Artistic Team

Music: Le Carnaval des animaux (1886)
by Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns 
Conductor: Joseph Kneer, DMA 
Choreography: Katie Hall, Michael Landez, Susan Trevino
Costumes: Susan Trevino

Musicians of Symphony Viva

Violin I: Ryan Coppin
Violin II: Austin Gabrillo
Viola: Joe Chen
Cello: Norma Martinez
Double Bass: Andrew Sutton
Piano I: Paul Jensen
Piano II: Zachary Ridgeway
Flute: Gregory Obregon 
Clarinet: Gary Fair, DMA 
Percussion: James Bartelt, Laura McBride​

Dancers of Alamo City Dance Company

Carnival of the Animals | Poems by Ogden Nash
Camille St. Saëns was wracked with pains
When people addressed him as “Saint Sains.”
He held the human race to blame
Because it could not pronounce his name.
So he turned with metronome and fife
To glorify other forms of life.
Be quiet, please, for here begins
His salute to feathers, furs, and fins.
I. Introduction and Royal March of the Lions
Lion King: Antonio Diaz
Tiger Queen: Cameron Hood 
Lion Prince: George Chini
The lion is the king of beasts
And husband of the lioness.
Gazelles and things on which he feasts
Address him as Your Highoness.
There are those who admire that roar of his
In the African jungles and veldts,
But I think, wherever a lion is,
I’d rather be somewhere else
II. The Elephant
Elephants: Hannah Cook, Phoebe Hood, Hannah Horvath, Sophia Wineberg
Elephants are useful friends,
Equipped with handles at both ends.
They have a wrinkled moth-proof hide;
Their teeth are upside down, outside.
If you think the elephant preposterous,
You’ve probably never seen a rhinosterous.
III. Aviary
Birds: Madeleine Burroughs, Eos Elizondo,
​Andrea Kienlen, Abby Reyes,
​Mateo Salinas
Puccini was Latin, and Wagner Teutonic,
And birds are incurably philharmonic.
Suburban yards and rural vistas
Are filled with avian Andrews Sisters.
The skylark sings a roundelay,
The crow sings “The Road to Mandalay.”
The nightingale sings a lullaby,
And the seagull sings a gullaby.
That’s what shepherds listened to in Arcadia
Before somebody invented the radia.
IV. Wild Jackass
​Donkeys: Hannah Horvath and
​Lilliana Kienlen 
Have ever you harked to the jackass wild
Which scientists call the onager?
It sounds like the laugh of an idiot child
Or a hepcat on a harmoniger.
But do not sneer at the jackass wild,
There is method in his heehaw,
For with maidenly blush and accent mild,
The jenny-ass answers, shee-haw.
V. Kangaroos
​Kangaroo: Antonio Diaz
Explorer: Hallie Anderson
The kangaroo can jump incredible.
He has to jump because he’s edible.
I could not eat a kangaroo
But many fine Australians do.
Those with cookbooks as well as boomerangs
Prefer him in tasty kangaroo meringues.
VI. The Cuckoo in the Depth of the Woods
Giraffe: Mateo Salinas 
Trees: Phoebe Hood, Stephanie Garza,
​Lilliana Kienlen, George Chini
Cuckoos lead bohemian lives,
They fail as husbands and as wives.
Therefore, they cynically disparage
Everybody else’s marriage.
VII. People with the Long Ears
Zebras: Emma Abbot, Sophia Wineburg
In the world of mules,
There are no rules.
VIII. Hens and Roosters
Hens: Hannah Cook and Stephanie Garza
Rooster: Antonio Diaz
The rooster is a roistering hoodlum,
His battle cry is cock-a-doodlum.
Hands in pockets, cap over eye,
He whistles at pullets passing by.
IX. The Swan
Swans: Madeleine Burroughs,
​Theone Glosser, Mariana Kienlen 
The swan can swim while sitting down.
For pure conceit he takes the crown.
He looks in the mirror over and over,
And claims to have never heard of Pavlova.
X. Aquarium
​Jellyfish: Andrea Kienlen, Abby Reyes
Seahorses: Cameron Hood, Phoebe Hood,
​Stephanie Garza
Some fish are minnows,
Some are whales.
People like dimples,
Fish like scales.
Some fish are slim,
And some are round.
They don’t get cold,
They don’t get drowned.
But every fish wife
Fears for her fish.
What we call mermaids
And they call merfish.
XI. Tortoises
​Tortoise: Mateo Salinas
Can Can Dancers: Theone Glosser, Hannah Horvath, Mariana Kienlen, Veronica Takach
Come crown my brow with leaves of myrtle,
I know the tortoise is a turtle.
Come carve my name in stone immortal,
I know the turtoise is a tortle.
I know to my profound despair
I bet on one to beat a hare.
I also know I’m now a pauper
Because of its tortley, turtley, torpor.
XII. Fossils
​Fossils: Emma Abbot,
Madeleine Burroughs, Eos Elizondo,
​Andrea Kienlen, Sophia Wineberg
At midnight in the museum hall,
The fossils gathered for a ball.
There were no drums or saxophones,
But just the clatter of their bones,
A rolling, rattling, carefree circus
Of mammoth polkas and mazurkas.
Pterodactyls and brontosauruses
Sang ghostly prehistoric choruses.
Amid the mastodonic wassail,
I caught the eye of one small fossil.
Cheer up, sad world, he said, and winked.
It’s kind of fun to be extinct.
XIII. Piano Players
Flamingos: Hallie Anderson,
Cameron Hood, ​Theone Glosser,
​Lilliana Kienlen, Mariana Kienlen
Some claim that pianists are human,
And quote the case of Mr. Truman.
St. Saëns, upon the other hand,
Considered them a scurvy band.
Ape-like they are, he said, and simian,
Instead of normal men and wimian.
XIV. Finale 
Full Company
Now we reach the grand finale,
Animale, carnivale.
Noises new to sea and land
Issue from the skillful band.
All the strings contort their features,
Imitating crawly creatures.
All the brasses look like mumps
From blowing umpah umpah umps.
In outdoing Barnum and Bailey and Ringling,
St. Saëns has done a miraculous thingling.

Keep us dancing.

If you like what you see or hear, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Alamo City Arts. 
Special thanks to Alamo City Art's Executive Board for finding new ways for the Alamo City Dance Company and Symphony Viva to bring art back into the community!

But wait, there's more!

In the coming weeks, filmed renditions of these pieces will be installed throughout the zoo.
​When you see a sign with our Alamo City Arts logo and an animal silhouette, scan the QR code to see that animal's dance!
There are 14 video dances installed throughout the Zoo. Can you find them all?