Angelina Ballerina

Former Alabama Ballet director Wes Chapman advises on 'Angelina Ballerina'

by Michael Huebner for The Birmingham News

A new generation of PBS programs will feature choreography by Wes Chapman, Alabama Ballet's former artistic director.

"Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps" debuted nationally in September, and will be seen in Birmingham Sundays at 10 a.m. on WBIQ/Channel 10, starting next week. Based on children's books by Katharine Holabird and Helen Craig, the original animated TV series has been shown since 2002 and features the adventures of an 8-year-old mouse in a leotard, tutu, hair ribbon, and ballet slippers -- all pink -- who aspires to be a prima ballerina.

The new series is produced in computer-generated animation and will include an expanded repertoire of tap, hip-hop and jazz and ethnic dance.

Chapman, now the artistic director of the Studio Company at American Ballet Theatre in New York, choreographed steps and advised the animators.

"I took two of my dancers to the recording studio, and we had a camera record them doing ballet, tap, jazz, modern, some hip-hop as well, for the animators to reference," Chapman said last week from New York. "They could reference that and animate it correctly. We were providing examples of things done well, so they could imitate them."

He was careful to choreograph to an 8-year-old's abilities.

Angelina is dancing at a high level, but she's not doing most of it on point," Chapman said.

"It's age-appropriate in that respect. You're not supposed to be on point until 11 or 12 years old."

Characters such as Alice Nimbletoe, Anna Mousikova and Angelina's parents Matilda and Maurice Mouseling play roles in first 20 episodes, which are about 12 minutes long and include titles such as "Angelina's Broken Fiddle," "Angelina and the Hip-Hop Mouse" and "Angelina and the Irish Jig."

"It's charming and creative," said Chapman, who has produced live Angelina shows at the Metropolitan Opera House in conjunction with PBS and ABTKids series. "All of the story lines have a good message, about friendship, doing the right thing, or something that's important in a kid's development."