Publication: Orange County Register [US]
Date: November 5, 1997
Section: Show
Page Number(s): F03
Length: 556 Words
Title: "Princely Dancing? Not Here"
Written By: Laura Bleiberg

Mayte Garcia had just joined rock star Prince's concert tours as a dancer when the Joffrey Ballet debuted its full-length "Billboards" to music by the pop musician.

She liked it well enough, but couldn't help thinking: "I would have done this differently. "

Now she has.

"Around the World in a Day" is a three-act dance produced and directed by Mayte, married to The Artist Formerly Known as Prince and known by her first name only. "Around the World in a Day" had been in the midst of a scattershot, barely publicized tour since mid-October. The group was in San Diego over the weekend and was supposed to come to the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday. Late Tuesday afternoon, however, Mayte postponed the concert because "the business side has been less than fruitful. " It was not known when it would be rescheduled.

Like "Billboards," all the music in this show is by the Artist, from different phases of his career, and the group of dancers is called NPG Dance Company, after his band, New Power Generation.

In a phone interview on Monday, Mayte (pronounced MY-tay) said: "To see a classical ballet company (the Joffrey) was great, but I wanted to do it differently. "Billboards" inspired me to do it differently. (The songs) are diverse musically, so it needs to be (danced) the same way. "

Mayte hired a slew of choreographers and encouraged them to use many styles. "Around the World" utilizes ballet, hip-hop, jazz, modern dance, and Broadway- and MTV-style hoofing. It also features guest artist Desmond Richardson, star of American Ballet Theatre's "Othello" and formerly with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.

The other dancers, who were found through auditions and personal contacts, come from the United States, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Guam and Spain.

One thing unites the work, though: Mayte's mandate that the dances respond directly to the songs.

"I think in each song there is a story. Working with my husband, I learned to be very literal with him. To see dancing with no meaning is useless to me. If he's singing about something, we should be dancing about that. "

Mayte started dancing at age 3, studying ballet and _ of all things _ belly dancing. Her father was in the military and the family moved every few years; the longest she stayed in one place was for six years in Germany. Her professional dancing experience included belly dancing in Cairo and classical dancing with the Wiesbaden Stadts Theatre, plus several tours with the Artist.

This NPG Dance Company tour tried to defy normal conventions.

Area newspapers were informed of Friday's now-canceled performance only one week ago. Mayte said the tour was launched to see what audience response would be. She said Monday that the tour was going to take a two-month hiatus after the Los Angeles performance so the publicity machine could be revved up for subsequent shows; they apparently decided to do that immediately.

But Mayte _ who is not dancing _ said this is not a one-shot deal. She wants to make dance interesting and accessible to everyone, she said, adding that tickets would be priced accordingly. When told that tickets were actually quite expensive, at $ 40 a shot, she responded: "That must be the theater. "