By Steve Sucato

Cleveland Ballet once again opens its new dance season with the Halloween thriller Dracula. Choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s one-act ballet, created in 2010, is back by popular demand to send hearts racing and chills down spines. The ballet adaptation of author Bram Stoker’s gothic horror novel will be paired with another of Corbett’s ballets, 2008’s Code of Silence, about the tortured souls of former prisoners of war or political prisoners set to music by Arvo Pärt. 

The program will be dedicated to Corbett, who passed away this past January. She is best known for her choreographic work on the 1984 film Footloose and the 2000 Broadway hit Swing!, for which she received two Tony Award nominations. 

Returning to reprise her role as Lucy Westerna (Oct. 24 and 25 at 7 pm) in Dracula is third-year company member Anna Cole. 

A native of Marietta, Georgia, Cole began her ballet training at age three in pre-school before studying at Georgia Metro Dance Theatre in 2007. In 2018, she attended The Washington School of Ballet’s Professional Training Program and later became a trainee with The Washington Ballet before joining Cleveland Ballet in 2023.

Cole will also dance alongside partner Lorenzo Mattia Pontiggia as the “Gold Couple” in Code of Silence (Oct. 24 at 10:30 am and Oct. 25 at 1 pm).

In the weeks leading up to this weekend’s performances, I spoke with Cole about her dancing, her career, and revisiting the role of Lucy in Dracula. Here’s what she said:

Were your parents or any siblings involved in the arts?
Yes, my mom briefly danced in high school, and my dad is the kind of guy who can hear a tune and sit down at the piano or pick up a guitar and play it. I also have two older brothers, and we all played the cello growing up.  

What was it about ballet that made you want to pursue a career in it?
There wasn’t one specific thing. My love for dance in general was a huge reason, along with the appreciation of music I got from my family. I was also drawn to the gratification I received from all of the hard work put in day in and day out in ballet. It’s an undeniably wonderful feeling.  

Did you have any other career interests growing up?
In kindergarten we were asked that and to fill in the blank in the sentence, I want to be ____ when I grow up. I wrote down ‘In a parade.’ (laughing) That was my aspiration.

How did you end up at Cleveland Ballet?
One of the biggest things I was looking for in a dance company was a familial environment with the other dancers. When I was researching companies, I met Cleveland Ballet dancer Madison Campbell, who told me about how friendly and great the dancers were. I decided to audition and got in. That was a big day for me.  

What do you feel are your biggest strengths as a dancer?
My artistry and movement quality.

Do you have a favorite dance step?
Fouettés or any other kind of cool turning step.

What is the best piece of advice you got about dancing?
The best piece of advice I got about dancing came from Xiomara Reyes, when I was at The Washington Ballet School, who said to treat every ballet class like it was a performance. In doing so, I learned to improve my stage presence every day in class. 

Do you have any hobbies?
I love to dog sit, reading, and hosting our book club.

What are your favorite places to go in Cleveland? 
My roommate, fellow company dancer Alexander Guzmán, and I love going to restaurants like Amba and Chef Liu Fang’s Abundance and visiting the museums and green spaces in University Circle.

You are reprising your role as Lucy Westerna in Dracula. How would you describe her?
Lucy is an innocent young girl who is the fiancée of nobleman Arthur Holmwood and the best friend of Mina Harker. As the ballet’s story unfolds, she is bitten by Dracula. After that, she loses her innocence and naiveté and becomes a promiscuous woman who kidnaps children to drink their blood.  

Does it feel like you have to throw a switch on your characterization of her after she is bitten?
Yes, over the progression of the ballet, you have to switch from being innocent and in love to being seduced by Dracula and becoming an evil woman.

What is your favorite part of the role?
The pas de deux between Lucy and Dracula. There are so many fabulous lifts, and Lucy is empowered in it, and I resonate with that.

What are the most challenging aspects of dancing the role of Lucy?
The acting. Especially in the scene with Arthur after she has been bitten. I have to quickly switch back and forth between her as her old self, remembering the good times with him, and then switch to abruptly pushing him away and being scared and confused about what is happening with her. Dancing-wise, the sleepwalking pas de deux is very challenging because I am suspended between my partner by a silk scarf and am not in hand-to-hand contact with them.

What is your role in Code of Silence?
The ballet is about former prisoners of war and their ongoing suffering from torture and mistreatment. In each of the five male-female couples featured in it, the men are the former prisoners of war, and the women are his fleeting memories returning like apparitions to pull the men from their darkness.  

Cleveland Ballet performs Dracula and Code of Silence, 10:30 a.m. (Student matinee) & 7 p.m., Friday, October 24, and 1 p.m. & 7 p.m., Saturday, October 25 at Playhouse Square’s Mimi Ohio Theatre, 1511 Euclid Ave, Cleveland. Tickets range from $36-$156 and can be purchased at playhousesquare.org or by calling (216) 241-6000.

Dracula After Dark!:  Join Cleveland Ballet on October 25 at The Hermit Club at Hofbräuhaus, 1530 Chester Ave., Cleveland, from 9-11:30 p.m. for an exclusive afterparty. Step into the shadows and celebrate the night at Dracula After Dark, an exclusive afterparty following Cleveland Ballet’s performance of Dracula. Guests are invited to dress the part — from dramatic evening wear to full costume, and enjoy specialty cocktails, themed small bites, music, dancing, and mingling with fellow ballet-goers and company dancers.  General Admission tickets are $50 and can be purchased at cleveballet.org.