Reigniting the Sparks of Love

The Roxey Ballet’s ‘Evening of Romantic Dance’ is a Valentine’s Day treat.

By: Susan Van Dongen

"Anne

TimeOFF/Frank Wojciechowski
Anne Schwantes (above) rehearses for Roxey Ballet’s An Evening of Romantic Dance, just in time for Valentine’s Day.


   Ah, the seasons of marriage.
   First comes the passion of falling in love and courtship. Then you have the busy activities of finding a place to live together and preparing for the wedding day. The excitement of the "honeymoon phase" follows.
   What comes next can only be explained as "the rest of married life," which is sometimes quite good but is certainly not like falling in love every day.
   Imagine trying to tell the story of a long-married couple though dance. You picture "the Grand March of the Grocery Shopping," "the Pas de Deux of the Laundry" and a tango involving two people dressed in sweat clothes, fighting over the remote.
   Mark Roxey and members of the Roxey Ballet Company will attempt something like this with "Viva Valentine," Mr. Roxey’s original new work, specially choreographed for An Evening of Romantic Dance at Canal Studios in Lambertville Feb. 15.
   Anne Schwantes, a dancer and instructor with the company, says the group had a lot of fun with "Viva Valentine."
   "Without giving away too much, one part has the male dancers wearing boxer shorts," says Ms. Schwantes, laughing.

"Leland

TimeOFF/Frank Wojciechowski
Above, Leland Schwantes and Haruno Yoshida wrestle over control of the remote.


   It’s part of the Roxey’s valentine to the community — an evening of contemporary and classical dance celebrating love and romance. Aside from the marital antics of "Viva Valentine," there will be several of the most exquisite works in classical ballet, including "The White Swan" from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and the pas de deux from Chopin’s Les Sylphides.
   Executive director and choreographer Mr. Roxey, who danced with the Joffrey and American Repertory ballet companies, will appear with Roxey co-founder and co-director Melissa Roxey, also an ARB alumna. In addition, there will be guest performances by principal dancers Elene Martinez and Andre Ustinov, formerly of Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet.
   Dance lovers can begin the evening with a pre-performance reception at Canal Studios, featuring wine and hors d’oeuvres as well as a chat with Mr. Roxey. For a really romantic evening, the Roxey has made arrangements with several restaurants in Lambertville and New Hope for an after-performance dinner with a special "Roxey Ballet Menu." A portion of the money raised will go to the Roxey.
   "We do an audience survey after each performance and ask people what they’d like to see us do in the future, then we plan our programs accordingly," Mr. Roxey says. "We thought something like this would be ideal because it’s something couples — young and old — can do together.
   "This event is happening in part because this was the first year we were able to provide so much professional employment for area artists, which is critical for local artists," he says. "’An Evening of Romantic Dance’ is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to the community for their support."
   The Roxey Ballet is the company-in-residence of the Mill Ballet School, founded in 1996 by Mr. and Ms. Roxey. The school outgrew its original facilities in Stockton and moved to the current facilities in Lambertville in 1999.

"Ms.

TimeOFF/Frank Wojciechowski
Above, Ms. Schwantes rehearses "Viva Valentine," Mark Roxey’s new work.


   For Ms. Schwantes, the school provided a way to get back into performing, years after she had hung up her dancing shoes. She and her husband, Leland Schwantes, are both veterans of theater, film and commercial modeling work. Among other things, Mr. Schwantes danced with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and appeared in the film All That Jazz, based on the life of choreographer/director Bob Fosse. Ms. Schwantes, a resident of New Hope, Pa., has been in all kinds of productions, including numerous shows in Atlantic City.
   They’d been mostly modeling, however, when an opportunity came to get involved with the Mill Ballet School. Ms. Schwantes says she had completely stopped dancing when her son came home from kindergarten with a drawing of "his dance."
   "I said, ‘What’s this? Show it to me,’" says Ms. Schwantes, now in her third year of teaching at the school. "He had made up an original dance notation, and went on to demonstrate every little movement he had drawn. I found out that the Roxeys were part of an Artist-in-Residence program at the local schools, teaching movement and other dance curriculum. My son didn’t even know I was a dancer, and here he was taking to it so enthusiastically.
   "I found out more about the Mill Ballet School and started taking classes with my little ones. Then my husband, who hadn’t danced in a dozen years because he was more involved in commercials, also joined and got back into dancing, teaching and doing choreography. That’s how we got involved with the company — by pure accident."
   Last year the Roxeys asked the Schwantes to create a new ballet for the Roxey — The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
   "My husband was the Evil Mayor and I was the Evil Wife," Ms. Schwantes says. "I played it like Cruella DeVille, which was really fun. I got to create the role, which was so different from (dancing) a role that someone else had created."
   The steady work with the Roxey appeals to the couple’s changeable professional life. If one goes on an audition or gets a last minute job and can’t teach, the other spouse will fill in.
   The Schwantes, who are 40- and 50-something, call themselves "the mature couple of the Roxey Ballet Company," and will play major roles in "Viva Valentine." She reveals that her husband’s part will be on the comical side, perhaps involving a La-Z-Boy chair and the appearance of a little extra flesh around the middle — something married couples can relate to.
   "The younger people in the group were laughing really hard when we were rehearsing," she says.
The Roxey Ballet presents An Evening of Romantic Dance at Canal Studios, 243 N. Union St., Lambertville, Feb. 15, 7 p.m. Pre-performance reception at Canal Studios 6 p.m. Dine Around Town at various restaurants in Lambertville and New Hope, Pa., 8:30 p.m. Tickets for the dance performance cost $25; reception and dance $55; dance and dinner $60; reception, dance and dinner $85. For information, call (609) 397-7616, ext. 807. On the Web: www.roxeyballet.com