Running Time: Approx. six minutes

Music: Graeme Revel

1. "Red Planet"

2. "The Inferno"

3. "Crash Landing"

Dancer Requirements:

Nine to Seventeen Women, including:

One female Soloist and four Demi-soloists

Soloist woman must have strong technique and be comfortable with modern dance movement, including floor work.

Technical Requirements:

Stage Size: 30 x 20 preferred

Crossover needed

Specials downstage down stage left and center

Flashing lights

Costumes:

Women: Any long dress with many leg-length slits.  This piece was originally performed in burgundy, velvet dresses.  This piece has three groups which remain constant throughout the dance; it would also be striking to costume each group in a separate color.

Costumes Owned by: St. Pius X Dance Company, Atlanta GA

Description

Esperanza is a ballet in three movements: Andante, Adagio, and an Allegro.  The music is industrial and has hauntingly-beautiful operatic vocals.  It has been described as a work with "strong musicality and continuity" as well as "dramatic and uplifting" by the Fine Arts Chair of the school where it was originally set.

The choreography uses modern dance movements with Graham and Limon influences along with contemporary ballet and some jazz dance movements.

In the first movement, all dancers work together in unison in a close group performing military-like precision.  At a climax in the music, the dancers separate into each three groups and dance three different movement sequences before they return to the center to lift the main soloist.

The adagio is the lovely and moving centerpiece of the ballet.  It begins with a beautiful, but conflicted solo for the featured dancer.  The solo gives the opportunity  to display beautiful line, turns and emotional range.  The demi-soloists and other small groups of dancers in the background glide across the stage in turns, extensions and fluid modern movement. Toward the end on the adagio, the corps enter and pull the soloist into an assisted near-split just off the ground, then gently lift her into the air over head.  They then dance a complicated "conveyor belt" of turns and leaps as the soloist writhes downstage left.

The final movement is quick, demanding and energetic.  Different groups of dancers fly across the stage in impressive jumps and passionate modern dance.  At the end of the third movement, the entire corps enters and performs a fast-forward version of the precision combination from the opening as the soloist, in contrast, dances her slow, expressive solo from the adagio to a climactic finish.

History:

Esperanza was first commissioned by The St. Pius X Dance Company in Atlanta, Georgia.  It was premiered in Spring of 2002 and was called, "clearly one of the best pieces ever performed on our stage," by the artistic director of the St. Pius X Dance Company.