Love according to Sir Paul

It was kind of a series of events," Wendy Graham says about the inspiration for "Silly Love Songs," a contemporary ballet she choreographed to the songs of Paul McCartney that will be showcased at Alabama Youth Ballet's Spring Repertoire this week.

The artistic director for AYB had heard about Huntsville couple Alan and Debra Jenkins donating a signed copy of The Beatles "White Album" to charity.

Then she caught the ex-Beatle on ABC's "Good Morning America" singing his new song "Jenny Wren" and was reminded of something she had heard about McCartney and sidekick John Lennon.

"I don't know if this is an urban legend, but I had heard that (McCartney) and John Lennon used to argue and (Lennon) called his music 'silly love songs.' "

Even though Lennon's dig at McCartney was eventually the title of a song, Graham is not using it for her ballet, rather she chose "Yesterday," "Jenny Wren," "And I Love Her," "I Will" and "Blackbird" to accompany the movements.

"It's kind of fun and pretty," Graham says about the McCartney-motivated ballet. "I try to make the dancers look as pretty as I can. I want them to have fun, too."

Local guitarist Jim Cavender will join the dancers on-stage, providing the sounds of McCartney.

"I think that live music adds so much to a live performance," Graham said.

"Silly Love Songs" will surface in the second act of the Spring Repertoire, which is only the company's second full production since its inception last July.

The program will open with the classical Spanish-style ballet "Paquita," which was coordinated by Keren Gibb and David Herriott.

The second act will open with a contemporary piece choreographed by company dancers Lydia Dyer and Stephanie Roberts, followed by a modern dance trio done by Mary Halverstadt, a piece entitled "Rainbow" performed by the junior company and Cynthia Quintela's jazz work "Hide and Seek" to finish.