EVENT | ALBUQUERQUE
Best wishes: NMPhil, New Mexico Ballet Company explore a whole new world with ‘Aladdin & the Magic Lamp’
Published
Dancers will soar through the air — without the flying carpet — as the New Mexico Philharmonic and the New Mexico Ballet Company team up for “Ballet! Aladdin & the Magic Lamp.”
“They’ll fly on their own legs,” Emily Fine, director of “Ballet! Aladdin & the Magic Lamp” for the New Mexico Ballet Company, said.
NMPhil and NMBC last performed together for 2025’s “Nutcracker.”
Marian Tanau, president and CEO of New Mexico Philharmonic, said for the spring show, the organizations do a “story ballet” with the philharmonic composing the show.
Tanau said he enjoys the diversity of performing with NMBC. Instead of being the focus of attention on stage, the philharmonic is lending music to the dances, which Tanau said feels like watching a movie.
“Through movement, a beautiful story is being told,” he said.
The accompanying music includes several works from “Sheherazade,” a symphonic suite by Nikolai Rimsky-
Korsakov, which is based on “One Thousand and One Nights,” Tanau said.
The ballet and symphony performed “Aladdin” together in 2018 and have made a few changes to the performance. In addition to new compositions chosen by the philharmonic, NMBC artistic director and choreographer Kelly Ruggiero brings her vision to the show.
She said it is nice to step away from more traditional ballets every dancer knows, like “The Nutcracker,” and let the dancers stretch themselves.
“As an artist, it’s also really important to do something different and have something fresh and take a step outside the traditional music,” Fine said.
“Ballet! Aladdin & the Magic Lamp,” she said, is based on the original story, “One Thousand and One Nights,” also known as “The Arabian Nights,” and doesn’t pull as much from the Disney version.
“One Thousand and One Nights” has key differences, she said, such as having two genies. The costuming is also different from the “Aladdin” people might remember.
“It’s not a tutu and pink tights kind of ballet,” Fine said.
She said scenes like those in the marketplace and the “Cave of Wonders” let the dancers shift from traditional ballet garments to costuming that is more flowy.
The NMPhil and NMBC rehearse separately and then come together a week before the show, Tanau said. When the two meet for the first time, he said, it is a wonderful moment to see everything come together.
He said before rehearsals, the groups work closely together to create the scenes and decide on the music.
Both Tanau and Fine find live music elevates a ballet performance.
Fine said even with the difficulties that can come from finding music and choreographing a whole new show, the artistry makes it worth it.
In light of comments from actor Timothée Chalamet, who recently said opera and ballet were dying art forms, Fine said collaborations like the one between the New Mexico Ballet Company and New Mexico Philharmonic are even more important.
“I feel a sense of responsibility in promoting this art form and continuing its growth.”
Elizabeth Secor is an arts fellow from the New Mexico Local News Fellowship program. You can reach her at esecor@abqjournal.com.
