All about Ib and Ballet Arizona: repertoire and talent are blooming at Ib Andersen's revitalized BAZ

Dance Magazine, Jan, 2005 by Astrida Woods

During a clean-up rehearsal or Mosaik, Ib Andersen, artistic director of Ballet Arizona, bounds onto the stage with the litheness of a cat. As he strides towards the dancers, he dispenses corrections and demonstrates steps to emphasize a point. He shows ballerina Natalia Magnicaballi a grand fond de jambe en l'air saying, "It should have this kind of grandeur," as his leg swoops away from his body out into space. To dancers practicing turns he whips off four pirouettes landing in a perfect fifth position. "Don't be cautious," he says. "Go for it, and hope for the best."

The "go for it" attitude could be the motto of Ballet Arizona, a company that was on the brink of extinction in 2000, when Andersen arrived and started building it into a formidable oasis in the desert. The company now performs topnotch Balanchine, Bournonville, and Petipa and also tackles Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp. Andersen's own two-hour, plotless ballet Mosaik, which premiered last April, established him as a first-rate choreographer. In June, BAZ topped itself with a four-day tribute to Balanchine, presenting Serenade, Prodigal Son, Allegro Brillante, Apollo, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, and--the acid test for any ballet company--Theme and Variations.

As recently as 2002, all this didn't seem possible. Susan Hendl, a ballet mistress of New York City Ballet and member of the Balanchine Foundation, had set Allegro Brillante on BAZ that year. When asked to return to stage Theme and Variations for the Balanchine Festival, she had her doubts and responded with, "That's a stretch." When she got to Arizona last spring, however, she found a much-improved company. She believes, as does Andersen, that every Balanchine ballet is a tool. "People only get better--they can't help it," says Hendl. "It's the quick footwork, the speed, and the musicality."

But credit also goes to Andersen. Paola Hartley, who danced the leads in Theme and Apollo on two weeks' notice, says, "I don't know if I could have handled such challenging roles before Ib. Now I have the confidence and the control." She goes on to say, "Every ballet Ib has choreographed has been extremely difficult. His ballets prepare you for Balanchine and Petipa. And the more Balanchine and Petipa we do, the more we are prepared for Ib's ballets. It's really a circle."

Mosaik, the Danish word for "mosaic," is Andersen's total concept ballet. He did it all--choreography, costumes, and sets. The choreography encompasses a wide range of moods and idioms. In Act I, an oblong shape framed by transparent panels is suspended overhead, while dancers move with T'ai Chi stealth or do intricate partnering that, at times, references Balanchine's leotard ballets. An athletic duet for Magnicaballi and Michael Cook has the pair flying at each other with split-second timing. Act II explodes with vividly colored sculptures made of aluminum strips that look like tangled ribbons. Andersen offers a spoof of the "Rose Adagio" and a witty send-up of Petipa princes. The ballet ends with a rip-snortin' finale that earns the piece a standing ovation.

In the empty theater where Mosaik premiered the night before, a weary Andersen slumps in a seat, his lanky body resembling a broken umbrella. But his glacial blue eyes reflect a glint of triumph. "I must say, the audiences have embraced everything I have done here," says the artistic director. But, he recalls, four years ago it was almost over before it began.

"My first day here, working with the dancers was like a funeral," says Andersen. "We had a big press conference to announce that, unless we raised $460,000 in 10 days, we would have to close. People were crying left and right. I had just started and nobody knew who I was or what I could do." But Phoenix art patrons responded in record time, raising money in just five days. Andersen went to work bringing his pedigree dance training, experience and prestige to bear on the BAZ dancers.

Kendra Mitchell, a native of Phoenix, talks about how valuable Andersen's explanations of every step of Calliope in Apollo were to her. "He pushes yen' hard, has high expectations, and at the same time he inspires confidence," she says. She respects not only his vision but also his physicality. It is by following his movements that she grasps what he means because, she says, "It is still in his body."

Born in Copenhagen, Andersen started ballroom lessons at age 4, as was the custom in Denmark. He decided then that dancing was for him. At age 7 he was accepted to the Royal Danish Ballet School, where he studied under Vera Volkova, the leading authority on the Vaganova system; Hans Brenaa, premier teacher of the Bournonville style; and Stanley Williams, before he arrived in the U.S. and became a popular teacher at the School of American Ballet. Andersen joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 1972 and zoomed to principal dancer by 1975 at age 20. At 25, his restless spirit brought him to New York. He auditioned for Balanchine, who hired him as a principal dancer and threw him into dozens of ballets in a matter of months. He felt as if his well-grounded Danish technique had been set free and sped up. In Balanchine ballets, he says, everything is "up in the air ... limitless ... expansive." For 10 years the dynamic Dane danced with astonishing grace, fleetness, and buoyancy, becoming one of the brightest stars of NYCB.