SHAKESPEARE IN PANTOMIME

The Saint Louis Ballet's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" follows the outline of the familiar Shakespearean play, but this is ballet, not theater.

"It's pantomime," said Ludmila Dukodovsky, the company's co-artistic director. "You see the artist project the story through body movement and how the choreographer develops the plot."

Many versions of the ballet have been produced, including one by the legendary George Balanchine. This version was choreographed by Antoni Zalewski, the Saint Louis Ballet's co-artistic director.

The plot follows the romantic entanglement of two human couples, Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demetrius; the fight between King Oberon and Queen Titania: and a group of would-be actors, led by Bottom the weaver, who have come to the forest to rehearse their play, a traditional tale of tragic love.

The three-act ballet offers none of Shakespeare's mellifluous words but the music Felix Mendelssohn created as incidental music for the play. One of the most famous pieces is a march familiar to most wedding-goers.

"The story lends itself enormously to ballet," Dukodovsky says. "It's about fairies, beauty and enchantment."

"...It's like a `Nutcracker.' It will entertain you and you will understand it," she said. "It's perfect for Valentine's Day because it's such a romantic story."

The Saint Louis Ballet will conduct workshops at 2:10 p.m. Thursday afternoon at Notre Dame High School, from 5-5:50 p.m. Thursday at Southeast's Parker Dance Studio, and from 9-9:50 a.m. Friday at Parker Dance Studio. The latter two workshops are open to the public.