knew where the school was, she registered and started dreaming about what she would do in the future as a professional dancer. Maria dreamt and dreamt. Every dream led her to a different country like Cuba, Brazil, and many other Latin American countries where she performed cultural dances from Mexican folk dance to flamenco, tango, salsa, and more.
Eddy Tovar, the director of PBII, arranged this unique ballet. The performances at Esperanza are particularly powerful since the dancers, plot, and subject of the piece are all from the perspective of the greater LatinX community, of which Esperanza is the epicenter.
The Philadelphia Ballet is captivating and inspiring, and it has a rank of one of America’s foremost regional ballet companies. The piece performed at the College, “Bailando con Maria,” was their second time performing with eight dancers in total from an age range of 14 to 20 years old.
“How long did it take for all the dances to be executed?” asked someone from the audience.
“The different dances were choreographed by two professionals, and it took a few months to all come together,” replied Tovar. “All these dancers here have worked hard even with heavy schedules from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.”
From the audience, you could feel the dancers having fun and exited to perform. The energy in the air was very refreshing. Some kids watched attentively and others tried to recreate the pirouettes dancers performed. Hearing them ask their parents if they could start doing ballet was very wholesome.
All the dancers were asked how many years they had spent doing ballet. The general answer was about 10 or more years. Most have left their home state and countries to make their dreams come true of becoming professional dancers, just like Maria.
“Even if some days are harder than others with pain shooting down your whole body, it is all worth it in the end because I learn how to enjoy the good and bad moments because that is what I love to do,” said one of the dancers.
At the Philadelphia Ballet, they give opportunities to people that have a strong passion for dancing. A male dancer from Ukraine shared with the whole audience how he is so thankful and happy for the institution to take him as a student and paid dancer. He had to run from the war to save himself from the situation in his home. And this opportunity made him feel so lucky for this once-in-a-lifetime occasion.
The representation of the Latin Community and their different dances brought cultures together. Tovar is Hispanic and from Cuba, and he spoke about how this piece is close to his heart because it is his community. Tovar also was the one who choreographed the salsa piece that was performed.
