Galletta Dance Company performs a medieval fairy tale

Following a year of existence and subsequent preparations, the Galletta School of Dance and Performing Arts is serving up its first full company show. The Poulsbo youth dance studio opened its doors in April 2006. Now it will be presenting a few hours of their expertise in the form of “The Princess and the Pea” at 7 p.m. April 12 and 13 at the Bainbridge Performing Arts Playhouse - 200 Madison Ave. on Bainbridge.

Following a year of existence and subsequent preparations, the Galletta School of Dance and Performing Arts is serving up its first full company show.

The Poulsbo youth dance studio opened its doors in April 2006. Now it will be presenting a few hours of their expertise in the form of “The Princess and the Pea” at 7 p.m. April 12 and 13 at the Bainbridge Performing Arts Playhouse – 200 Madison Ave. on Bainbridge.

The Galletta School of Dance has composed the classic medieval fairy tale into a combination of the many different forms of dance which the school teaches.

Later in the evening, each of the company’s smaller ensembles will perform shorter, more stylized pieces to close the event.

“I don’t want to do a recital, I don’t want to just march out every single class,” company owner and orchestrator Lynn Galletta said. “I wanted to include all of my classes in the show in one way or another.”

So the troupe took to the classic tale and rearranged the story in order to fit all it’s peas into the pod. In the Galletta version of the fairy tale, the “Pea” actually transforms an unsuspecting girl into the beautiful princess.

The tradition version of the tale is about a lazy prince’s attempts to sequester the finest of ladies by gauging her spoiled state with an uncomfortable pea put at the bottom of a dozen mattresses where she sleeps.

The Galletta studio’s version employs just one layer of bedding.

“It’s very tongue and cheek, it’s a sunny version,” Galletta said. “I think it would be a great show for the family.”

That latter statement is based on the fact that included in “The Princess and the Pea” will be many forms of dance ranging in style from classical to modern, jazz to hip hop.

Kenneth Miller will be playing the prince, while Lael Telles will be playing the princess and Maggie Hotchkiss will play the Asian princess, Galletta said.

The teenage dancers of the group will be the core of the creatively royal “Princess” production, while the rest of the company serves as the supporting ballet, Galletta said.

Then after a 20-minute intermission following “The Princess and the Pea,” the company will be delving into individual sections of dance with classical violinist Larry Telles and a guest guitarist.

“I was more nervous about two weeks ago when we still had so many things undone,” Galletta said. “Now, I’m starting to feel like I can see the light.”

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