Ballet and a Big Move!

Hello everyone!

I've stayed around Richmond for the most part this summer, but my summer started out on a bit of a difficult note when my sister, Kailyn, who was my roommate as well as a trainee with the ballet, moved back to California. I miss her terribly and it has definitely been an adjustment.








After she left I moved out on my own for the first time ever! Moving into the Fan is different from where we were in the West End, but the neighborhood is now home to seven RB company members including our two newest additions- Trevor Davis and Cody Beaton! It's comforting to have so many friends close by. You may have seen us all riding our bikes to the ballet in a big group! Cars have a hard time missing the ballet dancer biker gang as we ride through VCU and up Byrd.

I haven't been taking a whole lots of classes myself, but I have been teaching all summer. I work with some School of Richmond Ballet students, as well as incoming students and I'm also running workshops for high school kids through a studio I teach at during the school year. It's a lot of work, but I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm in and out of the ballet during the week, maintaining my pilates schedule with the wonderful Jerry Weiss, taking classes when I can (both in summer intensive and the adult program), and trying to make it to physical therapy.

All in all, it's been somewhat of a low key summer, but I've been keeping out of the summer heat (not necessarily out of the sun) and busy. I'm heading home today for the first time since December and I'll stay there for the remainder of our vacation. Home is Southern California, where I'll have plenty of time to take some wonderful ballet classes, and to get my body and stamina prepared for our upcoming season.

Hope you're all having good summers as well! --Kara

Greetings from the OC, California!

Greetings from the OC! We are at the half way point of National Choreographers Initiative (NCI) and I am happy to say that this summer in SoCal is looking to be just as amazing as my last.NCI is a summer program for choreographers to set new work as well as experiment, develop and practice the art of choreography. It is a workshop setting, which gives the choreographers the the opportunity to experiment and make changes as much as they would like...an opportunity they may not necessarily have when creating work for companies during a company season due to time restraints.

I am working with choreographers Viktor Kabaniaev and Peter Quanz who both are producing very interesting material. It is always a little nerve-racking to work with a new choreographer in the beginning, but even though both Viktor and Peter offer movement that is different from most of what I have experience in, the base is in ballet so it is easy to pick up and not too intimidating.

The NCI project provides a great outlet for dancers and choreographers to grow and develop by pursuing different directions than they might not normally in their regular seasons. I am looking forward to the performance, and thoroughly enjoying our days off at the beach. I've posted a video here, and if you are interested in seeing some more of what we have already worked on, go to the NCI Dance channel on youtube.com.

-Maggie

A final update from Asheville...

SHOWTIME!! After many long, tiring weeks of rehearsal we were definitely ready and pumped up for performance week.

We arrived at the Diane Wortham Theatre last Tuesday morning, took class and then spaced and teched each piece so that we were ready for a dress rehearsal on Wednesday. The stage is quite hard and my shins definitely felt it by the end of the week (shin splints are a painful, but common muscle strain. For dancers this condition is often caused by the impact of dancing on hard surfaces).

The lighting and costumes for Clowns and Others were exactly how I imagined as we rehearsed...very colorful, full of personality, and quite fitting to each seperate clown and their character. It's all so much fun!

Heather's piece Second Line went very well. At the last minute, one of the other female dancers was injured, so I had to go in for her pas de deux! Luckily we found plenty of time to rehearse and I felt confident and excited dancing the part. My partner, Jon Uplegar from Nashville Ballet, was so strong in the partnering and he really supported me throughout the duet.

Rite of Spring turned out really amazing. The ballet contains quite possibly the most amazing female solo that I have ever seen. At the end of the ballet she dips her hair and body in white paint before becoming the chosen one to die. The ballet was very large and very much an ensemble piece and everyone really came together throughout the week to bring the piece up to it's dramatic potential.

The dancers I met here in Asheville are amazing, I really have met some life-long friends because we all became very close over these past weeks and through these shared experiences. I am excited to keep in touch with all of them!

Terpsicorps was such an incredible experience. I was challenged artistically, musically and physically. It was also wonderful to be involved with so many professionals who personally worked with Salvatore Aiello and get a first hand account about his ideals and views on movement. I am so excited to continue working on his choreography this fall at Richmond Ballet!

I've also enjoyed sharing this experience with all of you! I can't wait to bring you updates from Richmond soon, but for now I'm ready to enjoy some real summer vacation! :)

Smooches- Valerie

Hello from Maryland!

Hello from Owings Mill, Maryland! Tommy and I are here in the midst of teaching ballet for Young People's Summer Stock,which is an over night camp for kids, and since we are staying in the dorms as well, we are getting quite the camp experience that neither of us have ever had before!

Since Tommy and I both didn't go to a traditional away camp, or ballet intensives away from home (a rare finding among ballet professionals), we are getting a common childhood experience a little later in life. Differences from attending the local ballet intensive and staying at home include, enjoying very warm bunking accommodations (though thankfully not quite as rustic as I imagine other non-arts oriented camps might be) and eating on a schedule. We get to eat at the "caf" before, between and after classes.

We do have the luxury of being free once our classes are over to watch movies on Netflix Instant Queue and even to take the car and venture into whatever Maryland has to offer. The kids can't do that.

Our authority oriented roles include teaching a LOT and we moonlight as judges at the synchronized dancing contest at the camper luau on Sunday nights! This past Saturday was a very close contest, but we were able to discern the best group by their ability to incorporate the hula into their dance. In the classroom, the children are all very dedicated and eager to learn, which is what makes teaching really worth while. When they ask questions, we learn as well and are reminded of corrections that aren't necessarily at the forefront of our minds anymore. Having taught a similar schedule for a week at the Dance Institute in Austin, Texas prior to coming here, I feel I will be approaching my work at the National Choreographers Initiative with a fresh look at the basics of my technique. Tommy will also be teaching at DI later in July, so he too will be beginning the 2009-2010 season with his foundation anew.

I will let you know if anything super exciting happens and I will definitely get back to you when Thomas Ragland and I are situated at NCI!


-Maggie

Rehearsal Rehearsal Rehearsal...

This week started off pretty swell (those two days off last weekend were definitely appreciated by the dancers and our bodies)!

Working on Clowns and Others has been hysterical…as Tim and Heather set each section I plan out which dancers from Richmond Ballet will fit each section best! Our Richmond audiences are going to LOVE this ballet- it’s really comical but has some really charming moments as well. The Prokofiev score is also quite beautiful…I think the Richmond Ballet dancers are a perfect fit. My personal favorite is the "Lions" section. It's all men and very very funny.

We also finally finished Rite of Spring which is awesome because it’s about 40 minutes long. Since we dance in a studio that has no air-conditioning, I’m sure everyone has probably lost at least 2 or 3 pounds in water weight while running this highly aggressive, dramatic, and modern piece. Rite of Spring has elements of cannibalism, sacrificial offerings, a sensual duet between the ‘Chosen One’ and the ‘Warrior’ and a fight scene between the ‘Chieftain’ and the ‘Warrior’. It’s really a fantastic ballet; if anyone ever gets the opportunity I would highly suggest going to see it.

On Tuesday night some of the dancers went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch some sports and unwind a bit. We convinced the manager to turn one of the TVs to So You Think You Can Dance, because I told him that if anyone claimed dance was not a sport, they could come speak to the tall blonde haha.

On Saturday the gallery building where we rehearse had a huge and very famous art walk drawing many tourists and visitors. Lucky for us, we had people coming in to watch us all day! We even had a bluegrass band right outside the window. We ran all 3 ballets that we had learned over the past 2 weeks.

One of the biggest surprises was that Susan Israel Massey (a School of Richmond Ballet faculty member and yearly participant in The Nutcracker and story ballets) showed up with her husband and daughter! Her daughter lives about 20 minutes outside of Asheville and when Susan heard I was here, they made the trip to come see me! It was such a great surprise, and I was able to introduce her to Heather, our director and to Tim, our ballet master. She watched our rehearsal of Second Line which I think she enjoyed very much.

After our busy day of performing and rehearsing for the arts walk visitors, some of us dancers wanted to blow off steam and decided to hit up a local Mexican restaurant, Papas and Beer. We were greeted with a mariachi band and had ourselves a great evening.

Until next time, kisses- Valerie