ABOUT THE LITTLE MERMAID - Ithaca · PDF fileABOUT THE LITTLE MERMAID news from The Little Mermaid is a colorful, com-pletely original romantic story ballet. ... has a happy ending,

ABOUT THE LITTLE MERMAID

n e w s f r o m

The Little Mermaid is a colorful, com-pletely original romantic story ballet. Based on the famous fairytale by Hans Christian Ander-sen, the two-act ballet follows the saga of a young mermaid princess who falls in love with a human prince and decides to bargain with a wicked and power-ful Sea Witch in or-der to gain human form. The ballet has a happy ending, reminiscent of the Disney version of the story, though it is far more authentic to Andersen than the cartoon version, por-traying not only the princess of the Sea People, but also her sister mermaids, queen grandmother, and the King of the Sea. The Temple Girl, present in the original story but completely absent from Disney’s version, figures promi-nently and tragically in the ballet.

I composed The Little Mermaid over a nine-month period in 2010, for two pia-nos, simultaneously designing and mak-ing costumes, headpieces, masks, props and hanging set pieces for the Little Mermaid’s colorful underwater garden, contracting a carpenter for larger set pieces made primarily of wood, and guiding a large group of volunteers in sewing and in learning painting tech-niques used to enhance costumes and props. Meanwhile, as quickly as I could email newly composed segments of

the ballet to my colleague and frequent collaborator, Dr. Dennis Ritz (also a composer and conductor, and profes-

sor of music at Pennsylvania’s Shippensburg University), Dr. Ritz arranged the music to include two multipercus-sionists, redistrib-uting the existing notes and musical lines between the two grand pianos and a multitude of percussion instru-

ments, including (just to name a few) marimba, tympani, chimes, xylophone, and gong.

The Little Mermaid is a highly emotional and entertaining ballet, which culmi-nates with a beautiful wedding, uniting both the Sea and Earth Peoples in a thrilling finale.

– Lavinia Reid

The Ithaca premiere on Saturday, May 4, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 5, at 3 p.m., at the State Theatre will feature Guest Artist and Alumnus Peter Doll as the Prince, Company Soloist Keara Soloway as the Little Mermaid, Cathe-rine Branche as the Sea Witch, Com-pany Soloist Anneslie Schmidt as Lead Temple Girl and Guest Artist Oliver Swan-Jackson as Neptune. This per-formance has a cast of 37: 20 company dancers, 11 guest children, four guest adults, and two guest stars.

spring 2013

(under the direction of Cindy Reid)

Lavinia Reid

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Lena Rose (Magee) Polzonetti danced with Ithaca Ballet 1991–1997

Lena is taking a six month sabbatic from teaching and coordinating the dance pro-gram at a public magnet high school for the visual and performing arts in South Bend, IN. She will be living in Italy with her husband and two children, where she hopes to teach, choreograph, and hope-fully perform. Lena came back to dance in the 50th anniversary gala performance.

Yellie (Dannielle) Shustack danced with Ithaca Ballet 2000–2004

Yellie is currently dancing with Alabama Ballet (www.alabamaballet.org). She is dancing the role of the Benevolence Fairy and several other parts in the current production of Sleeping Beauty. She has been featured in pieces choreographed by associate artistic director Roger Van Fleteren and has appeared as Bashful in Snow White, Autumn Fairy in Cinderella, and Paquita soloist.

Sonia Dvorak danced with Ithaca Ballet 2004–2007

Since the beginning of the 2011–’12 season, Sonia has danced with Ballett Kiel (www.theater-kiel.de/de/ballett/mitarbe-iter), a classical company in northern Ger-many. The ballet is part of a bigger house in Kiel that includes opera, orchestra and two theater ensembles.

Last season she premiered as Clara in The Nutcracker and played Marilyn Monroe in a production about her life. In addition to dancing, she had the chance to sing some of Marilyn’s iconic songs. She will have a lead role in the upcoming premiere of Vor der Tur, a new work by Natalia Horecna- a, contemporary choreographer. She is happy that her German is improving and is loving the opportunity to travel! She is also singing in a jazz ensemble. Sonia looks forward to returning to Ithaca this summer and visiting Ithaca Ballet!

Lotsie (Eryn) Cash danced with Ithaca Ballet 2000–2005

Lotsie came back this past November and December to dance the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in Ithaca Ballet’s Nutcracker. She has lived in Boston for the past four and a half years, where she danced full time with Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre from 2008 through 2012 and had the opportu-nity to perform many soloist and princi-pal roles to sold-out Boston audiences. Before moving to Boston, she danced as an apprentice with Festival Ballet Provi-dence in Providence, RI, in 2008; she also toured as a company member with Albany Berkshire Ballet for the 2007 Nutcracker season while living in New York City and attending Eugene Lang College/New School University. Currently she freelanc-es and has performed with Contrapose Dance, Ithaca Ballet and, most recently, North Atlantic Ballet. Lotsie graduated with a degree in psychology from Har-vard in 2011. In addition to dancing, she teaches yoga in the greater Boston area and teaches, practices and performs Ac-roYoga—a blend of partner acrobatics and yoga. She has choreographed for Ithaca Ballet and Harvard Ballet Company, and is in the process of creating a new work for North Atlantic Ballet.

ALUMNI NEWS

pAgE TWO | ithaca ballet news(continued on page three)

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pET ExpO pERFORMANCEApril 20 • performance times TBA The Shops at Ithaca Mall Excerpts from forthcoming The Little Mermaid to be performed.

SUMMER CAMp ExpOApril 27 • 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. The Shops at Ithaca Mall

THE LITTLE MERMAIDMay 4, 7:30 p.m. • May 5, 3:00 p.m. State Theatre

Ithaca premiere, choreographed and composed by Lavinia Reid

STUDENT RECITALJune 8 • 7:30 p.m. Kulp Auditorium, IHS

SUMMER DANCE pROgRAMJune 24 – July 12, first session July 15 – August 2, second session

CLASSES BEgINSeptember 4, Ballet Center

COMpANy AUDITIONSeptember 7 • 12:30 p.m.

THE pIED pIpEROctober 26 & 27 • 3:00 p.m. State Theatre

THE NUTCRACkERDecember 1 • 3:00 p.m. Smith Opera House, Geneva December 13 • 7:30 p.m. December 14 & 15 • 3:00 p.m. State Theatre

2013 UpCOMINg EvENTS CALENDAR

spring 2013 | pAgE THREE

Rachel Myers danced with Ithaca Ballet 2002–2006 and 2010–2011

Rachel graduated from the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with a BFA in ballet in 2010. Currently she teaches ballet at the Bluegrass Youth Ballet

Suzuki violin in Lexington, KY. She has also performed and choreographed in Lex-ington. Rachel danced in the 50th Ithaca Ballet Gala, which she also helped orga-nize. In the fall, she plans to start training to receive certification as a life coach.

Please send us updates on what you have been up to since leaving Ithaca Ballet: [email protected].

ALUMNI NEWS(continued from page two)

FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORSAs many of you know, the Ithaca Ballet performing company is separate from the Ballet Center of Ithaca school. The Ithaca Ballet is a not-for-profit organiza-tion managed by a board of directors (chaired by President Linda Warner). The Ithaca Ballet is responsible for all performances except the June student recital. In addition, the Ithaca Bal-let runs the summer ballet camp. The Ballet Center is owned by Cindy Reid, and classes are taught from September

through June. The Ithaca Ballet perform-ing company has two regular employees: Cindy Reid, who is our half-time artistic director, and Amy Opperman-Cash, who is our quarter-time marketing director. We hire our technical crew (led by Courtney McGuire) and guest art-ists for performances. Except for a few other hired professionals, all other work is done by volunteers.

Our 2011–2012 fiscal year ended August 20, 2012. Happily, it was another year “in the black.” As seen in the graphs, most of our income is from program activities, and most of our expenses are for performances and salaries. Over the past few years, the board has worked hard to get the Ithaca Ballet into a position where our income consistently exceeds our expenses and to be able to help our employees get

health insurance. However, we recog-nize we need to expand our donor base, and exploit opportunities for corporate underwriting and grants in order to continue to improve. We hope that now that we have a marketing director to take over duties that had been done on a volunteer basis by the board, we will be able to devote more time and energy to these actitivies. If there is anyone who would like to help, please contact Linda Warner at [email protected].

Be sure to visit us on the web atWWW. .ORG!

Ballet Guild of Ithaca, Inc.P.O. Box 4341Ithaca, NY 14852-4341

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

NON pROFIT ORg.U.S. pOSTAgE

PAIDITHACA, Ny

pERMIT NO. 74

The Ithaca Ballet summer dance program is an intensive 6-week or 3-week program that provides ballet training from beginner to pre-professional levels. Previous ballet training is not required. Ages 8–18 welcome.

All Levels: Daily ballet class plus jazz, modern, and conditioning classes; workshops in music, swing dance, stagecraft, nutrition and more; recreation; end-of-session performances.

Intermediate–Advanced Levels: Daily pointe classes; variations, choreography.

Six-week session: June 24 – August 2. Three-week sessions: June 24 – July 12 or July 15 – August 2. Schedule: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m, Monday – Friday • Fees: Full 6 weeks: $950; 3-week sessions: $600; $100 deposit to be paid by June 1. Contact: www.ithacaballet.org for registration materials and more information.

Ithaca Ballet Summer Dance Program

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