This time around the glass slipper will be a perfect fit for two maidens.
Sarah Sawatzky and Katharine Cowan will both play the title role in Studio West Dance Theatre’s production of Sergei Prokofiev’s Cinderella at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts.
The two 16-year-old dancers will each assume the lead role twice during the four ballet performances. Opening night will be Thursday, April 28 at 7:00 p.m. Additional performances will be Friday, April 29 at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, April 30 at 1:00 and 5:00 p.m.
“When I saw (Cinderella) on the casting sheet I cried. I’m both terrified and excited,” said Sawatzky, who attends Running Start at South Puget Sound Community College. “Music moves me in general, but with Prokofiev, there’s really an emotional impact. There are parts of this ballet when I tear up. The music engulfs you. I am excited to see what that feels like on stage.”
The timeless fairy tale, set to Prokofiev’s classic music score, features the kindly Cinderella, tormented by her step-mother and step-sisters before receiving magical assistance from her Fairy Godmother who sends her to the Royal Ball where she encounters the Prince.
“It’s just so emotional,” said Cowan, a junior at Olympia High School. “You can just really feel the music. The story is universal and told in so many different cultures. I find that inspiring.”
While this marks the first time both dancers have been cast in the lead role for Studio West Dance Theatre’s annual Spring production, the material is familiar to both dancers, as each appeared in the ballet four years ago – albeit in far smaller roles.
“I just got my pointe shoes and had probably the least technically advanced part on pointe,” Sawatzky recalled about her initial role in the production. “I was a peasant vendor and it was about a minute long. All I did was, I sat on my knees with this big mahogany box. I served Cinderella and did a couple bourees and then I went off, but it was the best part in the world at the time for me because I had just got my pointe shoes.”
Cowan danced in the first production as well, playing a more minor role in the corps de ballet during the ballroom scene, but the performance had a lasting effect.
“They hardly danced in that production because they were at a much younger level and had no experience. They were new on pointe and weren’t as strong or as confident, and now look where they’re at,” said Studio West Dance Academy’s Marianna Ramsour, who is co-directing the production. “They are both so focused and determined. That’s pretty much true with all the level six dancers. You don’t get to a level six unless you really want to be here and are completely head over heels in love with ballet.”
For Cowan, her love affair with ballet has been going on for nearly 13 years, while Sawatzky is approaching a decade.
“I’ve been dancing for as long as I can remember. I’ve been doing it since I was 3,” Cowan said. “Everyone sort of figures out by high school what they want to focus on whether it’s school, dance, or sports. For me, I’ve always known that I was going to dance in some form my entire life.”
The lead performance is the end result of Cowan and Sawatzky’s daily commitment stretched over the past few years.
“If you really want to make your dream come true you have to commit, you have to make sacrifices, otherwise it’s not going to happen. It remains a dream,” said Ramsour, who has toured around the world performing with the National Ballet Caracas. “It’s easy to dream. Everyone dreams every day, but what it really takes to make it happen is you have to commit 100 percent to it, and Sarah and Katharine have done that. We want to show them off (in Cinderella).”
Cinderella will actually be Sawatzky’s final production with Studio West. She was recently offered a spot in the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s year-round program, which will begin in August. Prior to that she will participate in the Pittsburgh Ballet’s summer intensive program.
“This is my last show with (Studio West), so it’s definitely sad. We have a spring showcase here, but my program starts before that happens so this is my last hurrah before I leave,” Sawatzky said. “This is a huge step for me (going to Pittsburgh). It will bring me to another level in my training. Going out with Cinderella has a lot of meaning to me. It’s really cool to be able to close with a part like this.”
Cowan will also be busy this summer, as she will partake in the summer dance intensive at the Oregon Ballet Theatre before starting her senior year at Olympia.
“It’s technically an audition for their second company, which is a year-round program,” Cowan said. “So, we will see how that goes.”
To watch Studio West Dance Theatre’s production of Cinderella at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, visit https://ticketsales.washingtoncenter.org/Online/SWSpring and purchase tickets for the weekend show.
