THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 25, 1996 TAG: 9610250066
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUDITH HATCHER, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: 76 lines
SHE'S HOME-GROWN all the way.
She's also homeward-bound, again. And what a glorious homecoming for a Norfolk-born and -bred dancer.
Stacy Caddell returns home to perform Saturday night at Chrysler Hall with the Stars of the American Ballet. The troupe of distinguished dancers will be dancing to music by the Virginia Symphony.
Caddell and her partner, Petter Jacobsson, will be first on the program, dancing the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux.
As a child, Caddell was one of hundreds studying dance at the Tidewater Ballet Association (now the Virginia Ballet Theater). That early training was good enough to ensure her acceptance into the school, then company, of the prestigious New York City Ballet.
``I never thought I'd be doing this,'' Caddell said in a telephone interview. ``I never thought I'd get this far.''
She credits NYCB choreographer George Balanchine with giving her ``the discipline of work, respect for the theater, timing, phrasing and musicality. When I dance, I think how the steps are executed and how he would want them done. I also think of the music.''
After 10 years as a soloist at NYCB, Caddell expanded her dance vocabulary by performing with the eclectic and innovative Twyla Tharp Dance Company for four years.
``From (Tharp) I learned how to work really well with my body and learned how to work differently (without incurring so much damage). In warm-up, I work on the physicality of the movements.''
Caddell is now a free-lance dancer. While company dancers are provided with everything from classes to costume fittings, pointe shoes and publicity, free-lancers have to fend for themselves.
``Free-lancing is very different, very hard,'' she said. ``You have to do everything for yourself, including self-promotion.''
She admits that self-promotion isn't her forte, and credits contacts with friends for keeping her in steady work.
``I've been able to dance lots of different roles and have come full circle back to classicism,'' she said.
Another new task is securing costumes for the roles she dances. Tutus, well over a yard in diameter, are hand-sewn, boned and sequined, and are not user-friendly to store and pack. At $4,000 per costume, neither are they user-friendly to most dancers' budgets.
``I borrow a lot,'' Caddell said, ``and carry them on the plane,'' holding them upside-down to protect the intricately decorated bodices and keep the layers of net from drooping.
When watching Caddell perform, audiences appreciate her clean work but are also enchanted by her acting.
``It's something I've always had,'' Caddell said. ``When I'm dancing, I'm creating something else and creating a different world. While there are dancers I admire, I don't mold myself after a particular one. Performing and dancing is bigger than just steps. Petter gives me a lot back, too, and that's very important.''
This will be Caddell's second trip home this month, and the third this year. In April, she appeared with former Tidewater Ballet Association alumni Lorraine Graves (Dance Theatre of Harlem) and Michael Barriskill (Houston Ballet and ``Cats'') as part of Virginia Ballet Theatre's gala performance. Three weeks ago, she helped VBT inaugurate its first professional season with a heart-rending interpretation of the Swan Queen - her first time in the role.
Another TBA alumni, Yvonne Borree, currently a soloist with the New York City Ballet, will also perform, dancing Gottschalk's grueling, audience-pleasing ``Tarantella.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
VIRGINIA BALLET THEATER
Norfolk-born dancer Stacy Caddell will perform the Tchaikovsky Pas
de Deux with partner Petter Jacobsson.
Graphic
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