CORDOVA -- After school on Friday at Mount Eccles Elementary School, second through fifth graders gather with dance teacher Alyssa Kleissler for a rehearsal.
"If you're not a bug then I'm sorry, but you're not on the stage right now." Alyssa calls out, "Water bugs are over here."
This is not the expected dialogue of a ballet rehearsal. However nothing about this ballet, or the Kleissler sisters, is typical. Boys are tumbling and flipping, girls are learning how to do back handsprings.
Earlier this year, Alyssa and Marita Kleissler were commissioned to produce the Wetland Ballet for the 25th Annual Copper River Delta Shorebird Festival, which begins May 7 here. Working together "makes it a lot easier" Alyssa says, of collaborating alongside her sister. Both pursued careers in dance and although they took different paths, one to the stages of New York City and the other to stages around the world, they share the same passion. Today, the sisters teach dance classes in Cordova and Alyssa owns the local dance studio Current Rhythms.
"We both went to the same local studio in Union, New Jersey," Marita says speaking of their childhood. The sisters are so close that they can finish each other's sentences.
It's hard to describe the creative process that yielded Wetland Ballet. On one hand, they have structure and organization. On the other, they allow everyone -- from tiny tap and ballet students to modern dance adults – to create freely. Marita and Alyssa observe each person and encourage them to evolve into the animal or music or landscape they're interpreting. Their open and loose teaching techniques may stem from rigid dance experiences growing up.
"We didn't have that opportunity to use what we wanted to do, to put that into a dance," Marita explained. Alyssa and Marita laugh together and say, "It was 16 counts to the right, 16 counts to the left, blow the whistle, 16 counts to the right…."
Marita and Alyssa started the creation of the Wetland Ballet by talking with local biologists. They learned about the movements and behaviors of various animals, birds and invertebrates on the delta. They watched hours of videos to understand their movements. The next step in the process was searching for music to complement and tell the story of those creatures.
"We wanted music that inspired us," Alyssa says, ideally live music. They recruited local musicians and vocalists, of which Cordova has a plethora, to perform and consulted with them about creature sounds for "what song fits which animals," says Alyssa. Music for the performance includes dance pieces from "Carnaval des Animaux" by Camille Saint-Saens as well as original compositions.
"Music is really important. We spent hours, searching for what songs fit these different animals. The music evokes so much movement."
"What I do, I just put the music on and see if the kids respond to it," Marita explains. Initially she played the natural sounds of the shorebirds to the kids, but it was "too abstract." Instead, they found songs and sounds the kids enjoyed.
"The hardest thing for me, with the 5- and 6-year-olds, is to let them authentically move, but to give them the shape, to give them the form," she says. "I don't want to take away their spirit, I don't want to take away their natural movement."
A theme with the sisters and the ballet is letting each performer, each child, each musician, became part of the ballet while still remaining true to themselves.
At the school rehearsal, a girl who is a dragonfly asks, "Wait, Alyssa, do you want me to do this?" She proceeds to roll, somersault, cartwheel, tumble and flip about. The girl has her full attention and Alyssa responds enthusiastically, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" watching as the girl gets lost in her own interpretation of this dragonfly dance.
Afterwards, the girl is proud. In fact, all the kids in the class have a moment that's theirs because they created it. "The kids feel confident," says Marita. "We are building their confidence. It's not just about the dance, you're trying to figure out how to work together."
Everyone involved has ownership and a voice. It evokes the comparison that this ballet, like a wetland, is a cohesive ecosystem. Unique individuals interact as part of a greater, magnificent whole.
Alyssa and Marita encourage that. "Yes, there's technique," Marita explains. "Yes, there's structure. Yes, there's skill." But "I guess to me, it's about feeling it. Feeling the music, the movement." For both sisters, dance can be adapted to any curriculum subject, and its lessons are far-reaching, not only individually but in interacting with others. It's learning "how to make something happen together, which is hard for adults and kids. It's about talking nicely to each other as you choreograph because you get excited, you get passionate and you want it your way," Marita says.
"It's just fun. I might be tired when I get here, but once I step through that door, I don't know what happens but I'm not tired. I feel the joy."
Wetland Ballet is made possible by grants from Alaska Geographic and the Alaska State Council on the Arts as well as funding from the Cordova Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center and the U.S. Forest Service. Student participation, "giving scholarships to kids who couldn't afford classes or costumes" is made possible by Alaska Geographic and the Alaska State Council of the Arts.
Jane Spencer has lived seasonally in Cordova over the past 10 years as a commercial fisherman, baker and community outreach coordinator. She can be reached at jane@thecordovatimes.com.