Spring is here and with the season change so will Midland Festival Ballet. The organization is faced with challenges of many types, including opportunities for growth. The Board of Directors approved my attendance at the Regional Dance America/Southwest in Sugar Land with my own private tour guide – Past President and Fundraising Vice President Lael Cordes-Pitts. My skills do not include the knowledge of Classical Ballet and Lael assisted in my education. During those four days I was in awe of MFB’s Company and Apprentice Members who attended the Festival.

I concluded that our MFB Company and Apprentices are on par with larger companies throughout the Southwest. The opportunities and education that Susan Clark, Artistic Director, and Judy Coleman, Founding Director of Midland Festival Ballet, provide are outstanding!

The status of our Company being raised to “Gala” is to be applauded by all involved with MFB! The parents/volunteers who accompanied our MFB Company members and Apprentices are to be commended equally! The crew included Leslie Smith, Trip Coordinator, Anna Adair, Debbie Chapman, LuAnn

Gilmore, Vicki Kerr, Judy Lerwick, and Shelly Hickman-Wright.

Regional Dance America/Southwest has shown us where Midland Festival Ballet has been, celebrated our organization’s development and provided insight on ways to achieve for the future. By Fall 2009, planning of instructors, facilities, performances and volunteers for the upcoming season will allow continued growth and directions.

To the Pointe,
Jan St.Hilaire, Executive Director

Joanie Holt, Midland Festival Ballet’s 2008-09 Honorary Sponsor Chair, will be honored at a reception following the Saturday, April 25, performance in the McCormick Gallery of Allison Fine Arts Center at Midland College. Thanks to Joanie for lending her support to MFB’s 15th anniversary season.

The School of MFB will hold the bi-annual Lecture Demonstration on Saturday, May 9, in the Wagner & Brown Auditorium of the Allison Fine Arts Center on the Midland College Campus. Little Ballet 2 and Ballet 1 and 2 are scheduled at 4:30 p.m., and Ballet 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. There is no charge for parents and family members to attend the class presentations.

Susan Clark, Artistic Director for the School of MFB, has announced summer classes for the month of June as follows:

Princess Ballet Camp (for ages 3 to 6): June 1-12, from 9 to 10:30 a.m.

Intermediate/Advanced Levels: June l-12, from l0:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with Joseph Goodman, guest teacher (will include a contemporary class).

Beginner/Intermediate Levels: June 15-26, from 10 a.m. to l p.m.

Intermediate Level: June 15-26, from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Printed information with class days and times plus fees will be available at the studio in late April and May. For more information, call the MFB office at 686-0071.

MFB Company Members will honor this year’s graduating senior dancers at a dinner in May.

They include:

• Stefany Brown who will graduate from Midland High School in May where she is President of the French Club and a member of the National Honor Society. She has also been a Big Sister with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and a member of Pickwick Players. She will attend Midland College in the fall. She wants to study photojournalism and travel worldwide.

• Kinder McCullough will also graduate with honors from MHS. She has danced with Coleman Academy since moving to Midland from Lubbock at age 5. She is the top Texas female recruit for the Armed Services and plans to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She plans to be a fighter pilot.

• Meagan Smith will graduate from Lee High School where she is a member of both the National and Spanish National Honor Societies. She is listed in Who’s Who Among American High School Students and is a Texas Scholar. Meagan is active in her church, Midland Bible. She plans to attend Texas Christian University and major in political science and minor in ballet while continuing to dance.

Auditions for the Milwaukee Ballet School were scheduled at the School of MFB on January 23, marking the fifth consecutive year that a national audition was held locally by the school. “Rolando Yanes, School Director, acknowledges the strong training of dancers in Midland and is willing to provide this opportunity for them,” stated Susan Clark, MFB’s Artistic Director who teaches at the school each summer.

As few as two and as many as nine dancers from Midland have attended either the three- or six-week summer training in Milwaukee over the past decade.

This summer Autumn Adair, Rachel Hickman, Olivia Lerwick and Hanna Pierce will attend the three-week intensive, and Ba’leigh Burns and Lauren Laughlin will attend the sixweek training. Rachel Malehorn, a former Midlander who attended a performing arts high school after her family moved to Pittsburgh, PA, is now a company member with Milwaukee Ballet.

Other planned summer intensive training for MFB Company members includes Joffrey Midwest in Flint, Michigan for Louisa Chapman, Annie Gilmore and Victoria Gilmore; Kaatsbaan in upstate New York for Louisa Chapman and Burklyn Ballet Theatre for Tyler Rhoads.

MFB performed Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf ” as an arts education program for over 2,000 Midland ISD third grade students at 9 a.m. and l:15 p.m. in the Midland High Auditorium on Friday, February 20, and for the general public at 7:30 p.m. that same evening. The performances were this year’s selection for “A Festival Fairytale,” the second production of the 2008-09 fifteenth anniversary season. “The programs allow students – some who have never had the opportunity – to experience the arts,” said Deb Shaw, Midland ISD Director of Fine Arts and MFB Board of Directors member. “We are happy the opportunity was available for our students.”

Performing in the role of Peter was guest artist, Joseph Goodman. Company Members danced the following roles: Bird - Louisa Chapman; Cat - Meagan Smith; Duck – Pearl Pierce; Wolf - Kinder McCullough; Head Hunter - Stefany Brown; Hunters - Emily Abalos, Ruthanne Kerr, Lauren Laughlin, Victoria Orta, and Jennifer Runnfeldt; and Grandfather - Bob Cowdery.

“MFB was pleased to present the classical ballet to the students and show how music is an integral part of ballet,” said Judy Coleman, Founding Director. The evening performance was followed by a reception in the MHS Bulldog Room with refreshments and an opportunity to take pictures with the characters. Thanks to Deanna Keese of Keese Photography for taking photos of the children with their chosen characters.

Midland Festival Ballet expresses appreciation to the Big Spring Symphony conducted by Dr. Keith Graumann for the opportunity to perform “The Nutcracker” on December 20 in the Big Spring Municipal Auditorium. Guest artists included Erin Rivera-Brennand as Sugar Plum Fairy, Courtney Palomo as Cavalier, Christopher Fellows as Snow Prince and Arabian, and Joseph Goodman as Soldier Doll and Candy Cane Soloist. Johnny Simons of Fort Worth performed as Herr Drosselmeyer.

Thanks to the many MFB and Big Spring Symphony Guild volunteers who assisted with the performance.

The 15th annual performances of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” were held December 13 and December 14 at Lee High School Auditorium. Both performances were nearly sold out with more than 2,000 total attendees.

Guest artists were Amy Fote and Nicholas Leschke, Principal Dancers with Houston Ballet, dancing the roles of Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier. Johnny Simons returned as Herr Drosselmeyer; Christopher Fellows danced as Snow Prince and Arabian, and Joseph Goodman as Soldier Doll and Candy Cane Soloist. More than 100 local performers of all ages danced beautifully, accompanied by the Midland-Odessa Symphony conducted by Diane Hilbert.

Complimentary tickets were provided to local service agencies including Casa de Amigos, High Sky Children’s Ranch, Midland Fair Havens, Midland Association for Retarded Citizens (MARC) and Safe Place of the Permian Basin. THANK YOU TO ALL PARENTS AND VOLUNTEERS WHO WORKED ON THE COMMITTEES TO SUPPORT THE PERFORMANCES!

THANKS also to all the studios whose students performed in “The Nutcracker” for 2008: Absolute Dance, Art and Soul, Bingham Dance Center, Dance Connection, Dee-Ann Studio of Dance, Gym Buddies, Legacy Elite Athletics, The Dance Gallery, and the School of Midland Festival Ballet.

MFB Awarded Gala Status

MFB, a Performing Company with Regional Dance America/Southwest (RDA/SW) was awarded Gala status by Soili Arvola, the organization’s adjudicator for the 2009 Festival held March 20–23 in Sugar Land, Texas.

A group of more than 30 MFB Company Members, parents, and board members, together with artistic and administrative staff, attended this year’s Festival. While at the Festival, MFB Company members took classes with nationally acclaimed ballet instructors and enjoyed three evenings of performances by other ballet companies from throughout a five-state area.

As adjudicator, Ms. Arvola visited each of the 24 companies in the region and determined which piece or pieces they would perform at the Festival. Following her visit to Midland on Wednesday, January 21, she selected MFB to perform “Red Wagon” choreographed by Anthony Ferro on the Saturday evening Showcase program and a newly choreographed piece by Lauren Curry named “We Can’t Have Nice Things” for the  Emerging Choreography program on Friday evening. At the Gala closing banquet on Sunday evening, Louisa Chapman, MFB Company Member received one of two RDA/SW scholarships for Summer Intensive study. Louisa plans to attend Joffrey Ballet Midwest in July and Kaatsbaan in upstate New York this summer.