By Karen McDonough

RICHARDSON -  Sometimes, story ballet is all about the children. Thank goodness.

Take Peter and the Wolf, Prokofiev’s classic tale originally created to teach and inspire musicality in youngsters. The simple yet engaging story of a young farm boy and his animal friends who capture a menacing wolf has (surprise), a happy ending. It’s just the right teaching tool for ballet companies dedicated to fostering the ballet arts such as Chamberlain Performing Arts, who presented Peter Oct. 2-3 at the Eisemann Center in Richardson. 

Knowing they had a teaching moment on hand, Chamberlain added some extra touches, a hands-on display in the lobby for little fingers to touch, hold and see a sampling of musical instruments that would be heard during the show courtesy of Plano Symphony Orchestra. They showed a short, behind-the-scenes video of their dancers rehearsing the ballet before the curtain parted. And, after the show, they held a Q&A with the dancers to allow a mutually beneficial exchange with the audience.

The 30-minute ballet -- choreographed by Katie Martin, a Chamberlain School faculty member -- unfolds with a narrator telling the story accompanied by Prokofiev’s bright score. (He was commissioned 173 years ago to write this musical symphony for children by Moscow’s Central Children’s Theatre.) Each character has a musical theme and an instrument that plays during their parts.  For Peter (played by the engaging Mason Manning), it’s strings. The Grandfather (Michael Pacocha), bassoon. The bird (played with enthusiasm and skill by Aubry Neal), flute. The duck (played by the well-trained Leanna Rinaldi), oboe. The cat (Naomi Shapira did admirably), clarinet. The wolf (played just right by Dominic Pecikonis), horns. And the hunters, woodwinds with gunshots on timpani and bass drum. The tiniest cast members, all presumably under age four  -- Anna Li and Clare and Mary Rose Vining -- sat still on stage and were uber precious as the flowers. 

My 5-year-old was riveted the entire performance, from the opening when the duck, bird and cat friskily played, to the duck being eaten by the wolf, to the ending, when Peter helps capture the wolf (much to the disappointment of the zealous hunters) and the duck is freed from the predatory carnivore.

Peter provides good training for student dancers as well as the young audience. The dancers, who are all under age 17, gain valuable experience blending ballet technique with story-telling and acting while learning to deepen their sense of musicality.  Children can easily follow the story and feel how music drives the movement onstage. While it may not be a single performance that inspires, the collective experience of bringing children to the theater certainly enhances their cultural repertoire.

Staging this children’s show was a thoughtful warm up to the opening Nutcracker season, just eight weeks away. And, in this troubled economy, it’s heartening to see that not all sponsorship for the arts has fallen by the wayside; The Republic Group, Half Price Books, Chamberlain Roofing & Waterproofing, WRR 101.1FM and the city of Plano Cultural Affairs Commission sponsored the performances. Melissa James provided scenery, sets and props and John Ahrens provided the costumes.

It’s always a pleasure watching a Chamberlain performance by students of Kathy Chamberlain’s School of Performing Arts, known in North Texas for its rigorous and nurturing program. Her school has produced dancers like Parisa Khobdeh, who’s garnered critical acclaim with the contemporary Paul Taylor Dance Company performing worldwide.

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