ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512030001
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: ADRIANNE BEE STAFF WRITER
What do Phyllis Diller and ballet have in common? Don't wait for the punch line.
The comedienne (not necessarily known for grace) really did take ballet lessons, and at one point Frano Jelincic of Radford University was her teacher.
``She always wanted to have a glass of wine together before practice,'' Jelincic says with a laugh.
Since September he and his wife, Dagmar Kessler Jelincic, Radford's artists-in-residence, have been preparing the school's dancers for the upcoming production of ``Coppelia.''
``We have to start rehearsal. NOW,'' says Kessler, sticking her head into Jelincic's office this Sunday afternoon. In 1974, Kessler was described in People magazine as ``the new darling of British balletomanes.'' Jelincic opens a scrapbook - reviews of his wife's performances across the country.
``All raves,'' he says, flipping quickly through the pages.
As he walks to the ballet studio, he finishes the dish on Diller.
``I used to take her hand to guide her and she'd always point and say, `this is 250 carats, it's no dime store ring, watch it,''' Jelincic says.
According to Dance Magazine, Diller didn't always mind her teacher's interference. In an interview for the publication, she spoke of the small taps Jelincic would give his dancers when they erred in their movements.
``Sometimes I'd do things wrong just so I could get hit by this wonderful man!'' said Diller, who referred to her teacher as ``a fine, handsome Yugoslavian.''
Once inside the mirrored room full of young dancers - some clad in leotards, some in Radford T-shirts and sweat pants - Jelincic turns and asks a visitor, ``You ever been in ballet studio?''
``Ah, you took ballet when you were young,'' he says with a smile. ``Typical American girl, the starting and then the stopping.''
He places the needle down on a record. The music begins and the dancers, each with one hand on the barre, the other outstretched, begin their plis.
``We have 50-some dance majors here,'' Jelincic says. ``We have a pretty good core, but if the dancers cannot do what we do, then I'm sorry.''
He and his wife say they do not lower their standards to accommodate the Radford dancers. Instead they expect the students to rise to the standards they themselves maintained as professional dancers.
The Jelincics choose more dancers than they will use in each year's holiday performance. Jelincic says he had to call three dancers the day before and deliver the bad news: They had not made the ballet cut.
He jumps from his chair in front of the dancers and strides over to the record player. He removes the needle, kicks off his left loafer and swings his leg rapidly from side to side.
``Like this,'' he says. "One, two, three...'' The dancers look at each other to make sure their neighbor is as lost as they are.
``You don't understand, there is nothing to understand, it is simple,'' Jelincic says, replacing the needle. The dancers try to replicate the movements of their 73-year-old instructor. As they continue, he points to a dancer up front and whispers, ``Now, look at her, she's good.''
When asked how you get human toes to support an entire body, Jelincic replies simply, ``A beautiful foot is a God-given gift. You are born with a talent and then you work.''
He points out that you also need a gift on the opposite end.
``Ballet takes intelligence,'' he says. ``You have to have a good mind to absorb this.''
Kessler dashes into the studio and whispers to her husband, ``I've got to run home, we need six more seam-rippers.'' She takes off out the door.
``We teach, help sew costumes, there's props, organizing everything,'' Jelincic says. ``That's an awful lot of work for two people.''
He and Kessler are used to the professional theaters where they have performed, where 10 times as many people worked on such details.
``Coppelia,'' was first performed before the Emperor Napoleon III at the Paris Opera House in 1870 and is viewed as a seasonal alternative to ``The Nutcracker."
In Louis Mrante's ballet, the character of Dr. Coppelius is enraptured by what he believes to be a beautiful doll named Coppelia. The smitten doctor attempts to bring the figure to life, and for awhile is fooled by a village girl named Swanilda into thinking he has succeeded. The lead part of Swanilda-Coppelia is danced at Radford by Wendy Wahala and Colleen Potts, who alternate in the role.
Kessler has danced the role ``hundreds of times,'' according to Jelincic. She now passes on her knowledge of sharp, doll-like movements to Wahala and Potts.
The principal male role of Frantz will be danced by guest artist Tim Almaas, a Swedish native who has danced with the Royal Swedish Ballet, Berlin Ballet and the English National Ballet.
``He is very good, you should see him,'' Jelincic says.
According to Jelincic, there is already plenty of talent in the Radford dancing community. He says some of his dancers ``could easily be professionals.''
``We're the only school in Virginia that has a high-quality classical ballet program,'' he says.
Radford gained Kessler and Jelincic after they decided to settle in Radford with their daughter, Kira, who attends high school in Radford. The couple met while Kessler was Jelincic's student in Philadelphia. They married in London in 1968.
Jelincic's interest in female dancers is precisely what got him started dancing. When he was a boy in Yugoslavia, he and a friend were caught spying on some young ballerinas. Asked if he wanted to try out to be a dancer himself, he agreed and the rest is impressive history.
Jelincic danced with the Moulin Rouge in Paris ``just to earn money'' and ``buy a car.'' He was a director of the National Ballet in Yugoslavia, ballet master of the London Festival ballet, Hamburg Staatsoper Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet. He has been director of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the Ballet of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, Croatia.
Kessler has been a soloist and principal dancer with the Pennsylvania Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, London Festival Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
Jelincic travels to Croatia in the summer and frequently brings guest artists from his native land to work with his dancers at RU. Unfortunately, some of these guest dancers were injured this summer when a Serbian cluster bomb landed in the Zagreb dance theater during practice.
``Yes, yes it was terrible,''Jelincic says when asked about the incident.
The long hours put in by the Radford dancers and their teachers will pay off when the curtain opens next weekend. Jelincic has put in a few extra touches of his own. ``I use little children for one part,'' he says. ``They're not so good, but they're cute. Put in a few children and hey, it makes it a little more merrier.''
Says the smiling Jelincic, ``No matter what, I always try to end on a crescendo.''
"COPPELIA" will be performed in Radford University's Preston Auditorium from Friday through Sunday. Tickets are $8 for the general public, $4 for children and free with an RU ID. Tickets are available through the Heth Box Office, 831-5420
LENGTH: Long : 135 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Eric Brady. 1. Wendy Wahala will share lead role in theby CNBRadford University production of Coppelia." (The backgrounds of the
photographs in this series have been computer-altered to appear
black and white.). 2. Wahala practices en pointe. 3. Dagmar Keesler
Jelinic and her husband, Frano Jelincic (above), work with Colleen
Potts, a sophomore who shares the lead role with Wahala. 4. Frano
Jelincic works one-on-one with Wahala (left). color. 5. Frano
Jelincic demonstrates a movement for the students.