Ballet inspired by Mayan folklore will bring hoverboards, imagination to Salem Sunday

Rainbow Dance Theater, known for its creative and unique choreography, is bringing hoverboards into ballet in an upcoming performance.

The small dance school based in Monmouth has worked with Salem Symphonic Winds several times in its history, with the most recent performance including an animatronic dog.

“I had some of the people in the band gasp and the audience start chuckling partway through the show. Of course, I was busy conducting … but when I saw the video later, what happened was they had an animatronic dog come on stage,” Salem Symphonic Winds conductor John Skelton said, recalling the performance. “So you never know what to expect.”

In a new ballet, created by composer Leroy Osmon, Rainbow Dance Theater will bring to life a story inspired by Mayan folklore with the help of electric scooters, bright costumes and music made with ax handles.

The ballet, “The Princess and The Wind,” will have its worldwide premiere Sunday afternoon at South Salem High School’s Rose Auditorium. The show begins at 4 p.m. and runs about one hour with no intermissions. Tickets are available online.

Salem Symphonic Winds is halfway through its 50th season, and Osmon’s ballet “The Princess and The Wind” will premiere as the third of four concerts making up the season.

“To have people just open their imaginations to what’s possible, I think is what I’m most excited about people experiencing,” Skelton said. “It’s certainly nothing like they’ll see in Salem again, so this will be the only time we can produce it, so we hope people will take advantage of that.”

In photos from dress rehearsals, dancers can be seen standing or balancing on hoverboards.

The ballet follows an unattractive woman, who always keeps her face veiled, as she falls in love with a man visiting her village. Soon before the couple’s wedding, the woman sees people in the village teasing a witch and defends her. On her wedding day, the woman removes her veil and is beautiful.

To go along with the creative and fun ballet performance, Salem Symphonic Winds will use some instruments Skelton had never heard of before. In the music, Osmon wrote specifically for certain types of gongs and an instrument made out of a serrated ax handle, Skelton said.

“The combination of the two (music and choreography) really makes it accessible to everybody, whether or not they’re studied in ballet or into some kind of bizarre writing at times,” he said. “When you add the choreography to very complex music, it’s really easy to just have a very exotic experience.”

The ballet came to be after Skelton ran into Osmon at a festival in Chicago two years ago who talked to him about his interest in creating a Mayan-inspired ballet.

Osmon, long dreamed of writing a ballet inspired by a fairy tale he read over 30 years ago through a collection of Mayan folk tales.

“That story had kind of haunted him since, he’d always wanted to put his pen to creating something based on that story,” Skelton said.

After the two talked more about Osmon’s dream and Salem Symphonic Winds’ upcoming 50th season, Osmon agreed to write the ballet and premiere it in celebration of the concert band’s anniversary.

There will only be one performance of the ballet this weekend. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and $5 for students.

Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected].

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