Civic Ballet Breathes Life into Historic Texas Theatre

For years, San Angeloans have wandered past the Texas Theatre downtown and eyed the historic building with curiosity and wonder. Some recall the days pre-1983 when they saw their first movies, others have always longed for a peek inside.

On Friday and Saturday night, the doors to the theatre were opened again for business, the first time the space has been used in five to seven years.

Moving to choreography written by San Angelo Civic Ballet Artistic Director Meghann Bridgeman in Act 1 and choreography written by Gina Patterson in Act 2, San Angelo ballerinas and a few male guest dancers put on “The Jazz Affair”, an upbeat dance number set to live music performed by Jazz Concho with John Irish.

“It’s a surreal feeling, really, when the dancers come on stage because it’s such a historical treasure,” said ballet Marketing Director Sarah Beth Terral an hour before opening Saturday night. “You really get the charm and atmosphere of the theatre, [which] adds so much to the dance and the dance just brings life to the theatre. This is what the theatre’s for.”

Terral, a former dancer and San Angelo native, said this was the first performance the ballet has ever held in the Texas Theatre. Like many in the area, Terral never had the opportunity to see the theatre in operation and was excited when owner Lee Pfluger agreed to let the ballet use the space for “The Jazz Affair”.

“I don’t think that anyone has danced in this theater since the vaudeville days in the ‘30s,” Terral said. “That’s a huge deal. It was vaudeville theater originally and then it turned into a movie theater until ’83, when it closed. As far as we know, nobody’s danced here since back then.”

The SACB requested use of the space when a booking conflict prohibited them from using the Angelo Civic Theatre during the two “Jazz Affair” dates. With only two months remaining till opening night after they received approval, much work had to be done to prepare the space for performance.

“We came in and all the seats were in the side of the room and covered in dust and there was some things hanging…and we just started putting all the seats back and cleaning,” Terral explained. “We got permission to use the theatre about July and we’ve been working on it since then. [We’ve] just had wonderful cooperation from volunteers, from the city, to help us get everything safe and checked out. It’s a great community effort.”

Performing in the theatre was a little different than in other spaces used around town, Terral said, and not just because of the nostalgia and history held within the walls.

The group performed two dress rehearsals prior to the shows, and since they were performing to live music, had to mind the tempo. The stage itself was different than the ones the ballerinas customarily perform on, and staying in character was key, she said.

“This stage is actually a great stage,” Terral said. “The stage was resurfaced and because there’s not wings or anything…they kind of have to stay in character when they’re on the sides of the stage and they go around and go through the back if they have to cross sides and stuff. That’s a little bit different…”

Despite the warmth of the non-air-conditioned building in the evenings, the response and feedback from the audience was remarkable, Terral said, and the performances saw a good draw.

“The atmosphere in here was really, really fun: clapping and cheering,” she said. “Parts of the dance are super fast and upbeat, some of it’s really funny and the audience was great. They seemed super engaged. We’ve heard nothing but positive feedback.”

“The Jazz Affair” was last performed by the SACB in 2010, and at that time two female guest dancers and three male guest dancers completed the performing group. This year, all of the female roles were filled by San Angelo ballerinas,; a testament to the growth and progress of the local ballet company.

“We’re so thankful to the community with how they’ve helped us get to this point,” Terral said. “It’s wonderful to see—the steps in the show are really difficult, and to see our girls do them all and dance them like the professionals did in 2010, to bring incredible skill to a difficult show is just really fun to see.”

“The Jazz Affair” was a two-day show that concluded with a performance at 8 p.m. Saturday. For schedules of ballet performances and information on shows, visit the civic ballet website.