Lacey Middlestead is a Montana native and freelance writer currently living in Helena, Mont. She loves meeting new people and helping share their stories. When she’s not busy writing articles for newspapers like the Independent Record and Helena Vigilante, she can usually be found indulging in her second greatest passion–playing in the Montana wilderness. She loves skiing and snowmobiling in the winter and four wheeling, hiking, boating, and riding dirt bikes in the summer.
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The other weekend I had the opportunity to attend a ballet performance presented by Allegro School of Dance in Helena. It was called “Planet Earth.” It was a stunning exploration of the natural wonders of our planet through the graceful mode of dance. And for those who watched any of the Discovery Channel’s 11-episode documentary, “Planet Earth,” this performance was the perfect compliment.
During the two hour performance, more than 80 of Allegro’s dancers took the audience on a journey beginning at the North Pole and continuing on through the fresh waters and mountains, over the plains and deserts, into the jungle and ending in the shallow seas. Along the way, insightful narration accompanied the choreography and music and provided history on some of the earth’s species and natural wonders.
For those who aren’t avid dance fans, you might not believe it is possible to capture the true essence of sand blowing across the desert, or humpback whales migrating through ocean waters, or ice shifting in the arctic with just a bunch of dancers moving about in leotards. But sitting through even one of the dances in this performance, would’ve showed you otherwise.
In one of the opening dances the Northern Lights, one of thee most beautiful sights on earth in my opinion, was depicted. The girls all wore long, flowing skirts---some in shades of mauve, others in lilac, and others in olive green. As they moved back and forth across the stage, colors intertwining, you could almost see the shifting halo of the Aurora Borealis above the poles.
When the performance progressed to the mountains, dancers appeared on stage representing trees, mist, and flowers. Emerging amongst them were the winged insects—cicadas. These insects spend most of their life underground, but when they do burrow out, they climb onto nearby trees where they shed their exoskeleton and reveal wings. The dancers playing cicadas began curled up on the floor. Slowly, their backs began arching and their arms unfolded out. Even though I have never seen a cicada, I really felt like I was watching one emerge from its shell right in front me.
The final section of the dance journey took the audience to the shallow seas. Dancers, adorned in long, blue skirts swirled out representing humpback whales. The dancers moved slowly but deliberately as though against the force of water. Frequently, the dancers’ chests plunged forwards as one of their legs lengthened skyward in a ponche move. It was if the dancers really were whales rising for up for air briefly before plunging back down below to the watery depts. And with a momentary flick of their tails above the water line, they are gone.
Beth Barry, Allegro’s artistic director, is not just a choreographer and dance instructor, but a visionary. Not many people can take the beauty God has graced this planet with, and transform it into a moving work of art on the stage. So many of the worldly environments, elements, and species depicted in the performance I have never seen before. And yet, after watching the dancers assume---so seamlessly--their roles as pieces of planet earth, I feel as though I have.