Ballet

Sylvester Campbell, an internationally acclaimed ballet dancer who taught dance for 15 years at the Baltimore School for the Arts, died March 9 of respiratory failure at the Genesis-Eldercare Randallstown Center. He was 59.Mr. Campbell, who headed the dance department at the high school for 15 years, danced with ballet companies throughout the United States, Europe and Canada before returning to the Baltimore-Washington area where he had started out.He was a trailblazer for African-Americans in the world of classical ballet.

The Ballet Theatre of Annapolis opens its 14th season this weekend at Maryland Hall with a slate of performances featuring three dramatic ballets -- two of them premiere performances.Choreographer Edward Stewart's troupe of dancers will present "Gaiete Parisienne," a set of light, comic dances set to music by the greatest Gallic charmer of them all: Jacques Offenbach.Performing the can-cans, waltzes and other cabaret dances will be Ballet Theatre veterans such as Leslie Bradley, David Miller and Laura Erdman.

CAROLINE WILSON Denzler of Highland, a ballet teacher in Howard County since the late 1960s, has become an author.In collaboration with British artist and illustrator John Green, she has written "The Ballet Class," a children's coloring and resource book.Denzler, who specializes in teaching younger students, is an instructor at aesthetics, ballet royale and Caryl Maxwell classical ballet.Dover Publications in New York selected Denzler to write the book from an international pool of ballet teachers.

The big sleeper of the Kirov Ballet season was the revival of Leonid Lavrovsky's "Romeo and Juliet," created in 1940.Common wisdom had it that Lavrovsky's remarkable fusion of mime and dancing would look old-fashioned, that this Socialist Realist epic with decadent aristocrats pitted against "the people" could no longer be taken seriously.Surprisingly, this once-controversial treatment of Prokofiev's score (seen in New York with the Bolshoi in 1959) was a superb revelation all over again.

Deborah Hanson Harris has been selected as the new general manager of the Ballet Theatre of Annapolis.As general manager, she is responsible for the day-to-day management of the professional dance company.She has over 13 years of professional writing and organizational experience, as well as experience in volunteer coordination, special events management and membership development.Ms. Harris graduated from Vassar College and has a graduate certificate in fund-raising from George Washington University.

With a flourish of grand classic style and a nod to tradition, the Donetsk Ballet opened its two-week engagement last night at the Lyric.For those ballet fans who are accustomed to their "Nutcrackers" peppered with the pitter-patter of small feet, the Donetsk's all-adult version is as close to the Petipa original as one can get. And this charming company more than makes up for any lack of childish preciousness.Accompanied by a 48-piece orchestra composed of local musicians under the direction of Mikhail Bank, this version of E. T. A. Hoffmann's story choreographed by Vladimir Shumeikin has several surprises.

THE MARYLAND Ballet Theater Company, whose home is in Crofton, has been invited to perform at the opening of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington on Sunday, beginning at 12:30 p.m. Arleene Monahan, the company's founder and director, said, "It truly is such an honor to be invited to perform in such a prestigious event, and MBT is so very proud of all our accomplished ballerinas who will be performing." The event holds additional significance for Monahan. One of her first performances as a young ballet student was at the festival.

For the second Halloween season in a row, the Ballet Theater of Annapolis is staging "Dracula" at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis.The ballet, a modernized interpretation of Bram Stoker's horror tale, will feature Chinese dancer Zhirui Zou this fall, making her debut as a principal dancer with the Annapolis company in a new role as the monster's jealous bride.Zou, a Beijing resident considered one of China's finest dancers, is spending a year in Annapolis.The ballet tracks Dracula -- danced by Dmitry Tuboltsev, a Bolshoi dancer who joined the company and tackled the role last year -- from his birth through his death.

A rich and varied selection of classical and contemporary works awaits dance enthusiasts in Ballet Theater of Annapolis' 18th season."We're excited," says Janet Morgan, executive director of Maryland's only full-time professional classical ballet company. "We have a lot of new things going on."Dancers have been added to the roster, a full slate of master classes is scheduled, and the company is planning Halloween weekend performances at Towson University. All this as well as a Maryland Hall season full of BTA favorites.

After nearly a four-month hiatus caused by financial difficulties, the Maryland Ballet will perform this weekend at its new home, Loyola College.Artistic director Phillip Carman said in an interview that the college's generosity -- Loyola is donating the use of McManus Theatre to the company -- has helped the 5-year-old group heal some of the monetary wounds created by the recent recession and get literally back on its toes.Although the 10-member company gave two appearances in March at area colleges, the coming performance is the first in the city since the company was forced to cancel its January $H subscription series at the Baltimore Museum of Art.Despite the financial insecurity of the company, which has forced dancers to seek other sources of income, Mr. Carman has created two new ballets.