By Marilyn Jozwik
“Dracula,” Bram Stoker’s 1897 classic horror tale, seems like an unlikely story for ballet. Yet, all the elements that create drama and terror can be conveyed beautifully in dance.
The MainStage Academy of Dance, under artistic director Eddy Bray, will bring the dark, yet mesmerizing, tale of “Dracula” to the Oconomowoc Arts Center for four performances Oct. 8-10.
Alex Vrba will portray the bloodthirsty main character in this production. Vrba danced with MainStage dancers in the October 2019 Bray Ballet Company’s presentation of “Dracula” at the Oconomowoc Arts Center. In the role of Jonathan Harker, the English lawyer who travels to Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania, Vrba was light as air with gorgeous lines, especially in his leaps and spins. His Harker showed desperation in his bold, precise movements as he found himself surrounded by fiendish vampire brides in gauzy, blood-red gowns and in the clutches of the black-cloaked, demonic Dracula.
Vrba will soon be joining the Madison Ballet.
MainStage once again transforms the Oconomowoc Arts Center with creepy crypts, coffins and malevolent murk -- an ethereal gothic playground for Vrba’s Dracula, the beautiful women he desires and others who fear and enable him.
The family-friendly show features spellbinding special effects, clever choreography, stunning costumes and an eerie, scene-setting score. Even for those unfamiliar with the story, the dancers’ dramatic movements, evocative music and effective staging create chilling and taut moments to bring Dracula’s sinister motives into focus.
In keeping with the Halloween theme, MainStage will once again have a costume contest with prizes for first, second and third place.
If You Go
Who: Main Stage Academy of Dance
What: “Dracula”
When: 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 9; and 2 p.m. Oct. 10
Where: Oconomowoc Arts Center, 641 E Forest St, Oconomowoc (adjacent to Oconomowoc High School and west of Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital)
Info/Tickets: 262-560-3172; www.TheOAC.net