Better With Time: The Velveteen Rabbit
December 5, 2003
Combine a timeless children’s story with innovative choreography, whimsical sets and lively dancing — and there you have it, a holiday classic.
In its 17th annual production, ODC/San Francisco brings The Velveteen Rabbit to life at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts through the weekend. And like the story it tells, this two-act ballet demonstrates that with love and care, the soul can be awakened time and time again.
Based on Margery Williamsí book and choreographed by ODC Co-Director KT Nelson, The Velveteen Rabbit moves like a storybook, with flat, two-dimensional sets and bright, cheerful costumes designed by Brian Wildsmith. The 12-member cast pulls out all stops, providing energy and flair to the razzle-dazzle choreography. Lifts, leaps and somersaults are in no short supply.
What’s remarkable about ODC is that the company so convincingly lets its dancers’ bodies do the talking. Brian Fisher is the boy who adores his stuffed velveteen rabbit. In a bedtime duet with a pillow, where he tosses and turns, his loose limbs and acrobatics convey the joy and abandon of childhood.
In her first season with ODC, Jane Sato is Nana, the old lady who watches over the nursery. Using a simple turn of her hand or a subtle pursing of her lips, she brings humor and humanity to her role. And as Fairy, Sato — who trained at the San Francisco Ballet School and Julliard — is all ballerina, light and dainty.
Finally, Yukie Fujimoto returns to the role of the Velveteen Rabbit for the fifth season. What Anna Pavlova did for a dying swan, this prodigiously talented dancer does for a cuddly bunny. Sure this bunny rolls on the ground and shakes his cottontail, but it’s the littlest of movements — the quick tilt of the head or the round bunny paws reaching up toward the sky — that make you believe in the Velveteen Rabbit.
The Velveteen Rabbit is a sophisticated story, but perhaps it’s better appreciated by children than by adults. At a recent performance for young school students, the stage dimmed as night fell and Fairy transported the Velveteen Rabbit to the world of real-life bunnies. The young audience erupted with cheer, as if knowing the Velveteen Rabbit was headed on wonderful journey. How great it is to be alive!
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