State Street’s ‘Cinderella’ back on stage

The choreography for State Street Ballet’s Cinderella has essentially never changed over the nearly 20 years since the family-friendly work premiered in town in 2005 and then went on a sold-out tour around the East Coast of the country. State Street founder and artistic director Rodney Gustafson created the piece just shy of the company’s 10th anniversary. The work features classic yet contemporary choreography, Prokofiev’s famous score, lots of lighthearted humor along with then-innovative digital animation projections, and has been an enduringly popular take on the classic story ever since its debut. 

“It’s really stood the test of time over the past 20 years, and it’s been one of the ballets that State Street has performed the most on tour,” said Cecily MacDougall. The Santa Barbara native joined State Street Ballet as a dancer in 2009 (performing in Cinderella) and served as Education Director before becoming Executive Director when Gustafson retired in 2022. “It’s really an important piece of State Street Ballet history and a nice way to honor Rodney as we go through this transition with his original choreography, the original costumes and even some original performers. The magic is still very impactful, and you can feel it in the theater, especially with kids in the audience.” 

The two shows at the Lobero on March 23 and 24 feature the original additional choreography by Marina Fliagina, SSB’s longtime rehearsal director, who originated the role of Cinderella’s stepmother 20 years ago and will be performing it again at the Lobero. Her husband, Sergei Domrachev, also reprises his role as one of the wicked stepsisters, a genre-bending twist that provides a lot of the comedy.

“It creates such a juxtaposition between Cinderella and her goodness and graciousness and her dancing and these two foolish characters,” MacDougall said. “It adds a lot of comedy to the ballet, which is not something that you usually see in ballet, which makes it very entertaining and great for children.” 

The two principals are new to their roles: Amara Galloway, a company dancer since 2017, plays the title character, while Ethan Ahuero, who joined SSB only last year, plays the Prince. 

“Amara has danced Clara in The Nutcracker, and Ethan is just pure sunshine on stage, so he makes for a very charming prince,” MacDougall said.

Also new with this production in State Street Ballet’s hometown is a pre-matinée event for the Sunday afternoon show, where a tutu-clad dancer will share the tale of Cinderella on the lawn in front of the Lobero, a special storytime introduction for young audience members to engage with the company staff. 

“Most people are familiar with Cinderella, but because we tell the story through dance without voices, it’s always nice to have that little magical moment with a ballerina reading it to prepare kids for the show,” MacDougall said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.” 

Visit www.lobero.org for tickets