The morning dancers will have an informal lecture/demonstration for parents on Friday, January 30th at 6:30 pm in the dance studio of the Fine Arts Center. This is an opportunity to observe what your student has been learning during her classes throughout the year. The dancers will demonstrate a few class combinations as well as dance compositions.

This is not a performance, but more of a behind the scenes—the process, if you will—of the training of a dancer.

The afternoon dancers had a ballet master class on December 9th with Vladislav Soldatenko, the Artistic Director and Ballet Master of the Dance Department of the Ukrainian National Academy of Dance. Mr. Soldantenko graduated from the Kiev Choreographic Institute and completed graduate classes at the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg. He performed extensively as a soloist with Kiev National Theater of Opera and Ballet and Kiev Theater of Classical Ballet. The International Ballet in Greenville brought Mr. Soldantenko and several dancers from the Ukraine as part of their exchange program.

Alonzo King, Artistic Director and Choreographer for LINES Ballet, based in San Francisco, taught a master class for the afternoon dancers on December 2nd. His visionary choreography is represented in repertories throughout the world in major dance companies such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Swedish Royal Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, Washington Ballet and North Carolina Dance Theatre. Renowned as a highly skilled master teacher, he has been a guest ballet master for National Ballet of Canada, Ballet Rambert, Ballet West, and San Francisco Ballet among others.
Mr. King, always the consummate artist, made it clear during his master class why he is considered a living legend in the art world. The dancers were totally focused on the power and energy of dance and how to trust their own individual movements. The challenging, memorable master class will resonate with the dancers for years giving them ideas and information that they will continue to use and revisit as they continue to develop as dancers and artists.