Warwick Dance Collective presents ‘Swan Lake’

The Warwick Center for the Performing Arts’ resident dance company will be bringing three performances of “Swan Lake” to the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center on Saturday, May 18 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 19 at 2 p.m. The Warwick Dance Collective will present an abridged four-act format of the ballet. Tickets for all performances are on sale now at warwickperformingarts.com.

The matinee performances will showcase local dancers of all ages, including younger students from WCPA alongside members of the Warwick Dance Collective. The Saturday evening performance, meanwhile, will highlight WCPA’s junior, studio, and senior company dancers, and will also feature appearances by several professional guest artists, including Jacob Taylor, Arianna Henry, Pamela Sorensen, Leonel Linares, Ian Ball, and Less Sartain. The roles of Odette, queen of the swans, and Odile, the black swan, will be played by Warwick students and WDC senior company members Kate Gobinski and Cailey Rutkowski.

“Swan Lake” has been delighting audiences throughout the world for more than a century. Its story of love and betrayal centers on the princess Odette, who, along with her companions, has been condemned by an evil sorcerer to live as a swan — a spell that can only be broken by a bond of true love. With choreography set to a classic Tchaikovsky score, “Swan Lake” can be staged with a variety of different possible endings. Audiences will have to see this rendition for themselves to find out whether Odette and her prince will suffer a tragic fate, or live happily ever after.

Directed by Warwick native Melissa Padham-Maass, “Swan Lake” features choreography and staging by Padham-Maass, Gwynenn Taylor Jones, Pamela Sorensen, Janette Rawls, Tami Small, Emilee Dupré, Tracy Dunivan, and Stephanie Thiessen. Taylor Jones served as the rehearsal director for this production, with costumes by Eileen Padham and lighting by Brian Dunn.

“Swan Lake” rounds out a full slate of dance and musical theater programming from WCPA this season at the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center. The company will stage a contemporary dance adaptation of “The Snow Queen” this June, wrapping up a season that also included the WDC’s Celebration of Dance Festival as well as “Mary Poppins: The Musical.”

The Warwick Dance Collective is a nonprofit organization that for seven years has brought dance programming to the Warwick Valley, as well as performing opportunities to local professionals, amateurs, and students. WCPA serves as the home of WDC and, as Orange County’s premier performing arts school, offers professional training in dance, theater, and vocal performance out of a studio in the heart of the village of Warwick. For more information, visit warwickperformingarts.com.