We have a wonderful new class and rehearsal accompanist/conductor Jared Oaks!   I had the pleasure of listening to him in “Three Preludes” rehearsal where guest repetiteur Janie Parker raved and rhapsodised over his abilities and his Rachmaninoff.

The following is a short bio of Jared.
Jared Oaks graduated from Brigham Young University in piano performance, where he is currently pursuing a master of music in choral conducting. He is in frequent demand as a vocal, instrumental, and dance accompanist. Last year he performed Schubert’s Winterreise with faculty member Lawrence Vincent locally and in Vienna. Jared has played for BYU Ballet classes since 2004, Burklyn Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Summer Course, the Barlow Arts Conservatory, and now Ballet West. This season he will conduct selected performances with Ballet West, in addition to playing for classes and rehearsals. At BYU he has conducted the Singers, Men’s Chorus, Scandinavian Choir, University Chorale. Jared recently returned from the World Choral Symposium in Copenhagen, where he participated in a conducting masterclass with Austrian conductor Erwin Ortner.

Welcome Jared!

-Mark

This past week has been fantastic!  Maria Calegari, Janie Parker and Keith Roberts in our studios.

We’ll miss them and can’t wait for them to come back!

Maria Calegari in Studio 4

Keith Roberts in Studio 3

Pamela Robinson-Harris, Adam Sklute, Janie Parker and Maria Calegari

-Mark

Dancers work extremely hard and it is said that they do it for the applause.  Well that is true but the rehearsal process is an enormous part of the dancer’s life.  Dancers, Ballet Masters and Accompanists spend endless hours in the studio working on perfecting movement, gaining stamina and cultivating artistry.

The artists of BALLET WEST have a lot to be thankful for because Artistic Director Adam Sklute has invited three great Stars of the dance to be with us our very first week back from summer break!

In the course of this week the artists of BALLET WEST are working with New York City Ballet’s glorious Ballerina Maria Calegari on Balanchine’s 1976 CHACONNE,

America’s Margot Fonteyn, Janie Parker is teaching us Ben Stevenson’s 1969 THREE PRELUDES,

And Keith Roberts star of American Ballet Theatre and Broadway is teaching Twyla Tharp’s 1990 BRIEF FLING.

This is the time when we are very, very fortunate.  We get to go to work and all day long we glean invaluable information and grow leaps and bounds artistically because of these great artists of the dance.

Thank you Maria Calegari, Janie Parker and Keith Roberts for sharing your artistry with us. Above all thank you Adam Sklute for providing us this opportunity to work with some of ballet’s greatest living legends. This is our biggest inspiration.

-Mark

What a week! Got a lot done! We learned all of “Ballet West For Children, The Sleeping Beauty”, we started a brand new work by Heather Gray who is a former Ballet West and Dutch National Ballet dancer. We had a fire drill (where Maggie Wright Tesch and Peter Christie proceeded to give notes on the sidewalk) and we started putting together our own repertoire.

-Mark

A day with the llamas
By Denise Bégué

Artistic Director Adam Sklute and I were invited to join long-time patrons Caty and Jerry White at their llama ranch “Pear Tree Llamas” in Midway, Utah on August 19th for an afternoon of fun and exercise. Caty and Jerry have 15 llamas that tour and show nationally, they are great competitors on the obstacle course. Adam and I were invited to work with three of their best competitors, Senor Pisac, Misty’s Mister and Girlfriend’s Taylor. Caty provided us with instruction on how to work with the llamas through the different obstacles, including the jumps. However, the llamas often had their own ideas. We are grateful to Caty and Jerry for their gracious invitation, we had a wonderful time. Truly, an enjoyable way to spend a beautiful day in Midway, Utah!

Caty White and Adam Sklute

Denise Bégué and Adam Sklute with llamas: Senor Pisac, Misty’s Mister and Girlfriend’s Taylor

Adam and Senor Pisac have a discussion about completing the jumps

Senor Pisac and Adam reach an impasse

Senor Pisac and Adam agree to disagree

Denise and Misty’s Mister show off their side-stepping skills

Denise and Misty’s Mister take a break

Girlfriend’s Taylor

Kissing Caty

The cast takes a final bow

Last Friday, the end of week 1 for BW2 started with a 9am headshot call. This was arranged by Melanie Gladding from Marketing/PR. The photographer is Jesse Coss. The new headshots will be up soon. In the mean time enjoy some photos of the session.

-Mark

Once the intense ballet season is over all dancers rest a bit and then make sure they get back to class in time to be ready for the new season. But Ballet West Soloist Kate Crews took class, practiced/taught yoga and went to Honduras (she climbed a mountain the previous summer!) Below are a few excerpts from her Honduras Diary:

“Kensey is a 2 year old girl at the refuge outside of Tagucigalpa, Honduras. Her mom is 16 and was abused. They came to the refuge for safety………We did check ups on the babies and worked with the moms to have positive futures with their babies…….We took care of the babies so the girls could have some time of their own. They very rarely have me time since most of them breast feed and have to take care of the babies on their own. All of the mothers at he refuge are under 18 years of age, the youngest being 13.”

“In the village of Los Pinos we worked at the school, helped with many donations, and taught the kids to brush their teeth, many of them for the first time.”

“Above is my sweet little Marina. She is washing her food dish after coming down the hill to the church to get some food and a bath. She and her sisters bathe once a week with buckets of water at the church and can get clean clothes and food there. They cannot be given any help beyond that as their father sells everything for drugs and their mother is mentally ill.”

“This is me at the public hospital with a newborn. We helped moms with their babies and showers after birth….They are wheeled into a room containing 25 cots on either side of the hospital with very few nurses….. They are dropped off and have little or no help…….Most moms are made to leave after 24 hours, no matter what type of birth.”

“This is me with children of Los Pinos after we fed the breakfast and had a great teeth brushing session.”

Welcome home Kate and Brava! You are an inspiration!

-Mark

Ashlee Christofferson -
Volunteers at Ballet West play a vital role in the success of our company. There are many volunteer opportunities available such as intermission receptions, boutique, poster handing, sugar plum parties, nutcracker auditions, and other special events. We have a fabulous group of volunteers that range from old to young, come from different backgrounds, and have a variety of different reasons why they chose Ballet West as a place to volunteer. In addition to truly enjoying their volunteer experiences there are other perks to volunteering. Many of the opportunities allow the volunteers to attend ballet performances for free with a guest and most recently was the Annual Ballet West Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast hosted by Lamb’s Grill Café that was held on August 12th. (Thank you Lamb’s!)

To learn more about volunteering at Ballet West please contact Ashlee Christofferson at 801.323.6917 or achristofferson@balletwest.org.

Ballet West Ambassador Christopher Renstrom forwarded me this artwork done by one of the youngest volunteers while at the breakfast.

-Mark

Welcome back returning BW2 Dancers: Sarah Blodgett from Hillsborough, CA, Jenna Herrera from Ontario, CA, Whitney Huell from Irmo, SC, and Alexander MacFarlan from Nashville, TN.

Welcome new BW2 Members: Dane Arbogast from Salt Lake City, UT, Lindsey Duerfeldt from Modesto, CA, Robert Goodman from Richmond, CA, Stephen King from Baltimore, MD, Kaleigh Schock from Chicago, IL and Adrian Michael Veloz from Santa Ana, CA.

Ballet West II, Day 1 – 08*09 Season.

Class: 10-11:30am, led by Maggie Wright-Tesch, former Ballet West Ballerina.

Sarah Blodgett with leg up!

11:30 – 11:45 – Break (Horsing around)

Company Member Thomas Mattingly and some BW2 Dancers horsing around.

11:45 – 1:15 – Ballet West for Children led by Peter Chrisite and Maggie Wright-Tesch.

Peter Christie teaches the class portion of Ballet West for Children – The Sleeping Beauty.

1:15 – 2:45 Maggie takes the ladies to Studio 4 for classical variations and mime from Sleeping Beauty for Ballet West For Children.

&

New Ballet West Dancer Thomas Mattingly works with the BW2 men in Studio 3 workshopping choreography for “Curtain Up”/”Innovations” consideration.

Thomas Mattingly trying out movement with 3 BW2 guys.

2:45 – 3:45 – Lunch Break.

Lunch Break

3:45 – 5:15 – BW2 works with company member Megan Furse in Studio 3 workshopping choreography for “Curtain Up”/”Innovations” consideration.

Megan Furse with Whitney Huell, Stephen King (back) and Sarah Blodgett and Alexander MacFarlan (front).

Jenna Herrera and Dane Arbogast

Stephen and Whitney try a lift for Megan.

5:15 – 6:45 – Pamela Robinson-Harris guides Company Dancer Jason Linsley as he workshops choreography for “Curtain Up”/”Innovations” consideration on BW2 Dancers.

6:45 – Work is done for the day. We return tomorrow to start over again.

-Mark

Adam Sklute, Pamela Robinson-Harris and I attended Thursday morning’s Ballet West Ambassadors meeting. We had a chance to witness part of their meeting and then we spoke a bit about what we do.

Photo above of Adam Sklute speaking to the Ballet West Ambassadors. (Sorry it’s blurry. Getting a new camera is on my to do list.)

Adam Sklute explained that “They are responsible for building a bridge between Ballet West and the Salt Lake City community. They develop fundraising events and they are essentially board members in training. Its a very generous and hard working group and they actually pay dues to be able to belong .”

To gather information about the Ballet West Ambassadors please go to ‘support’ on this website.

-Mark