Pacific Ballet Theatre will mark the 100th birthday of its founder, former Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo soloist Andrei "Bill" Tremaine, with a special gala performance Aug. 23 at the Eli & Edythe BroadStage.
"A Ballet Russe Gala Centennial," set for 5:30 p.m., will feature the company's current dancers performing selections from ballets that Tremaine either danced as a principal or later directed.
"It's an honor to celebrate my father as a centenarian this year and looking back at his incredible body of work and legacy," said Natasha Middleton, Tremaine's daughter and the company's executive director. "His work has made a mark all over the world and especially in the Los Angeles area and we look forward to this special performance."
Tremaine's path to one of ballet's most storied companies began after his service in the Navy during World War II. Studying under his mother, ballerina Elena Wortova, and later with Bronislava Nijinsky — a former dancer and choreographer with the original Ballet Russes, and sister of the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky — Tremaine drew the attention of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo during its Los Angeles engagements. When an opening arose in New York, he said, his teacher said, "Take my student."
"That was a very different world touring with them and learning the legendary choreographer Leonide Massine," Tremaine said. "It was a glamorous world but with the strict eye of great directors always keeping it running smoothly. We were not afraid to sweat hard with back to back performances, returning to a train that night, off to another city, and we start all over again. Week after week."
Tremaine returned home to Santa Monica in 1954, after marrying his wife, Natalie, and set out to build a regional ballet presence in a city he said had few companies at the time. He founded the Santa Monica Ballet, performing often at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, and later Pacific Ballet Theatre.
"First of all, No Cell Phones!" Tremaine said, recalling the era. "We looked at one another. We talked, real talking. A lot was expected of us as artists in general back then." Much as the touring Ballet Russe had done across the country, he said, his companies helped pioneer dancers who went on to open their own schools and companies throughout Santa Monica, Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.
The company, now based in Burbank, passed to Middleton, who took over in 2000; Tremaine retired completely in 2003. Middleton said she began choreographing and directing at 15 and grew up watching her father lead his companies in the Ballet Russe tradition.
"My dancers are thrilled to be performing for him and to such different and authentic ballets. They don't dance like this anymore. Story telling," Middleton said. She noted she previously honored her father in 2007 in a program called "Men of the Ballet Russe" alongside five other former male stars. "This performance will be very similar only he is now the last of them. Keeping a three generation legacy going is very important."
The centennial's return to Santa Monica carries personal weight. Both of Middleton's parents lived and married in the city, and the BroadStage sits on ground she knew as a child.
"Ironically, my mother grew up on 10th and when I was a child, I would visit my grandparents who still lived there, and across the street was a school with swing sets," Middleton said. "It's there I would play on the swings dreaming of dancing." That lot, she said, is now the parking lot of Santa Monica College's BroadStage.
The program includes the Firebird Pas de Deux by Stravinsky, the "Nutcracker" Snow Pas de Deux, and selections from "Raymonda," "Gaité Parisienne" and the Polovtsian dances from "Prince Igor." The cast features Eduard Sargsyan, Damara Titmus, Carmen Quiñones Callahan, Brandon Brinkley and others.
A short film chronicling Tremaine's life — including footage of his Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo performances — will screen that night, along with the presentation of an award recognizing his contributions to the arts in Los Angeles since 1954. A VIP reception will follow.
Pacific Ballet Theatre, first founded by Tremaine in 1954, describes itself as the longest continuously running ballet school and professional company in Los Angeles. Tickets are on sale at https://www.pacificballettheatre.org/.