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By Laurie Heuston January 28. 2016 12:01AM Le Cirque Centre presents 'She: An Aerialist Circus Show' Le Cirque Center student Angela Henty plays an austere, confident presence who can transform any conflict into peace and harmony in "She: An Aerialist Circus Show." Photo courtesty of Christopher Briscoe When Le Cirque Centre director Lorenzo SantaBarbara studied choreography at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, one of his favorite teachers told him that to become an effective choreographer and performer, he would have to believe in magic. "It may sound a little bit esoteric," SantaBarbara says. "But she said, 'Do your work, and the ideas will come to you.' " That's what has happened when the choreographer, writer and director was inspired to create "She: An Aerialist Circus Show," to be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29-30, in the Mountain Avenue Theater at Ashland High School, 201 S. Mountain Ave. Tickets are $20, $15 for students, and are available at Le Cirque Centre, 280 E. Hersey St., No. 12, Music Coop, 268 E. Main St., or at the door. "Last summer, I did not have a clue what to present this year," SantaBarbara says. "I started working and working. Then I saw Malala Yousafzai's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on YouTube." At age 15, Yousafzai was shot in the head in 2012 by a Taliban gunman near her father's school in Pakistan's Swat Valley. Her "crime" was to have spoken up for the right of girls to be educated. After a long stretch of intensive care, she survived and is now an activist and supporter of education for women in her native province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had banned girls from attending school. "I was struck by her confidence, her presence, her way of expressing herself," SantaBarbara says. SantaBarbara is a strong advocate of human rights and education for women and children. The larger percent of his students are young girls. Any political or social issues relating to women's and children's rights draw his attention. That's when the theatrical idea for the story of "She" came to him. "I'm not a guy that can put a show together unless it touches me emotionally," he says. "When I listened to Malala's speech, then watched a documentary about her, my creative juices started to flow, and I created my own story. "Like magic, the character, the protagonist 'She,' just came to me. From there came the Nebobs and Argon the Oppressor. Once I start to write, the ideas start coming to me." Setting his ideas to an aerial circus arts show, She, played by 18-year-old Ashland High School student Angela Henty, personifies Yousafzai, an austere, confident presence from out of the universe that can resolve all earthly strife and conflict simply by walking into a scene. With her, she brings the Nebobs, innocent little clown-like characters who exist for no other reason than to have fun, play and learn. "Then there's the party-pooper. Argon (played by Alex Webb), who represents oppressive Pakistani men," SantaBarbara says. "He puts anger into the hearts of the Nebobs, and the creatures turn against each other. There's a conflict scene with the Nebobs jumping off of trampolines, flying off trapezes. "The earthling Argon has done his work here on this planet. I look to the universe for peace and harmony. There is so much conflict on Earth." Henty is an expert trapeze performer, SantaBarbara says. Her costume is a robe made up of yards of white fabric that drape around her and accent her power. Costume designer Brook Lacey Sharp-Shapiro also has created quirky and colorful costumes for the Nebobs. Webb's choreography is as intense as his character, Argon, SantaBarbara says. Rather than perform aerial dancing using silks or cloth, he flips, flies and careens from chains hanging from the ceiling. "He's wicked," SantaBarbara says. All of the trapeze, trampoline, acrobat and aerial dancing in this show will be set to a selection of classic and contemporary rock music by Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Heart, John Lennon, Pretty Reckless and Beats Antique, along with hip-hop and break dancing. Once students graduate from their respective high schools, they are no longer eligible to be students at Le Cirque Centre. One of SantaBarbara's former students, Kyle Pleasant, is resident choreographer at Rosie O'Donnell's Rosie's Theater Kids, a nonprofit school for the performing arts in Manhattan. Pleasant and a group of Rosie's Kids have performed for President Barack Obama at the White House. "Kyle was a very strong performer," SantaBarbara says. "And Webb, who plays Argon, will undoubtedly be a director of choreographer. He's very bright and an amazing performer." After this show, Le Cirque's advanced students, called the Empyrean Aerialists Company, will each create their own show. "It gives them an opportunity to be a director of their own work," SantaBarbara says. "It inspires them to be choreographers, directors and refined performers." Just as Cirque du Soleil takes its creative circus arts production to different cities, SantaBarbara is looking to present "She" in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco. 'She: An Aerialist Circus Show' When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29-30Where: Mountain Avenue Theater at Ashland High School, 201 S. Mountain Ave.Tickets: $20, $15 for students, available at Le Cirque Centre, 280 E. Hersey St., No. 12, Music Coop, 268 E. Main St., or at the door. http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20160128/NEWS/160129900 © 2016 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->