Minnesota Ballet descends into pit with ‘Poe’

DULUTH — In Minnesota Ballet’s subterranean studios at the St. Louis County Depot, artistic director Karl von Rabenau reassured the dancers rehearsing “Poe.”

“If it’s a little awkward, that’s OK,” he said. “Death …” His voice trailed off. Well, yeah. Death can be awkward.

Later, sitting in the Depot’s rotunda for an interview about his decision to create a piece inspired by the writing of Edgar Allan Poe, von Rabenau said, “I just thought that was a great way to bring in the Halloween spirit.”

Von Rabenau previously choreographed the company’s

“Sleepy Hollow”

(2021), and now Minnesota Ballet is preparing to present “Poe,” its first evening-length work to premiere in the Depot’s rechristened Studio Four.

“It’s a very unique space,” said company dancer Sean Sullivan. “There is a stage space and a seating space, but it is still in the historic train depot. Also, the audience is right there! You can see the audience, and that’s a very rare thing.”

Studio Four contrasts with the DECC’s spacious Symphony Hall, where the audience, from the perspective of a dancer looking into stage lights, might disappear into the darkness.

“We’re trained to be big (in expression) so the people in the back can see you,” said company dancer Brooke Bero. “In order to dial that down, there’s a lot of these roles that need to be a little bit more human.”

“It does give you that feeling of, OK, I have to feel what I would really, really feel if I was in the space of this pit and I can’t see anything, there’s darkness around me,” said company dancer Matthew Frezzell, one of the dancers performing the role of the Accused in a segment inspired by Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum.”

“I don’t think Duluth is used to seeing dancing that close up, and being that drawn into it,” said von Rabenau.

There’s another advantage to Studio Four: Because the capacity is so limited

(150, to Symphony Hall’s 2,221),

the company can plan several performances of a given program, rather than just playing for a single weekend. “Poe” is scheduled for seven performances, spanning Oct. 20-29.

“As a dancer, it’s nice to not only get to perform it, but get to perform it again and try and add more to it,” said Bero. “Versus with ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ it’s like one and done, hope you did well!”

Weather led to heartbreak for that spring production, which had only two performances planned for Symphony Hall on March 11 and 12. A weekend snowstorm forced the cancellation of the Sunday matinee, and kept some people who’d planned to attend the Saturday evening performance from getting to the venue.

“That was incredibly disappointing,” said von Rabenau. “We’re just moving on.”

For “Poe,” von Rabenau adapted a handful of the author’s eerie compositions. “We’re going to be doing ‘The Masque of the Red Death,’” said the choreographer. “‘The Purloined Letter,’ which into that we’re going to fold portions of ‘The Raven’ and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart,’ and then the final one will be ‘The Pit and the Pendulum.’”

The “Pit” segment has an Accused (Frezzell and company dancer Isaac Sharratt will alternate in the role) facing a panel of masked judges. At rehearsal last week, dancers paid careful attention to nailing their choreography as judges, since the masks will limit their ability to coordinate visually with other performers.

“When you have that key part of it, your peripheral (vision), taken away from you, there’s so much more internally that needs to happen,” said company apprentice Juliana DeBellis. “The mental load increases a lot.”

The masks create a powerful visual effect, though, with the judges moving in synchrony to condemn the Accused. The “Pit” segment is one of two, the other being the “Masque” segment, to feature a dancer personifying Death itself. Bero and company dancer Kyra Olson alternate in that role.

“If I’m Death, I’ve had people pass through me over and over and over and over again,” said Bero. “When we’re doing ‘The Pit and the Pendulum,’ and it’s one more person pleading, ‘Please don’t let me go,’ I take pity on him … but you still have to be steadfast, like, this is my job.”

“As a dancer, you don’t get words to express what you’re doing,” said Sharratt. “You get to do that deep dive into the character.”

“Being scared of the dark, that’s a very human experience,” said Bero. “Then as a dancer … I can add my arsenal of technical training to (portray) that visually.”

“In Studio Four, because it’s such an intimate space,” said DeBellis, “by taking these stories that are so intensely filled with all of these very, very human moments, there’s so much opportunity for the audience to just become encompassed by that.”

While the dancers won’t be using their voices, certain words will be heard. Von Rabenau, who built the show’s score from music by composers including Dmitri Shostakovich and Bela Bartok, is incorporating selected texts performed by two iconic actors.

“I came across Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone reading Edgar Allan Poe,” said the choreographer. “I’ve used some of that.”

While ballet is foundational to “Poe,” the piece delves into contemporary forms as well. “It’s very well-balanced stylistically,” said DeBellis. Viewers “will get a little taste of a lot of different ways of moving, which is really exciting.”

Bero described “Poe” as “a great starter show” for people who aren’t accustomed to seeing ballet, or concert dance generally.

“You could familiarize yourself with the stories beforehand,” said Bero. “Sometimes people are like, ‘I don’t get what they’re trying to say.’”

“You could go read it at intermission, between acts,” said DeBellis.

“It’s a lot more digestible than something like a four-act ‘Swan Lake,’” Bero noted.

Attendees can expect some spooky atmospherics as well. “Not to give any spoilers,” said Sullivan, but “there’s a lot of cool other stuff, too, besides the movement.”

Von Rabenau thinks the piece will prove a draw for audience members hoping to get into the seasonal spirit, as well as for fans of the author seeking a new way to experience his classic tales.

“We’ve heard from so many people talking about how much they enjoy Edgar Allan Poe,” von Rabenau said. “I don’t think there is another company that’s done an entire evening of Poe works.”

Given that his company will be performing in a building that’s also offering “haunted history tours,” von Rabenau noted the performers are taking appropriate precautions.

“We’ll try to not make it too spooky,” he said, not wanting “to encourage any of the extracurricular beings that are around.”

For tickets and information, see

minnesotaballet.org.