Steppin' Out

Cover Story

Photograph by John Gerbetz

Ramon Thielen portrays the Roasted Swan, a creature who becomes a meal for ravenous tavern customers in 'Carmina Burana.

Bawdy Work

Ballet's season opener goes medieval in sexy 'Carmina'

By Heather Zimmerman

Ramon Thielen portrays the Roasted Swan, a creature who becomes a meal for ravenous tavern customers in 'Carmina Burana.'

The cycle of life, and all its earthly underpinnings, is the timeless subject of Dennis Nahat's Carmina Burana. The work, along with the ensemble piece Summerscape, gets Ballet San Jose's season off to a rousing start Nov. 15-18 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd., San Jose.

Carmina Burana is set to Carl Orff's widely known choral masterpiece of the same name. Orff's piece turns 70 this year, but it's actually based on texts from a 13th-century Bavarian monastery. These writings run the gamut of worldly delights, from love and lust to whooping it up at the tavern.

The ballet's epic production of Carmina includes the entire company of 40 dancers, with the backing of Symphony Silicon Valley and the combined 130-plus voices of Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale and the Cantabile Youth Singers.

Nahat's Summerscape, set to music by Shostakovich, with guest pianist Roy Bogas, also celebrates life with a dreamy, abstract story of love.

Tickets are $25-$82. For more information, call 408.288.2800 or visit www.balletsanjose.org.