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Magician’s tale creates magic onstage By Ashley Finden
BAYER BALLET ACADEMY STAGES ‘A WINTER FAIRY TALE’ THIS WEEKEND
PHOTOS BY MICHELLE LE
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he winter season inspires dreams and the illusion of magic for many people. One Mountain View ballet director took her vision of winter and created a window into childhood imagination. Inna Bayer is the founder of Bayer Ballet Academy and director of “A Winter Fairy Tale,” a spectacle of original Russian fairy tale characters told through ballet. The story comes to life Friday through Sunday, Dec. 14-16, at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Bayer and a former student’s mother created the storyline for the dance program about five years ago, and it is now in its fifth year of production. “A Winter Fairy Tale” was partially inspired by “The Nutcracker” — the snowflakes, flowers and Mother Ginger were elements adapted by Bayer. The ballet follows a magician who wants to create a fairy tale
■ Mountain View Voice ■ MountainViewOnline.com ■ December 14, 2012
for children and comes across an old book filled with toys, animals and other fairy tale creatures that come to life. The story unfolds when the Bat Queen kidnaps a baby bunny in the fairy tale land, and the magical critters embark on a journey, according to Christina Wood, administrative assistant at the academy. “Good prevails over evil,” said Bayer. “It’s what we want to believe.” Bayer said she was inspired by parts of her childhood in Russia when she would look out of the frost-covered windows and viewed the pure white landscape, noticing how everything changes in winter. “Even silence is different,” she said. There are 108 dancers in the ballet and 11 staff members from the academy organizing the production, Bayer said. She said she knew most of her students well enough that she placed them in their roles without auditions, but some auditions