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Coppelia

Dance is in the air at UB’s Center for the Arts! The center has recently hosted a variety of dance performances by both local and national troupes, and it would certainly seem that Buffalo’s dance community is widening, as well as its audience. On Friday, the Greater Buffalo Youth Ballet—Western New York’s premiere youth dance company—presents its version of the classic comic ballet Coppelia for the group’s springtime performance. The story of Coppelia is lighthearted and fun, as ballets go (not tragic like Swan Lake, passionate like Firebird, or eerie like Les Sylphees, for instance), which makes it a good bet for kids and non-ballet-goers too. The spunky heroine, Swanilda, plays a person pretending to be a doll, pretending to be a person—an enviable role for a ballerina because of its quirkiness, tricky choreography and demand for acting ability. The lead roles are danced by Jessica Stirling (as Swanilda) and the Lake Erie Ballet’s Randy Prill as her hapless fiancee who becomes beguiled by a doll. Artistic Director Elizabeth DiStasio-Waddell provides fresh, innovative choreography to match the spirit of the ballet—and of springtime, too.

Friday, March 31 at 7:30pm. UB Center for the Arts, Main Stage,

Amherst Campus (645-ARTS). $16-$18.