Katherine Tolford
Thirteen years ago, Glendale resident Jim Price was given the gift
of dance for Christmas by a stranger.
This Christmas, he hopes to give back to audiences as a performer
in the Media City Ballet Company's inaugural production, "Joys of the
Season" Sunday at The Alex Theatre in Glendale.
Although Price, 42, is a soloist with the 15-month-old company, he
didn't begin dancing until he was 29.
In 1989, Price was discovered by Gian-Carlo Menotti, a famous
composer, while performing in a community theater production. Menotti
was taken with Price's rustic, untrained style. He recruited him to
perform in "Amahl and the Night Visitors," a Christmas opera he was
conducting about the Little Drummer Boy and the Three Wise Men.
When the production ended, Price continued training and dancing
professionally with numerous companies, including the Joffrey Ballet
School of New York.
"Things fell into place exactly how they were supposed to," he
said. "I had a degree, so I didn't feel like I had to dance to live.
It was more out of love," said Price, who is also an aerospace
engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Price often uses his engineering skills to choreograph his
dancing. He said writing equations as he does in his job for NASA (he
is working on the 2003 launch of the Mars Exploration Rover) helps
him to understand the scientific principles of dance.
"Dancers have to learn extremely difficult physical laws and apply
them," he said. "They have to perform complicated turns and stay on
balance without falling."
In the upcoming show, Price performs in two excerpts from "The
Nutcracker," "Land of Snow" and Act II "Kingdom of Sweets," as well
as "Holiday Suites," a black-tie number originally choreographed by
the Joffrey Ballet.
Price hopes "Suites," which he choreographed for this production,
is an uplifting experience for the audience.
"Season" also features "The Magical Gift," an original Dickens-era
piece choreographed by the company's Artistic Director Natasha
Middleton, with a song from the musical "Sweeney Todd" and sets
designed by Disney animator John Pomeroy.
More than 40 dancers will also participate in the production,
including 24 young students from Middleton's Media Dance Arts Centre
in Burbank.
