Orange County’s premiere ballet company, Festival Ballet, performs  ‘Alice and Wonderland’ along with an eclectic repertoire of creative choreographies at Irvine Barclay Theater on
October 17-18.

‘Alice in Wonderland,’ a family favorite, showcases in a 2 pm matinee on October 17. Based on the Lewis Carroll  novel, this charming ballet by Emmy Award winning choreographer
Robert Sund, includes steps ‘through the looking glass’ into the  enchanted garden and the hilarious Mad Hatter’s Tear Party . Innovative musicality of Jean Sibelius  transports audiences into an imaginative journey that showcases the famous ‘Alice’ characters the White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, Tweedledee and Tweeledum and the infamous Queen of Hearts.

For audiences who delight in the avant-garde, Festival Ballet offers Anthony Tudor’s
Continuo’, Val Caniparoli’s ‘Street Songs’ and Parrish Maynard’s ‘Fractals’ in a 7 pm evening performance on October 17 and at a 2 pm and 7 pm performances on October 18.

American Ballet Principal Amanda McKerrow  and John Gardner have worked closely with Festival Ballet in a unique restaging of the famous Tudor ‘Continuo’ classic and Evelyn Cisneros, a San Francisco Ballet Principal, has created a restaging of ‘Street Songs’ for Festival Ballet.

Festival Ballet is based in the Fountain Valley Southland Ballet Academy studios founded by Salwa Rizkalla, a former premiere ballerina who is dedicated to training and grooming aspiring dancers to reach the top. Students trained Southland Ballet Academy in their beginning  years have later been selected to star in leading ballet companies throughout the world and have won awards in major national and international ballet competitions.

Rizkalla   offers quality instruction to nurture her beginning students and then Master Classes, with ballet professionals for advanced performers ready to refine their ballet art.

On September 27, Amanda McKerrow, a former American Ballet Theater Principal dancer, will offer a Master Class at 9:00 – 10:30 am.  American Ballet Theater Soloist John Garnder will be available for private lessons.

Advanced students from the Southland may also attend the Master Class on October 18 offered by Jean-Yves Esquerre, San Francisco Ballet Trainee Program Supervisor from 10-11 am.

Esquerre , who studied dance with Monique Malo, continued his training at Maurice Bejart’s Mudra School in Brussels and later was a ballet instructor at Brussels’ Conservatoire de Dance before joining the faculty at the San Francisco Ballet School.

It’s a luxury to have such quality ballet arts instruction so convenient for us in Orange County.
Southland Ballet Academy, the headquarters for Festival Ballet Academy is located at 9527 Garfield Ave. Fountain Valley, CA. For further information, visit www.southlandballet.com .