There will be blood: Weekend of Dracula and dance ahead for Montgomery
He’s a veteran vampire, someone who gives both longtime fans and ballet newcomers a performance they can really sink their teeth into. Raul Peinado has become Montgomery’s incarnation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula from the late 1800s.
But the Madrid, Spain native began as something much different when Alabama Dance Theatre premiered “Dracula: A Ballet to Die For” in 2009. He was, gasp, the good guy.
“My first time was as Jonathan Harker,” Peinado said. That’s right. Harker, the solicitor who becomes a foil for the master vampire — danced in 2009 by guest artist Brian Debes.
In the years to come, Peinado stepped masterfully into The Count’s role for ADT. He’ll do so again this weekend as ADT brings “Dracula” to downtown Montgomery’s Davis Theatre for the Performing Arts for public performances on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“I like it. I always have enjoyed very much playing Dracula,” said Peinado, who said it's a role that feels surprisingly more realistic than the fantasy princes he's danced as. “And, yes, he’s the bad guy. But is he so, so terrible? I guess in this story he’s looking for love.”
One direction for that quest is Lucy Westenra, an ill-fated young woman smitten and bitten by Dracula. It’s a role held by two dancers who alternate performances — Shannon McGaughey and Lila Kate Parkman. Both 17, the high school seniors are actually two years younger than Stoker’s character. Parkman goes to Trinity, and McGaughey is homeschooled. They both began their ADT Dracula experience years ago as bats, and have played other parts through the years.
“This role is very hard in a character way, because it’s not a princess or a fairy,” McGaughey said. “There’s a lot of depth to the character.”
“It’s not a classical ballet,” Parkman said. “They brought me out of my shell with the acting.”
Dracula choreographer Sara Sanford said the last time ADT brought the vampires out to play was before the pandemic in 2018. Bringing Dracula back for 2022 wasn't about recreating what they've done before, she said. It was about discovering new views on who the characters are.
'I feel like we went even deeper this year in terms of really fleshing out these characters and making them come to life,” Sanford said.
Parkman said performing Lucy is like playing three characters in one.
"In the beginning, in the party scene, it’s kind of the last joyful and happy moment," Parkman said. "After Lucy is bitten, things start going downhill, darker and darker. She’s being transformed into a vampire, so her body language and everything starts to change. She’s getting weaker and weaker, until she’s fully turned into a vampire. Then, she’s very strong.”
McGaughey said it’s a very emotional role. "I think you can connect to the characters, in a weird way," she said. "You kind of feel like you’re there with them.”
When they’re not performing as Lucy, McGaughey and Parkman watch each other perform to learn more, and also dance other roles in Dracula. Kate Seale Smith, ADT's artistic director, said that's not an easy path.
“When you throw yourselves into a role and then you have to do another one, it can be difficult," Smith said. "They’ve done a great job. They’re doing a lot of dancing. I’m so proud of watching them develop their character.”
They're not alone. Along with a huge group of friends, party guests and many other regular humans, there are bats, and many adult vampires. There are even a couple of child vampires, played by Francie Crawford and Lauren Ingram.
Peinado has worked with many of these dancers through the years, and said he feels at home with ADT in Montgomery.
“ADT has always been a family to me,” he said. “I’ve known the kids since they were younger, so right away I connect with them.”
Public performances are Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets for these range from $20 to $30 for adults, depending on seating choice, and are $15 for children 12 and under (Dracula is not recommended for ages 7 and under). They're available online at alabamadancetheatre.com.
On Thursday, ADT will have two special Dracula performances at Davis: a school performance at 10 a.m., and a Hometown Heroes performance that's free to all military, first responders, healthcare providers and educators at 7 p.m.
Sanford said one of the scariest aspects of Dracula isn't what you'll see, but rather what you'll hear. It's the music by Philip Feeney, performed by Pauline Thulborn, the Opera North Chorus, the Northern Ballet Theatre Orchestra, and John Pryce-Jones.
"It's beautiful and bewitching at the same time." Sanford said.
Fangs and blood: Dancing like a vampire
So what is the essence of "life" as a vampire?
“To me, a vampire can either, like Dracula, learn to control his power and be more human and noble, or they can stick to the more animalistic traits of it,” McGaughey said.
Sanford said Dracula's brides seem to symbolize three different traits — jealousy, insanity, and control with a dark streak.
Newly turned vampires wake up to horrific starvation. "It's all about the hunger, and how that transfers into movement," Sanford said. "Their bodies are week. They can't hold themselves up. It drives them to do terrible things."
As the eldest vampire, Sanford said Dracula is all about control. He's a king, and his character shows it. Peinado said Dracula’s dance is a mix of classical ballet and movements that show he’s a powerful force to be reckoned with.
“I tried to make him creepy, but at the same time elegant,” Peinado said. “Very regal. Very noble. He’s a nobleman. He’s been around for a very long time. He’s a man who wants to be in control. He wants to be in command.”
He also wants to hold onto his pointy teeth. Yes, all the ADT vampires have the classic fangs in their mouths as they dance. Both McGaughey and Parkman said the extra chompers help keep them in character.
Peinado said he and the other vampires keep an extra set of fangs, just in case something happens.
“You get used to it. You’re so focused on the dancing that you forget about it,” Peinado said of the fangs. “The only thing that you have to worry about is if they’re going to fall off. You need to use dental glue, and you need to do it right.”
Another part to being a vampire on stage is with what the fangs are meant for: Blood.
“One of the complicated things to me is when you have to have the fake blood on your mouth," Peinado said. "We have the blood effects when Dracula bites his victims.”
While the dancers may leap, one movement that ADT's vampires don't have quite yet is flight. Sanford would love to make that happen one day. "I think that would be really cool," she said.
This wasn’t ADT’s first bite of Dracula
In January 1998, ADT hadn’t yet conjured its own version of a Dracula ballet. But it did bring one to Montgomery.
ADT founder Kitty Seale brought in Alabama Ballet’s Dracula production to the Davis Theatre. It had just been staged in the fall of 1997 in Birmingham.
That production starred Union Springs native Wes Chapman, Alabama Ballet’s artistic director, as Dracula. Chapman was a protégé of dancer and choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Like the ADT vampires, Chapman told the Advertiser that dancing with fangs had challenges. In fact, he broke a fang. He also had to rush to the store frequently to get Poly-grip to hold his fangs in.
Chapman described Alabama Ballet’s version of Dracula as a “silent film version” of Stoker’s classic vampire book.
At the time, Kate Seale Smith — Seale's daughter — was apprenticing with Alabama Ballet, and danced the role of a vampire. Back then, she told the Advertiser that it was the most sinister part she’d ever played.
This production also starred former ADT dancer Foye DuBose as the doctor. By 2009, DuBose was a ballet master at ADT, and he would take on the role of Van Helsing for ADT's production.
An encore performance of Alabama Ballet's Dracula would be held in October 1998, also at the Davis Theatre.
Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel covers things to do in the River Region. Contact him at sheupel@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: There will be blood: Weekend of Dracula and dance ahead for Montgomery
