Ellison Ballet Spring Performance

Above photo: Madison Yeung, Michael Paradiso, Mitchell Tobin. The Ellison Ballet Spring Showcase featured many great young dancers last weekend and I posted photos on my photography website notmydayjobphotography.com. Ellison Ballet is a training school in New York run by Edward Ellison, a former Soloist at San Francisco Ballet (see my interview with Edward on the 10th anniversary of the school two years ago). The Showcase serves as a graduation ceremony for the seniors, their final association with the school before going out into the ballet world.

There were three graduating dancers this year with Vsevolod Maievskyi joining the Mariinsky Ballet; Michael Santiago Paradiso joining Tulsa Ballet II, and Alicia Antuanete Goytizolo still in the auditioning process. Congratulations to the graduates.

This year’s gala-style bill at the school’s home at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center consisted of 26 short works, both classics and modern/contemporary works. All the dancing was at a high level, a great reflection on the school and dancers. A few random observations from the Saturday afternoon performance:

• Kohki Toda delivered a high-flying variation of the Ali Variation from Le Corsaire. Kohki has nice, high leaps, particularly in second position split jumps along a diagonal.
• Elisabeth Beyer, who had a great year by winning the Moscow ballet competition (Junior Division) and Youth America Grand Prix (Senior Division), had a busy afternoon with polished solos from Sleeping Beauty, Grand Pas Classique, and Beat. Elisabeth has great extension and controlled pirouettes, all with great maturity.
• Hiroto Yamaguchi, in the Lankedem variation from Le Corsaire, showcased high assembles to grand plié that reminded me of former ABT Principal Dancer Vladimir Malakhov.
• Mitchell Tobin was impressive in the Flames of Paris solo with high leaps including nice jeté cloche en tournant. Mitchell is an impressive turner with effortless and controlled 5-6 pirouettes and 6-8 “skater” turns in which he dropped his working leg as his turns progressed. Very impressive.
• The Fairy Doll Pas de Trois with Ruth Schultz, Michael Paradiso, and Mitchell Tobin was great fun as each of the dancers delivered great comedic touches.
• Storm gave the guys an opportunity to show off their stuff, with high-flying leaps and turns.