Dance Alive, a Gainesville-based ballet company, put a new twist on "Phantom of the Opera" at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Friday night. The ballet company performed "Phantom: a Tale of Obsession," a production that told the classic love story without words.
"You don't have anyone speaking nor do you have anyone singing other than in recorded music," said Judy Skinner, director of Dance Alive grants and arts education programming.
Artistic Director Kim Tuttle created the production, which includes music from more than 15 composers. There are 15 people in the show's ensemble. Two of the performers are students, and the rest are professional dancers. The dancers have international roots in Russia, Brazil and Hungary.
"It's an interesting group of people," Skinner said, "lots of languages going around in the studio...everyone speaks or at least understands English."
There are various styles of ballet in the production, including contemporary, neo-classical and classical.
Skinner said she believes audiences will recognize key story elements from "Phantom of the Opera" while appreciating the differences in the dance company's production.
"Some of the music will be recognizable as being 'Phantom,' but other things will be totally different," Skinner said.
Mina Radman wrote this story online.