Leslie Friedman of Mountain View runs what she calls the only professional dance company in the Los Altos-Mountain View area. She’s also the only dancer-choreographer to have built strong connections with dancers in post-Communist Poland.
Continuing a relationship begun in 1992, Friedman and her Lively Foundation have brought two acclaimed ballerinas to perform locally.
The public will have three opportunities to see them in action. A demonstration-performance is scheduled for 7:30-8:30 p.m. March 22, at the Mountain View Masonic Lodge on Franklin Street. Then the ballerinas join Friedman and other area dancers for “Magic Dances, The Lively Dance Festival III,” at 8 p.m. March 27, and 3 p.m. March 28, at the Veterans Building Green Room, 401 Van Ness Ave. (at Mc Allister) in San Francisco.
The dancers, from Lodz, Poland, are Joanna Jablonska and Marlena Pietrzowska of the Lodz Contemporary Ballet. They are scheduled to arrive in the area March 19 and will be rehearsing at Planet Dance in Mountain View. The studio is run by Los Altos resident Sandy Feliciano, a friend of Friedman’s and a Lively Foundation participant.
“This is a very historic thing for these ballet dancers to come here from Poland,” Friedman said.
Contemporary ballet was a foreign concept at the fall of the Iron Curtain. Friedman said her introduction of something beyond traditional ballet was at first met with hostility during her first visit to Poland. But the dance world there gradually warmed up to the idea. At this point, Friedman is consulting with a university in Poland about establishing a contemporary dance program.
Other performers at the Lively Arts Festival will include Helena Birecki, Brooke Bury, Elan Freydenson, Friedman, the artistic director, Seung Yean Lee, and Nemesio Paredes.
Paredes will present his choreographed piece, “La Vida Breva,” performing with castanets.
Birecki, co-director of two Peninsula-based companies and a native of Palo Alto, will perform “Dance My Partner.”
Those attending the demonstration-performance will be offered two-for-one tickets for the festival itself. A donation of $10 for adults, $5 for children, is suggested.
Tickets are available online at www.ticketweb.com, or by phone at (866) 468-3399; at the TIX Union Square Box Office or through the Lively Foundation at (415) 346-8959.
