Ballet NJ in Berlin NJ
West Berlin, NJ--No matter how professional a ballet production may be, if there are small children in the audience, they will be restless. And indeed, it is hard for a four- or five-year-old to sit still for a couple of hours to watch actions and dance on stage when nary a word is uttered. Children want to know the story. What is going on? Why is nobody talking on stage to tell them? So tots get restless, glorious music and colorful costumes notwithstanding.
Thus, when I saw "The Nutcracker" last performed by the Ballet Theater Company of New Jersey (Ballet NJ), it was immediately evident that something different was happening in the house. (House implying a grand stage and facilities plus the capacity for a large audience at the Voorhees Middle School in N.J.) So what was happening? Silence among the audience members, fully half of them, children. They were transfixed. Spellbound. No hubbub. No din. No whispers and giggles. No crackling candy wrappers.
I could understand why the kids in the audience were so enchanted: Ballet NJ's "Nutcracker" was conceivably the most entertaining I had ever seen. That's what the company's productions accomplish. Of course one would want to meet the Artistic Director.
That would be Resident Choreographer David Gallagher who, together with his wife, Rosemary, create not only the ballets on stage but also earn the company's keep by conducting The Academy of Ballet which is the official school of Ballet NJ.
With a sense of boyishness not expected of a tall, sophisticated man like Gallagher, he admits: "I had never seen ballet until I was in college. I was twenty-three and saw Nureyev in 'Sleeping Beauty' on TV. Then later I saw him in 'Nutcracker' on PBS. I had never seen anything like this mad Tartar. I thought I would really like to try something like that."
Actually, the first live performance Gallagher witnessed was, in fact, a "Nutcracker" presented in San Diego, CA with Sonia Arova. (Incidentally, when Nureyev arrived in the USA, Arova was his first partner.) Recalls Gallagher of that first on stage "Nutcracker" in San Diego, "It was just the most amazing thing I had ever seen." Promptly he signed up for 12 dance classes - modern and ballet - to take place within a six-week period. His teachers were David Hebel and Robin Walker.
"So after the dance classes, I dropped out of college [including major athletics] with only six credits to go. My parents were pretty unhappy but I was paying for it myself. I'd get up at three o'clock in the morning and janitor at Sears and Roebuck for five hours. Go to school. then practice dance. Next day, get up and do it all over again.
"After the first six weeks, I realized I could do this. I have ideas. I could teach and so I was teaching within a year." Tamara Usher of the Santa Barbara Ballet Theater asked Gallagher to create choreography for the regional school dance festival. That garnered him a scholarship. During the next eight to nine years, he became a full faculty member at the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet as Outreach Coordinator and dancer. He continued to dance professionally with the Santa Barbara Ballet, Valerie Houston Dance Theater and the San Diego Ballet.
Meanwhile in NJ, a very pretty, petite brunette named Rosemary Gorman was an involved board member, putting her "two cents worth" into a small company entitled the Children's Ballet Theatre. The company was looking for a "Nutcracker" choreographer. Though not a dancer herself, when Gorman saw Gallagher who came to see her company, she realized his talents immediately and hired him. One asks if he had to audition for her whereupon she laughs heartily and responds, "No. I think the price was right!" It must have been because ultimately, Rosemary Gorman became Rosemary Gallagher.
Was it love at first sight? Rosemary replies very haltingly, "...well, no...o...o. Not at first. Gallagher jumps in: "No. Not at first," he echoes a little too emphatically. "We worked together for several years before we....we...." Quickly he adds "Got together." He then proceeds: "We could not do without someone like Rosemary. She really cannot be replaced. You cannot pay someone to do what she does. Rosemary is the most talented person I have ever met. She does the costumes, she handles all the finances, she is responsible for the over all look of the stage, she takes care of the children, all the volunteers. She does everything out of love. When the volunteers see her working so hard out of love, it's easier for them to pitch in."
It is also Rosemary who gilds the Golden Idol for the final scene in "Bayadere" danced for Ballet NJ by PA Ballet's Francis Veyette and Philip Colucci of the beautiful bods. Says she, "I called ABT and they were so kind. They told me how to do the Golden Idol (all over) with mineral oil and gold powder." The results proved to be sensational.
The Gallaghers attend many seminars for choreography and teacher training "Anything we could get our hands on
to keep us fresh," admits David proudly. "We go to see ABT in New York all the time. We go to the Metropolitan Opera. The curtain goes up....all those people [on stage]. It's just such a
beautiful thing."
Apropos people on stage, one has to be impressed with how extraordinarily well Gallagher is able to coordinate the choreography and the timing with all the events on stage. Even the tiniest dancers have a stage presence that is as surprising as it is captivating. No wonder the kids in the audience are all agog.
What's the secret? "Trusting the teacher," replies Gallagher. "That's the most important thing. The teacher's only agenda is to help the students, give them things they believe will be beneficial to them."
And bountiful to the audience!
A small digression: About four years ago, Dancer Magazine reviewed a stunning Children's Ballet Theatre offering of "La Bayadere." It was so exotic, so evocative of the decadent, late 1800s original ballet that Dancer Magazine suggested the company's name was not really indicative of its enterprise. Hence: Children's Ballet Theatre became Ballet NJ! Either way, the kids in the audience love it. Info: 856.768.9503; Ballet NJ, 401 Bloomfield Dr. #4, West Berlin, NJ.