A Salute to Feathers, Fur, and Friends - Ballet Lubbock Presents "Carnival of the Animals."

The Firehouse Theatre, part of the Underwood Center for the Arts in downtown Lubbock, Texas, housed Ballet Lubbock September 18-20, 2009 for their inaugural fall performance. The weekend's performances were sold out to a delighted and supportive crowd as the company celebrated their 40th anniversary with this performance.

"Carnival of the Animals," choreographed by Yvonne Racz Key elicited absolute joy. Narrated animatedly by Clint Barrick and accompanied by a 16 piece orchestra playing the Camille Saint-Saens score conducted by Gary Lewis, "Carnival" provided a lighthearted, sweetly innocent flirtation with animals, birds, and sea life alike. Punctuated by phrases of delivered poetry, each animal's solo intrigued with personality and fun. Especially charming and uniquely feisty, Katerina DeLawyer both aggressively kicked as the Donkey and angelically flitted as the fluffy white bird in the section called Aviary.

While the broad technical range of the dancers at times bordered on awkward, the casting and choreography, clearly specifically tailored to each dancer's strengths, was spot on. The Fossil section, featuring Bethany Lowrie in a black unitard covered in skeleton bones, stood out as a segment of well crafted, inventive movement.

Also presented in this concert were sophomore Texas Tech student Tatiana DeLawyer's "Colorful Chaos"and George Balanchine's "Tribute" as reworked by Yvonne Racz Key. Ballet Lubbock's seasonal favorite "The Nutcracker�"will be presented December 10th-13th, 2009 at the Lubbock Civic Center Theatre.

Ali Duffy MFA

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