BWW Interviews: Ballet Master Johnny Eliasen Talks Mastering Etudes in Houston Ballet's MODERN MASTERS

Houston Ballet's MODERN MASTERS is excellence personified. It is an electrifying demonstration of the precision, perfection, and artistry in movement.

The program features the Giuseppe Verdi-guided, bel-canto-flavored Ballo Della Regina choreographed by George Balanchine.

The program also includes the modern, rustic Jardi Tancat. The piece is acclaimed Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato's first work. This ode to the Catalonian folk song focuses on the hardships of hardworking people doggedly working to yield fruits on barren soil. Songs are by Maria del Mar Bonet.

Then there is Études.

Each of the three pieces presented in MODERN MASTERS is a masterpiece. But if any masterpiece stands out from the rest, it is Études. As Études' stager Johnny Eliasen says, the piece is canon. It also presents technical challenge to the dancers. "I think any dancer would say, it's a very scary piece. It's wonderful to dance, but it's a very scary piece. It's very naked." Eliasen adds, "But normally they love doing it, even though they're frightened."

It's also a piece of history. There is its age. The one-act ballet was created in 1948. "It was done before I was born. Thank God!" Eliasen jokes. It is part of Houston Ballet's history as well. The company has performed the piece five times before MODERN MASTERS, in 1987, 1990, 1992, 2000 and 2003. And finally, it is a part of Eliasen's history. The renowned teacher has staged the piece several times and even performed it. "I danced in it as a young man, and I became a principal in it. Some years ago, Lise Lander who owns the rights and was married to choreographer Harald Lander asked me to be the one who staged it, so I've been staging it in Russia, in England, and Budapest, [Houston], and in Australia."

Études begins simply at the barre and ends with piques, grand pirouettes, and broad leaps. It appears simple and effortless. But that is the beauty of ballet. The graceful, simple movements necessitate strength, engender pain, compel endurance. Those leaps are a dancer's defiance of limits. Fighting against the floor and gravity. They are a feat of force. The harder one pushes, the higher one flies.

Eliasen is perfect for this study in ballet. "I started when I was seven years old at the Royal [Danish] Ballet." He then quickly rose through the ranks. "I became a corps de ballet dancer, and very early I became a principal dancer ... [and] when I was appointed as a principal dancer, they also wanted me to teach, so I taught ... for sixteen or seventeen years while I was [dancing] in principal roles."

Collaboration is key to Eliasen's approach. "I look at the dancers, and I fall in love. I do whatever I can to help them, and sometimes they like me. [Laughs] In teaching you have to be willing to give. When I [teach] companies, I always say to them, 'I suggest things. If you use my suggestions, I am very happy. [But] I don't necessarily think that you have to do what I'm saying. I'm working with you.'"

But the value of his experience is undeniable. "I'm out of my country nine and a half months out of the year, which means that I'm really in ten different places with ten different companies in a year. I see a lot of things. It hopefully gives me a good eye so I can help with [the] dancers that I'm involved with."

Eliasen, when asked what he loves about the piece, replies, "I love the whole piece." He loves the people. "I get these wonderful opportunities to see so many lovely wonderful dancers around the world, which I enjoy." He loves the challenge. "It's a very challenging piece to do but it's exciting to do."

George Balanchine's Ballo della Regina

Nacho Duato's Jardi Tancat

Harald Lander's Études

Houston Ballet's MODERN MASTERS will end on March 21. Remaining performances are on March 20 and 21 at 7:30 pm and March 22 at 2:00 pm. Brown Theater, Wortham Center, 501 Texas Avenue. Tickets start at $19. For more information, please visit http://www.houstonballet.org/.