Bite Into Ballet This Halloween

Barely three years into her tenure as Artistic Director of State Street Ballet, Megan Philipp, along with Executive Director Cecily MacDougall, has put together one of the more ambitious programs in the company’s history to open the 2025-26 season. Not only is Dracula, a dark shadow a world premiere, it also involves a new choreographer for the company in Nicolas Blanc in his first full-length work, and his first since leaving his 15-year residency with Joffrey Ballet. To top it off, SSB managed to snag the Kronos Quartet to perform composer Philip Glass’ score of the classic 1931 film written in 1998 in advance of its DVD release, and they’ll be appearing live on stage for both performances at the Granada October 30-31. 

“I’ve been trying to figure out a project to get Nicolas Blanc out here for quite some time,” explained Philipp. “We’d booked Halloween weekend at the Granada and wanted something of that ilk. When we came up with Dracula after hearing the score, everybody jumped on board right away, including the Kronos who were very excited. It all came together.”

Everything takes its cues from the minimalism of Philip Glass’s score, including the set design and costumes (Kronos will don them, too). Blanc said he found the concept of having the score in place before creating the choreography wasn’t actually a limit on his imagination. 

“No, it was very appealing,” he said after a rehearsal last week. “Seventy minutes is pretty short, but it’s enough time to narrate a story, although it’s a very condensed version and not all of the characters of the book or movie are on stage.”

Blanc said he was able to employ his developing choreographic style – which locals may already have seen via pieces that the Joffrey Ballet has performed at the Granada under the auspices of UCSB Arts & Lectures – to create the mood, the emotions, and the passion of Dracula. 

“It all has a base in the canon of ballet, but I move away from that to something that is far more gestural and theatrical,” he said. 

That’s essential for a story as dramatic as this one. 

“It’s told through expression, not a lot of mime the way we know it, but through the quality of movement,” Blanc said. “Body language is how Dracula seduces Mina or Lucy, and even Jonathan Harker. My task as a choreographer is to come up with movements for the dancers that are provocative, or sensual, or fearful when the moment requires it.”

Choreographing for the Joffrey, one of the world’s great companies, and as a guest for San Francisco Ballet and New York City Ballets, Blanc might have been wondering if the SSB dancers were up for his challenging choreography. No problem. 

“What’s been wonderful is that they are very, very committed to embracing my style,” he said. “They’ve taken on portraying the characters and communicating their emotions through movement. They are a very talented bunch of dancers. To be honest with you, I wasn’t sure that they would rise to the challenge, but they are fantastic.”

Philipp said that was precisely the point of engaging Blanc. 

“It’s very difficult choreography, with characters that are more complicated and darker than anything we’ve done before,” she said. “This is a whole other world of sophistication. But the dancers are all really stepping up and thriving.”

Despite having the time limitations, Blanc also added some aspects to the story, creating characters of undead souls, and fashioning a ballroom scene to get all of SSB’s dancers involved on stage at once.

“Since the Kronos Quartet is on stage, the ballroom is taking place at Lucy’s mansion where the Kronos Quartet are actually the musicians playing. 

The Kronos are also going beyond the written score to create sound design to enhance the production,” Blanc said. 

“They’re working on using their instrument to produce the sound of the creaking of a door or the wind blowing.” 

Blanc also had a hand in the set design to be both minimalist to mirror the music, and adding contemporary aspects against very 19th century costumes, he said. 

“I love that contrast,” he said. 

Despite the drama of the Dracula story, State Street’s production is actually meant for the whole family to enjoy, with a recommended minimum age of just 7. 

“It’s not so much blood and guts and bats flying around,” Blanc said. “It’s focused on a strong romantic and psychological quality. People are fascinated by what’s mysterious, by what’s unknown, and the concepts of good and evil. But they’re not going to jump out of their seats with fear.” 

When the curtain closes after the final performance of Dracula, a dark shadow on Halloween, it won’t be the last we see of Blanc’s work in town this season. That’s because the Joffrey will perform two of his more recent pieces during their two days at the Granada in February. 

Meanwhile, Blanc hopes Dracula is merely the beginning of his association with SSB. 

“They’re growing as a company and it’s very exciting,” he said. “I think that in a few years State Street will rise significantly in national stature. I want to be a part of that.”