Creating magic with ‘The Sea Princess’

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Emiko Flanagan performs the role of Poseidonne, the Evil Sorceress, in the ballet "The Sea Princess," choreographed by Kim Maselli with music composed by Malibu resident Eric Allaman. The ballet opens May 18 at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Photo by Robert Yeager

In what is generally agreed to be the golden age of ballet, in the early part of the 20th century, classic choreographer Michel Fokine worked with composer Igor Stravinsky and Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes to create the most timeless and elevating new ballets the world had ever seen.

A hundred years later, this charmed symbiosis of music and dance is seeing a renaissance with Pacific Festival Ballet, resident dance company at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, with choreographer Kim Maselli and composer Eric Allaman creating the magic for the world premiere on May 18 of the ballet, “The Sea Princess.”

The story line is similar to that of a Disney movie, and that’s OK with Maselli. There’s a wicked sorceress, Poseidonne, who turns a princess, Ondine, into a mermaid and lures her into the sea. The underwater empire fights for the triumph of good over evil to free the Sea Princess and return her to her one true love, Prince Raphael.

“Actually, ‘The Sea Princess’ is very accessible to kids,” Maselli said. “We want to attract all kinds of audiences. And a little familiarity to kids might open up the door to a whole new theater experience for them.”

The experience of creating the ballet was new for Allaman and Maselli.

The two met at a dinner party a little more than a year ago and quickly were attracted to the idea of working with each other. Allaman had composed for theater and the idea of creating a brand new theatrical dance piece appealed to them both.

Maselli drafted an idea for the two acts and described the story scene by scene for Allaman last summer. He buried himself in his Malibu home studio, creating computer-generated orchestral samples, and would send bits and pieces in MP3 format to Maselli, who started to choreograph.

“I gave Eric a pencil sketch and he turned it into a Degas,” Maselli said. “There was never any real conflict between us, which is rare in artistic collaborations.”

The pressure was on, however, to finish the piece, as Allaman planned to record the entire score by November last year.

“I’ve composed for live action television and animated Saturday morning stuff,” he said, laughing. “Speed became one of my strengths.”

Born in Springfield, Mo., Allaman started playing piano at an early age, encouraged by his Norwegian grandmother, a concert-level pianist. But when his family moved to Seattle, then to Southern California, he hid his classical roots because, he said, “It wasn’t cool. I started to surf and got into rock bands.”

He entered UCLA in a pre-med program, but quickly realized that wasn’t feeding his muse and, despite his father’s threat to cut him off financially, he graduated with music and theater degrees.

Drifting through Europe on a thin wallet, he ended up working with the popular electronic group, Tangerine Dream, and ghost writing their successful film scores.

This lead to composing for Ridley Scott’s film “Legends,” and, upon his return to the U.S., a contract with heavyweight Hollywood agency CAA. Two years later, however, his budding career was frozen by the writers’ strike of ’88. “I didn’t work for two years,” Allaman said.

With a wife and young children to feed, he started to take jobs for “anything that would give me a paycheck… equity theater, low-end animation and even something called ‘Cartoon Madness,’ which a parents’ group labeled the worst TV production of the year for children.”

But the speed and dexterity required to write for such fare led him to composing in myriad styles, “from jazz to retro surf music.” He scored indie films and two operas that played at the L.A. Theatre Center.

“So, I jumped at the chance to create a new ballet,” Allaman said.

He left for St. Petersburg, Russia in late October with his score printed on 4,000 pieces of sheet music to work with Moscow conductor Alexandre Dmitriev and the 65-piece Zazer Kaylie Theatre orchestra. They recorded the entire score in three days.

The result is a dynamic, bright, sweeping piece of music, including Baroque themes to “20th century, atonal Prokofiev flavors,” Allaman explained. “This piece runs the gamut of the last 300 years of music.”

Maselli was overwhelmed by the finished score. “I almost didn’t recognize the music we had been rehearsing to,” she said. “It was so dynamic!”

As the opening night draws closer, Maselli admits to a bit of nerves. “This was a huge investment, both financially and artistically,” she said. But with a vibrant, original score and fresh, iconoclastic choreography, ‘The Sea Princess’ might well live on to the 22nd century.

“The Sea Princess” opens May 18. Tickets can be purchased online at www.californiadancetheatre.com