Sisters pirouette into spring
BRAAMFONTEIN – Kiruna and Leela Devar are two local ballerinas held dear in Craighall Park’s heart.
The siblings are headlining the Joburg Youth Ballet’s (JYB) spring season production of Peter and the Wolf at the UJ Art Centre from 12 to 16 August.
Simply titled Peter and the Wolf and other Ballets, JYB will perform headline pieces Peter and the Wolf, The Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker Suite, and will premier the Butterfly Lovers.
Kiruna, the longest standing member of the youth ballet, joined the company in 2009. Industry professionals took note of her performance last year in the National School of the Art’s (NSA) production of Sweet Charity. She matriculated with distinctions last year, and has secured professional work for herself this year.
This is her sister, Leela’s first year as a member of JYB. She is a multi-talented Grade 8 pupil at the art school and recently received the trophy for top junior Spanish dancer at the national Alianza Flamenco Festival held there.
Jean Beckley, the director of JYB, has staged Sergei Prokofiev’s classic Peter and the Wolf as the season opener. Her version maintains late South African dance guru Frank Staff’s choreography for the 1940 premier of the ballet.
This staging, which also marks the 75th anniversary of Peter and the Wolf, will be the company’s first staging of this particular ballet since 2010’s Arts Alive Festival at Joburg Zoo.
Waltz of the Flowers, the second act of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, comes next. Mark Hawkins, who was involved in NSA’s production of Sweet Charity last year, choreographed this version.The final headliner will be Butterfly Lovers. It takes its title from the 1958 violin concerto which is considered a classic of traditional Chinese music composed by He Zhanhao and Ghen Gang.
The premier of this piece is a dream come true for Kate Martin, a choreographer with the JYB. “My dad bought my first copy of Butterfly Lovers in 1995,” remembered Martin.
“The choreography has been swirling around in my head [since then].”
Kiruna will be Peter in Peter and the Wolf and the female butterfly in Kate Martin’s Butterfly Lovers. Leela can be seen as the Huntress in the play.
