Beck Center Dance Education Presents 'Coppélia,' 3/16 & 17

Beck Center Dance Education will present the light-hearted comedic ballet, Coppélia, March 16 and 17, 2013 featuring the Beck Center Dance Workshop and select dancers. Performances are 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, March 16 and 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday, March 17 in the Recital Hall of the Music-Armory Building at Beck Center for the Arts. Tickets are now on sale and seating is limited.

Coppélia tells the story of Doctor Coppelius, a slightly mad inventor who has made a life-size dancing doll named Coppélia. Franz, a village boy, sees Coppélia sitting on the doctor's balcony and falls deeply in love with her, even though he is already betrothed to Swanhilda. When Swanhilda sees Franz throwing kisses at Coppélia she decides to find out more about the mysterious beauty. After Swanhilda discovers Coppélia is only a doll, she impersonates her, in order to win the love of Franz. Doctor Coppelius returns and chaos ensues. Set in a small European village hundreds of years ago, the ballet contains favorite European dances such as the mazurka, czardas and valse (waltz). This condensed version of the classic comic ballet is suitable for audiences of all ages, including young children.

Beck Center's production features a cast of 50 dancers from its Dance Education program and Dance Workshop, a performing company of select Beck Center dancers. The role of Swanhilda will be performed alternately between performances by high school seniors Taylor Gerrasch and Julia Horner, with the role of Franz danced by Beck Center Dance Education faculty member, Jason Wang who has performed regionally with the Cincinnati Ballet and Louisville Ballet and locally with Verb Ballets. Doctor Coppelius is played by actor Timothy J. Allen who audiences may remember from past Beck Center shows such as Fiddler on the Roof (Motel) and Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour). With original choreography by Marius Petipa, the "father of classical ballet," this production also includes additional choreography by Melanie Szucs, associate director of Dance Education at Beck Center.

Upon graduation, Gerrasch and Horner are both planning to pursue dance in their future educational careers. Gerrasch will be studying in New York City as a Jazz and Contemporary trainee with The Joffrey Ballet; and Horner, who has studied dance at Beck Center since age seven, has been offered a dance scholarship at Mercyhurst University, which offers one of the nation's top ballet programs.

Reserved seating tickets for Coppélia are $10 for children (18 and under) and $12 for adults and seniors. Purchase tickets online at beckcenter.org or call Customer Service at 216.521.2540, ext. 10. Beck Center for the Arts is located at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood. Free onsite parking is available.

Beck Center's production of Coppélia is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture and is also sponsored by the Ohio Arts Council

Beck Center for the Arts is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization that offers professional Theater Productions, arts education programming in dance, music, theater, visual arts, early childhood, and creative arts therapies for special needs students, and free gallery exhibits featuring local, regional, and International Artists.