We are excited to announce “Little Blessings” at Cary Ballet Conservatory. A Liturgical company for ages 7 – 10, “Little Blessings” is the little sister to our “Leap of Faith” group. Classes are Thursdays 4:00- 4:45 in Studio A.
For more information, contact the front office at 919.481.6509 or Ms. Leah!
Congratulations to our dancers that traveled to Kannapolis, NC (just north of Charlotte) for a Performance Exchange with the Piedmont School of Music & Dance.
Suzanne had a dream of having the ballet company travel to perform – and that came true this past weekend. There was the group piece, titled The Journey choreographed by Ms. Leah and three YAGP solos performed by Darion, Stephanie and Jennifer. There were many compliments heard from the audience about Cary Ballet students about their level of technique and from the PSMD director Rebecca Wiley, complimenting the behavior on and off the stage – was very professional and they danced beautifully. Ms. Wiley talked about what great care she could see in our coaching and how wonderful each of our dancers were. That is truly wonderful!!
Ms. Leah is very proud. She thanks all the performers for dancing her piece with such commitment, energy, and intensity. She said, “You have not an idea what pleasure I feel when I watch you dance. I think of how incredibly unique and amazing each of you are and how hard we have all worked to bring this piece together. I look forward to each of our performances this year and watching you grow in this piece as dancers and young artists.”
We are very proud to have Ms. Leah as part of our faculty. Her knowledge base, passion for dance and her students is irreplaceable! And a special thanks to all of the parents that helped to make this happen with their commitment to their children’s . It truly is a team effort.
A large group of our dancers plus those in The Journey will travel again next weekend to Winston-Salem, Feb 25-26, to participate at the Festival of NC Dance. The Festival is a weekend of master classes with guest teachers and ends with a free performance Sunday evening at the Stevens Center (downtown Winston-Salem) at 6:00pm. Of the 25 plus studios invited, 16 companies including Cary Ballet (The Journey) & 3D Project (St. Theresa), were invited to perform at the end of the weekend. That is great!! Our dancers are truly amazing in their presentation. Wish them well when you see them.
We are thrilled to have a full Summer Intensive audition tour this year! We have hosted auditions in Sante Fe, Las Vegas & New Orleans with Asheville, Philadelphia and home in Cary still to come. Above is a picture from West Virginia where Ms. Leah gave a Masterclass and awarded a summer scholarship to a Emily Cernuto!
The audition tour has been a great opportunity for our staff to see old friends, colleagues and make new ones across the country. We love seeing the hopes and talents of young dancers everywhere we go!
Read the article on our auditions in West Virginia.
Thank you so much for all the studios that hosted us on our tour! Your hospitality is so appreciated and we hope to host you in the future! Here is a photo from the New Orleans Auditions at Schramel Conservatory of Dance.
Carolina Parent recently did an article with the above title. It’s a sweet sentiment and one that means a lot to the faculty here at Cary Ballet. Some children immediately know that dance is their passion while some take a little longer to realize it. Some students really enjoy dance for a time and then move onto different activities and some return to us after a long break like a homecoming. Our faculty opens their hearts and their wealth of knowledge to all of these students with one goal- to help the students learn and grow.
Read the Carolina Parent article which interviews our children’s ballet mistress Miss Anna and see what you think.
After the excitement of putting together a brand new show last year, it was really nice to return to Visions of Sugarplums. It definitely feels like the Holidays when you hear the music of Snow in the hallways of CBC! This year we were excited to expand our show which helped our youngest viewers to follow the storyline with ease. Above you can see our sleeping Clara dreaming of the Land of Sweets (photo by Brooke Meyer).
Before falling asleep, we had our expanded party scene featuring a very animated Drosselmeyer. You can just glimpse him below carrying in one of our dolls Anna. Look at the faces on the Party Scene guests!
Another new addition to our show was the battle between the Rats and the Soldiers. Very fun change of pace and a bit of humor as the Rat King goes through his death throes!
Of course, the most magical moment is when it starts snowing during Snow! Here is a view from the wings where you can see our Snow Queen Hannah shining in the spotlight.
A sweet little Polichinelle…
I wonder if she’ll grow up to be the Snow Queen someday?
And of course, the Land of Sweets is not complete without a pas de deux between the Sugarplum Fairy & her Cavalier, here danced by Stephanie & Darion).
After intermission the audience was treated to the Trans-Siberian orchestra’s version of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suites as The 3D Project performed their Straight Up Christmas- a high energy piece featuring some very crazy haired Divas.
The holiday season passes in a blur sometimes, so it’s nice to look back and be able to appreciate the wonderful show we had which was possible with the hard work of our dancers, faculty and parents!
Cary Ballet has teamed up with Pottery Barn Kids in their campaign for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital for several years. We’ve performed in the back of the store and in Southpoint Mall and no matter what, our dancers adjust admirably! This year, we presented works by our new Liturgical company “Leap of Faith” and excerpts of “Visions of Sugarplums” from our ballet company. We decided to bring pieces featuring younger dancers for this children’s event followed by a ballerina tea where young audience members had tea (apple juice) & cookies with the performers. Very sweet and a great photo opportunity!
Here is our Liturgical soloist, Erika Forslund- so exciting to have a new company!
And here is our Party Scene from Visions of Sugarplums.
We are so happy to get news about our past Cary Ballet students. Hearing about your lives, successes in dance or college or the workforce makes us so happy!
Dance Magazine has a profile on Lauren Lovette. We are so proud of you Lauren! All your friends at CBC are behind you!
Here is Lauren’s bio with NYCB. And Lauren was also featured in the November 2011 issue of Vogue! Click on the thumbnails to see the cover and page she is on.
Here is Sally Turkel’s bio with Colorado Ballet!
Close to home is Carmen Felder with Carolina Ballet!
Renay Aumiller is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Dance at Elon and is a recipient of the NCDA Choreography Fellowship!
We would love to hear from you, alumni!! Where are you now?
On Sunday, the studio underwent a transformation as The 3D Project hosted their annual Spooktacular event! All the studios and lobbies were decorated in the spirit of Halloween for this fun afternoon of dance classes for ages 3 – 10.
This teaching team went with a Flintstones theme.
It’s always fun to see full everyone (teachers and students) in full costumes- home-made, store-bought or recital-recycled! Classes are taught by senior member of The 3D Project who are getting their first tastes of planning classes and choreography. A VERY high energy and silly afternoon, capped off by an informal performance in Studio A and loads of candy!
Don’t you cringe to see Holiday decorations in the stores before Halloween? We do too, but we are just as guilty. We are already thinking of the holiday season at Cary Ballet with rehearsals for A Very Cary Christmas well underway! And we are so excited to announce that we’ve added a FOURTH show due to ticket pre-sale demands.
A Very Cary Christmas
Cary Cultural Arts Center
Friday, Dec 16 7:00 pm
Saturday, Dec 17 10:30am, 2:00pm & 7:00 pm
Tickets go on sale to the public on Tuesday, November 1. Get yours early!
We all know the importance of continuing education in any field and the same is true for dance teachers. Though plies & pas de bourees may date back to the 1400′s, dance continues to evolve and so does our teaching. However, education for a dance teacher is not just about movement. Our students are not just working hard to grow as artists. They are working hard at academics as well as maturing into young adults. So our education must complement their hard work- to be comprehensive guides to the dance world, we also educate ourselves in different ways.
Last week, several of our faculty met with Dr. Laura Weisberg at the Duke Clinics to talk about how to best provide a caring environment for raising happy, positive students. Dr. Weiberg specializes in Medical Psychology and it was a mutually informative experience. We talked about campaigning for health, healthy environments, nutritionists, open forums for parents and more. We discussed how or whether to approach parents when we notice changes in a student’s behavior. And we learned about other schools like the National Ballet of Canada and what they have done to address support services in a ballet school (http://www.humanehealthcare.com/Article.asp?art_id=289). We had a great afternoon and felt more focused than ever on Cary Ballet’s philosophy. Have you ever read it?
We believe that in building the students self-esteem, we will not only enable them to take chances and reach higher goals, but we can help build strong confident people who will excel in everyday life. We never encourage competition; but insist that our students respect and praise each other. When dancers give so much of themselves, doing what they love, it is comforting and meaningful to know that we are all among friends. Our goal is to utilize our experience and instincts to make a positive difference; never sacrificing our standards. We welcome enthusiastic families who would like to experience and benefit from the traditions of fine training in a nurturing environment.
Notes: Other schools which offer support services include…
“Schools of the Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and Royal Winnipeg have professionals on the premises, and at the Joffrey, Washington, Houston, and Miami City Ballet schools, students with problems are referred to outside nutritionists or therapists. Seven psychological consultants and three therapists are on staff at Juilliard to provide care for students in need.” Dance Magazine / Oct, 1997
