Wheeling In A Winter Wonderland. - Review - dance review

Dance Magazine, April, 2001 by Wilma Salisbury

WHEELING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND DANCING WHEELS THE CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE CLEVELAND, OHIO JANUARY 13, 2001

For the last twenty years, Dancing Wheels has been spreading the gospel of dance for people with and without disabilities. But not until this season did the pioneering company of "stand-up' and "sit-down" dancers stage a full-length story ballet. The troupe's $215,000 production of The Snowman was mounted to heighten the hometown presence of a Cleveland ensemble that spends most of its time on the road giving lecture-performances and repertory programs. Pre-holiday previews helped fill the void left by the collapse last fall of Cleveland San Jose Ballet, the longtime institutional partner of Dancing Wheels.

Choreographed by Artistic Director Sabatino Verlezza to taped music by British composer Howard Blake, the delightful family show is based on Raymond Brigg's charming children's book about a little boy who builds a snowman that comes to life and takes him on a magical journey to an icy fantasy world.

Mary Verdi-Fletcher, Dancing Wheels's founding artistic director, plays the role of the little boy. Fletcher, born with spina bifida, radiates vivacity as she dances in a wheelchair. The lovable title character is portrayed with humor and affection by Dang Ngoc Hoang (Mac), a muscular dancer who was previously an apprentice with Cleveland San Jose Ballet. Other leading roles are taken by former ballet dancer Mark Tomasic, as the little boy's athletic older brother, and Verlezza and Associate Artistic Director Barbara Allegra Verlezza as their loving parents. The remaining dancers in the sixteen-member company perform multiple roles as skaters, neighborhood kids, penguins, bunnies, squirrels, skunks and a big, bad wolf. In the joyous culminating scene, a large group of community dancers from the company school appear as snow people of all sizes, shapes, ages and abilities.

Verlezza's entertaining choreography tells the touching story through an imaginative combination of mime, gymnastics, everyday movement, basic ballet steps, wheelchair glides and the May O'Donnell modern dance technique that is the basis of the company's rigorous training. Much of the show's enchantment, however, comes from the clever costumes and cartoonlike sets by David Guthrie, former resident designer of Cleveland San Jose Ballet. Special effects and inventive lighting by Robert Stegmiller also contribute a sense of fantasy. In the production's most breathtaking scene, the snowman lifts the little boy high above clouds of fog as the "stand-up" dancers float, roll and tumble on gigantic silver balls to the melodious accompaniment of an English boy soprano singing "I'm Walking on the Air."

While the ballet has immediate appeal to family audiences, it also serves as a metaphor for a company that helps dancers rise above disabilities, realize their dreams and perform with professionalism.