Previews: ONE SWEET DREAM at Axelrod PAC

You know a breakthrough is imminent when you’re in the midst of pure chaos. 

In music, no band masterfully orchestrated this unshakable truth better than The Beatles’ Abbey Road. 

On the cover of the album, which ranked No. 5 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list — the Fab Four are photographed nonchalantly crossing the quiet, tree-lined London thoroughfare in the middle of what seems a perfect afternoon in 1969… in perhaps the most turbulent year in pop culture history. With their eyes fixed to the other side of the street, John, Paul, George and Ringo make their way across — slowly but surely — and with as much grace as a ballet dancer who makes their steps look easy. 

While the iconic album has reverberated in dormitory hallways and blasted in teenagers’ bedrooms, it’s not typically a record one would associate with any dance form. Except that is, for George Harrison’s sweetly captivating, “Here Comes the Sun,” a top selection for the father-daughter dance at modern-day weddings. 

The album’s upbeat cacophony of fast-paced rhythms, distorted guitar tones and wailing drums in songs like “Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam,” balanced out by slow, melodic and contemplative, hard-hitting love songs like “Something” and “Golden Slumbers” are seamlessly strung together and end as abruptly as the album begins. The album in all its epic, catastrophic glory sets the stage for a so-called storm before an incredible rainbow: “Oh, that magic feeling, nowhere to go,” McCartney sings on “You Never Give Me Your Money.” “Step on the gas and wipe that tear away/ One sweet dream came true today.” 

One Sweet Dream

In a ballet called, “One Sweet Dream,” dancer and instructor of Ballet Rêve, Olivia Miranda, is showing her class, and audiences at the Axelrod Rod PAC on March 1 and 2, how to dance in the rain with the famed album as the soundtrack. 

“Something that has always been important to me is rewriting the landscape of dance and making it more accessible to people,” explained Miranda in a phone interview. “I really thought the Beatles were the perfect way to do this, because their music is so universal… I felt that the Beatles were the perfect kind of introduction into the dance world for people who may not attend dance concerts.”

The ballet merges the talents of six professional dancers from Ballet Rêve weaved in with student dancers from the Axelrod Performing Arts Academy who together offer a layered dynamic of whimsical entertainment. The curtain is raised with the lead dancer donning headphones as she vibes to “Come Together” – lost inside her own head, and set in New York City’s Strawberry Fields… where nothing is real. 

As the music takes on an impassioned turn of desperate pleas in tunes like McCartney’s arresting, “Oh, Darling!” she pulls them off as a therapeutic exercise in redemption – purging her daily frustrations to this melodic mayhem. 

“If we really take the time to listen to ourselves, and the people around us, we can make something beautiful,” said Miranda. 

As the album plays on – with performances from guitar duo The Black Ties – the dancers go from feeling lonely and isolated to feeling inspired to reconnect via the comfort of camaraderie and achieving real joy and exuberance from human connection. The dancers bring this emotion to life through neutral-colored tutus to vibrant costumes.

“I really love the dichotomy of Side A and B in Abbey Rood,” said Miranda. “[Listeners are taken] on a journey on what starts as heavy rock and chaos and stronger, heavier beats and rhythms and Side B, [with] “Here Comes the Sun,” we have these new melodies that take you on journey from something dark to lightness [and ends with] “The love you take is equal to the love you make.” 

Though the songs on Abbey Road feel like a hodgepodge of emotion and a beautiful disaster of sorts, that’s precisely the point: One person’s idea of madness is another’s clarity. 

“None of these songs have anything to do with each other,” Miranda explained. “But just because it doesn’t make sense to somebody, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense to the characters.”

One Sweet Dream aims to use dance as a way to tap into the sacredness of our dreams, which exist to offer clues about our subconscious, and something we can use to navigate our realities and illuminate our presence in the world.

“When you have a dream, as long as it means something to you, we can have something for ourselves that’s just for us,” said Miranda. “If we understand the beauty and the magic of whatever that thing is, we can use it to share joy and spread love to other people.” 

And, of course, learn about The Beatles. 

Keeping a Beatles-Level Zest for Life Alive

Miranda started dancing at age 9 under the instruction of Julie Caprio at the Hamilton Dolly Theater in Hamilton, New Jersey. Years later, she was introduced to The Beatles at a dance recital – the entirety of which was performed to Beatles music. Apart from delving into the happy-go-lucky days of early Beatles from “Twist and Shout” to “I Saw Her Standing There,” her musical tastes grew more sophisticated with her appreciation for Harrison’s poignantly insightful and introspective, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” 

In her later teens, she continued dancing with The Ailey/Fordham BFA Program. 

“The performance invites a new generation to learn about the Beatles,” said Miranda, adding that the company offers a stunning visual of what she envisioned through their decade-spanning musical journey. While The Beatles aren’t an integral part of any school curriculum, consider Ballet Rêve’s “One Sweet Dream” an introduction into a world of possibility – through the eyes of the one of the greatest bands that ever lived. 

With Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree Installation in Manhattan and the Beatles ’64 documentary on the 60th anniversary of the Fab Four’s arrival to New York, the group that forever changed music is having a renaissance of sorts, which “One Sweet Dream” is adding a layer to on the local stage.

“My overarching message is… you can always find the beauty in the small things, and it’s a reminder that this ballet is an hour-and-a-half escape into a [new] world [and a] beautiful moment for yourself… I hope [the audience] leaves feeling lighter, more vibrant and more excited about life.”

“One Sweet Dream” supports Ballet Rȇve’s journey to France to perform at the national festival Châteaux en Fête this May. Proceeds go toward travel, housing, costumes and production expenses for the talented artists bringing the program to life on an international stage.

For tickets, go here. 

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