Anaheim Ballet School presents excerpts from one of the world’s most loved ballets, “Coppelia,” Friday, July 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Pearson Park Amphitheater in Anaheim. Admission is free to the public.
Boy meets girl, and it is love at first sight. But in this case, the girl is a lifelike doll named Coppelia, fashioned by the sinister Dr. Coppelius. The message is universal; we are deceived by what is not real when the real thing exists right in front of us. But there is a happy ending. In the ballet, young Franz wakes up from his trance-like attraction to the lifeless doll.
“I wish it were that easy for all of us to detox, to break our addictions to iPhones and internet browsing,” said Anaheim Ballet Artistic Director Sarma Lapenieks Rosenberg.
The ballet is performed by students participating in Anaheim Ballet’s four-week summer intensive training session. The dancers are from Anaheim, Southern California, Virginia, Texas, Thailand, the Philippines, Mexico and Italy.
“It’s perfect,” according to Rosenberg. “International and local students dancing for our international and local community members. Diverse backgrounds, but they all speak dance.”
Along with the ballet, “Coppelia” students perform selections from musical theater, jazz, hip hop, character dance and student choreography.
The event is an annual crowd pleaser, entertaining the entire family with no-cost admission on Friday, July 20 at 6:30 p.m.
Anaheim Ballet is the city’s resident non-profit ballet company with a community outreach program, “STEP-UP!” for underserved Anaheim youth. For information see www.anaheimballet.org or call 714-520-0904.
