Dracula!

The name riles the imagination with snapshots of fangs dripping in blood, hands like claws reaching for flesh in terror-filled moments.

How about Dracula as sex -symbol?

That is part of what’s in store for audiences when Milwaukee Ballet opens a run of Michael Pink’s world famous production of "Dracula." Oct. 22 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.

This Dracula is being danced, for the first time, by Brazilian dancer Alexandre Ferreira, a dewy-eyed combination of Omar Sharif, Benicio del Toro and Julio Iglesias. To say this young man has sex appeal doesn’t begin to capture the magic that surrounds him both onstage and off.

Ferreira grew up in Rio de Janiero where his younger brother sparked him into the world of dance.

"My younger brother was dancing and he got to travel a lot to competitions," Ferreira said during a break from the grueling rehearsals for Dracula. "I told my mother that I wanted to travel, too, and she said then I had to do something. I had to come up with something where I could travel around the country. I picked dance. And I’ve been doing it ever since."

He danced in his country until he was 17 and was accepted at the Miami City Ballet School. He studied and then joined the company and danced a variety of roles until he came to Milwaukee years ago.

"Dancing this role now is a big deal because four years ago when I joined the company, 'Dracula' was the first ballet I did," Ferreira said. "I did another role by Michael, who asked me to come to the studio and learn the role because I was a new dancer and he wanted to see what I could do. Not only dancing-wise but artistically. If I could play a character and bring some sort of emotion to the role."

He is frank about four years ago.

"I would say I wasn’t mature enough as an artist (to play Dracula then)," he said. "Now I have a much more solid base in my dancing and my artistry . Now I can work and develop consciously such a strong role. In the past I wasn’t ready to get to that role."

During rehearsals with this huge cast, Ferreira spent time with the ensemble, but also worked hard on a pas de deux with the splendid Nicole Teague, one of the most beautiful and expressive dancers in the company. There were moments of struggle and Ferreira said that was a part of the process.

"Early today we got stuck in a part. But because we work together, have the same vision and the same goal, we had the same idea of fixing it. Neither one of us had to say anything. There was not even any eye contact. We just did what needed to be done."

Ferreira understands the demands of Pink in this production which was created in 1996 with Philip Feeney and has been seen by millions all over the world. After a performance in Denver, the critic for the Rocky Mountain News called Pink’s creation, "a bravura work of theater – a taut, dark tale that happens to speak in the language of dance."

The production is full of drama, passion and sensuality, evil and the threatening horrors of the vampire bloodletting.

Pink is a creative master storyteller and and his dancers know they must bring a theatricality to his stories.

"This is a complex character, "Ferreira said.

"I tried to see him as I would, not as someone else would tell me. He is everything. He is everywhere. Overwhelming. But there is a tiny little bit of humanity. That’s where I get the evil side from. That humanity is where I can identify with him.  If I was just going for the bloodthirsty vampire it wouldn’t be right. don’t think he is even aware of his humanity until he sees a picture which reminds him of someone he was in love with. That’s the flashback feeling of love, being desired and wanted and nurtured by someone."

This "Dracula" has broken box office records all over the world and was incredibly popular when it was staged here four years ago.There will only be four performances and information on tickets and showtimes is available here.