In ‘Wickedly Red,’ Steven Montalvo finds strength and inspiration through the power of collaboration
By Rachel Yepremian-Owens
The Lively Arts Foundation presents the debut performance of “Wickedly Red” (7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct Tower Theatre for the Performing Arts). Four Fresno-area dance studios are coming together to offer a twist on the “Little Red Riding Hood” tale.
The show is directed by Steven Montalvo, co-director of Central California Ballet and director of Studio 22 at Montalvo School of Performing Arts.
“Wickedly Red” is a combination of ballet, jazz and contemporary, hip-hop and storytelling, plus an immense amount of group effort to tell one consecutive story.
“I could do a whole hour and 30 minute show, but you’re only going to get my ideas,” he said. “You’re only going to get my creativity and what I think.”
That’s why he’s using a collaborative approach: alternating his own creative ideas with those of other choreographers.
“Now somebody that sits in the audience is going to have five different worlds.”
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Montalvo with Studio 22 reached out to In the Spotlight Dance Center, Jazzy D Studio of Dance and Shirley Winters Ballet to see if they were on board with the idea of not only bringing different styles of dance together to tell a story, but different dance studios as a whole. That’ something not often done..
“One, I knew that I could trust them,” Montalvo said. “Two, I knew they could get their work done. Three, I knew that they were going to have the students to be able to do it. And then four was because I kind of knew that they had something to give…completely different than mine.”
The actress who plays Little Red’s grandmother, Zoey Camargo, will even be singing during the show, Cirque Du Soleil-style.
Montalvo’s inspiration for the piece derived from the song “Lil’ Red Riding Hood” by Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs.
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Throughout the production are four different Little Reds, one from each studio. With the use of moving doors that open and close, portable trees, scene changes and creative musical transitions, all four studios and all four Little Reds have their chance in the spotlight.
“I love what Steven has created, his whole entire storyline,” said Nika Borunda, director of Jazzy D Studio of Dance. “He gave us [complete] creative freedom to create whatever we wanted to when we went through these doors and these portals.”
Shirley Winters, director of the ballet school bearing her name. said that “Wickedly Red” has similarities to “The Nutcracker,” which she helps direct every year under the Lively Arts Foundation banner. “Wickedly Red “brings an exciting twist.
“It’s been really fun to work with these people and great to bring the studios together,” Winters said. “In ‘The Nutcracker, we bring people from all over, so we do bring people together, but this is nice to bring other types of styles together.”
As for Montalvo’s journey, he grew up in Kerman, but began his life in showbiz early. As a young boy who was put into sports he didn’t enjoy, all he wanted to do was dance. He was given an ultimatum that if he took karate lessons, he could enroll in dance. He stepped foot into his first dance class and never batted an eye at karate or anything else.
He worked with big names like Barry Manilow and Bob Mackie. He was a dancer for several years, traveling to different countries and dancing with the Holland America Cruise Line.
Then he moved to Broadway in New York and performed in big-time shows like “Mamma Mia,” “Kinky Boots and Aladdin. He found himself in the top 10 male dancers in the nation.
However, with the decreasing health of his parents back home in Kerman, at the peak of his career he made the decision to leave New York and come back home to take care of them. They were Montalvo’s main support system when his life of dance began and it carried on until they eventually passed a few years ago.
From this point on, he recognized the need for a dance studio in Kerman and felt it was his calling.
“I knew that I kind of had a mission…” Montalvo said. “It was my job to come in and teach healthy and safe way of dance.”
When his dancers spoke about him for thi story, they mentioned that some of their favorite things about him are his willingness to try new things, his welcoming personality, the healthy environment he creates and the love, care and support he shows his dancers.
For Montalvo, it’s not about perfection. It is simply about never forgetting about what it truly means to love dance.
“In my eyes, I think if you’re not perfect, you’re exactly what I’m looking for,” Montalvo said.
