SAN ANTONIO — Ballet San Antonio is kicking off their 2024-2025 season with a tale of romance and adventure in Don Quixote.
Ballet San Antonio will be performing Don Quixote at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts on Oct. 18, 19 and 20. There will be four shows in total with the last performance set for Sunday.
The whimsical story of Don Quixote mixes together electrifying choreography, Spanish flair, and passionate storytelling. The ballet follows Kitri and Basilio, young lovebirds, who are forbidden to be together because of Kitri's father who wants his daughter to marry a nobleman with money.
Don Quixote, an old man who has always dreamt of being a knight and his faithful friend Sancho Panza stumble upon their village. Don Quixote is then quickly convinced Kitri is his imagined, idealized love, Dulcinea.
The ballet will immerse guests on an epic adventure known for its color and humor.
"I think they can expect a lot of laughter. A lot of laughter but a lot of moments where their breathe is taken away like we have a lot of comedic scenes in the first act but also a lot of impressive lifts and turns and jumps," Principal Dancer Brenna Mulligan-Olson who plays Kitri said.
"You're going to see a little bit of everything. The joy, the sadness, the love, the jokes," Principal Dancer Michael Agudelo who plays Basilio added.
Olson admits Don Quixote is one of her favorite ballets because it allows her to become a character that's outside of her comfort zone.
"I think my favorite part is just being able to play the part of Kitri. I'm not a very sassy person so getting to play this character that I'm not usually is pretty fun, it's pretty awesome to do," Olson said.
Ballet San Antonio has multiple casts for Don Quixote which means the matinee showings will have different dancers than the night performances. Olson and Agudelo will play Kitri and Basilio during the night performances and Andrea Huynh and Jay Markov will takeover during the matinee showings. According to Ballet San Antonio, having multiple casts helps keep the dancers healthy and offers audiences different perspectives, flavors and interpretations.
Olson and Agudelo have danced together several times in different ballets and enjoy working together each time. "She just makes it so easy. I don't have to do anything. Whenever we're partnering together it just feels like I'm just there," Agudelo joked.
Despite its hilarity the ballet brings lots of energy, several technical challenges and showcases strong Hispanic elements throughout the scenes.
"I think everyone should come because it's part of our roots. I feel like it's something that merges ballet as an art with something that all of San Antonians can relate to. It's probably the most San Antonian ballet you could see," Olson said.
Several of the dancers said the ballet is quite intensive so they appreciate the crew on and off the stage who help keep up the energy and remain supportive throughout the entire show.
"It makes it very easy to feel immersed in the world because you never feel like you're alone. You always feel like you have an entire village behind you so that makes it very fun," Andrea Huynh said.
This is the first time Andrea and Markov will be dancing together. They said working on this particular ballet as partners was fun and amazing.
"It's a dream. This is every ballet boy's dream role. And I'm so humbled and just grateful to be able to even do this like it's so much fun," Markov said.
"It will make you feel like you want to be a part of it, like you want to get up on that stage and you want to be a part of that universe," Huynh added.
Many of the dancers noted that this ballet is very different from previous ballets they've worked on from the Hispanic elements to the intensity and hilarity behind the story.
"Don Quixote has some of the most human feelings and you feel like the characters breathe with you, you feel like the story breathes with you, the world breathes with you. It just really involves all of the senses, all of the super technical, athletic, impressive aspects of ballet are in there but you feel like it's just such a natural part of the story," Huynh said.
"It brings so much joy and it's so athletic and impressive and funny and dramatic. It covers all the spectrums of the art form and the costumes are stunning. As a ballet it just encompasses everything and honestly it's one of my favorites. "And I also hope that we can bring a younger generation and show them like 'this is what [ballet] is. This is what [ballet] can be," Markov said.
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"It's very different from ballets that we do this season. This is one you don't want to miss," Agudelo said.
Ballet San Antonio will also be performing The Nutcracker later this year and will debut the world premier of Peter Pan in February.