Dracula - Collide

 Playing at the Luminary Arts Center, Collide Theatrical Dance Company is back with the appropriately seasonal Dracula. The show is two acts, with a total run time of almost 90 min. There is not a slow moment in the show, it starts and just keeps moving to the resolution - and what a ride. I first saw this production at the Ritz Theatre (now Latte Da) back in 2016. You can read my review of that here. It was my very first Collide show and I loved it at the time, and still do. And clearly I still thoroughly enjoy seeing the work that Collide does. 

The 2016 production used a live band, with vocalists including the performer who played Dracula. This production does what they have been doing recently and uses pre-recorded music that has been mixed to create a complete soundtrack/score. It also includes some voice-over narration by Twin Cities theater legend Becca Hart (making her Collide debut). The story remains the same, but this cast of 11 (including Hart) has some great variety in styles, and shapes. Returning to where she danced Juliet recently, Alison Bartels is playing Mina Harker. Mina is a doctor who is studying the undead. Her mentor and teacher is Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, played by Patrick Jeffrey. They have a distinct difference in how they deal with the undead - Helsing is focused on termination, while Harker leans towards using injections to keep the undead calm and under control. Playing Mina's brother Jonathan is Peter Hoffman. The story of the ballet follows the book so we see Jonathan leaving the safety of his friends Mina, Lucy (Olivia Thornton, Collide Debut) and her fiancee Arthur Holmwood (Kenny Beischke, Collide Debut) to take care of some business with Dracula in Transylvania. There he meets the three brides (Johanna Engebretson, Elayna Sitzman, and Bella West) who do their best to seduce and destroy him until he is rescued by Dracula - Jarod Boltjes. While they are working on business, we see Mina try to build a relationship with Renfield (Jackson Grove, Collide Debut) by teaching him a physical hand pattern similar to the childrens rhyme patty-cake, patty-cake. It is a very sweet and tender gesture that helps pull Renfield from his mania, and ground him some. The rest of the story - you will have to discover yourself.

The cast is fantastic through out. It is a joy to watch Mina discover and acknowledge the fascination and desire between her and Dracula. Boltjes (playing Dracula) has a training in aerial silks which is used in this production to give the character a sense of flight, as well as mystery and menace. There is a wonderful duet between the two characters using the silks. The other standout is the character of Renfield. His movement is all angular, and hunched over with sporadic leaps. It was athletic and mesmerizing. As always, I left with some great images in my head, some great songs, and had a truly lovely time at this dark, romantic, and beautiful ballet. 

(photos taken from the instagram page of Collide Theatrical)