Charlotte Shields-Rossi | a&e editor

Next week the classic garlic hating, blood-sucking vampire from Transylvania will take center stage with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s “Dracula.”

Michael Pink created “Dracula” for Northern Ballet in 1996. This year he came to Pittsburgh to direct the show. What he calls a “silent play” is inspired by Bram Stoker’s 1897 “Dracula.”

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre performed the ballet two years ago, bringing it back this year by popular demand.

Over 30 people will perform this year, some only having a few seconds on stage. A large number of people in the ensemble makes the novel-ballet adaptation “work,” according to Pink.

“It advances the story, it advances the character’s personality, so it becomes sort of a silent play,” Pink said.

The show is two hours and 30 minutes following a three-act structure, each including costume changes, different ballet styles and musical scores that curate a specific atmosphere for the individual acts.

The performance opens with Harker, a young Englishman, placed in a mental institution due to a previous encounter with Dracula. Throughout the act you see Harker before his visit to Transylvania, during and after.

Pink said the first act follows folkloric movement. The choreography is fast paced and chaotic, dozens of dancers take the stage simultaneously following different choreography. The music is loud and rhythmic, often mimicking a fast-paced heart beat. The acting is dramatic, the artists show faces of extreme distress, they scream and pound their hands on the ground.

“Something like Dracula is a real piece of dance theater, it moves very quickly,” Pink said.

Harker encounters many antagonist characters. Wolves without flesh, exposing their muscles and bones, lurk around him. Dracula’s brides wear jewels and lacy white dresses while surrounding Harker in a seductive and mischievous manner. Dracula and Harker share a duet, both fighting each other for control.

Act 2 follows Lucy, beautiful and innocent, who begins her story as a care-free young woman at a dance in a tea room. A sharp contrast to the beginning of Act 1.

Pink said the second act follows conventional classical ballet movements. Lucy and other party-goers are dressed in colorful, detailed attire. The graceful and controlled movements are akin to one seen in a ballerina music box.

Although the slow paced and tranquil scene should create relaxation among the audience, it does the opposite. Pink said the viewers feel suspense waiting for Dracula to emerge.

“The whole scene was 15 minutes long, and it’s designed to make you restless,” Pink said.

Dracula finally emerges in a dramatic fashion on top of the spiral staircase. Lucy begins to dance with him while the other characters move in slow motion. Finally Dracula bites Lucy, turning her into a vampire. The act ends with Lucy, now bloodthirsty, biting someone herself.

JoAnna Schmidt, who will play Lucy during the Saturday matinee, said she enjoys her character arc in the production.

”Its really fun to go from that innocent, youthful person, to like, after she transforms into a vampire and is just totally evil and demonic,” Schmidt said.

The first two acts follow the damage Dracula has inflicted on others, while the final act follows the end of his reign of terror. Mina, the wife of Harker and friend of Lucy, is out for revenge against Dracula.

Pink said the final act follows a neoclassical ballet approach. The costumes are more simple than the previous act, the music and choreography fast paced. The undead crawl around slowly, screaming and reaching their hands out toward the audience. Dracula steps over them, dancing with Mina. At the end, characters fight with Dracula, finally defeating him with a wooden stake to the heart.

Pop culture’s obsession with Dracula and other vampiric figures has created a cult following around the performance, which is theatrical and creepy. Lucius Kirst who will play Dracula next week during the Saturday matinee said it is nothing like your typical Nutcracker.

“It’s more adult themed [than other story-based ballet performances], Kirst said. “It’s definitely darker than your average ballet viewing experience,”

Students can purchase tickets for $27 on the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre website. Performances will be from Oct. 31 – Nov. 2 at Benedum Center

Charlotte Shields-Rossi can be reached at shieldsrossic@duq.edu