Ballet Idaho update from Peter and Alex

Peter Anastos, Artistic Director talks about the upcoming 2011-2012 Season

A day in the life of two Ballet Idaho dancer.

A behind the scene look at Phyllis Rothwell Affrunti and James Brougham life as dancer at Ballet Idaho.

Ballet Idaho’s 2010 The Nutcracker Photo Gallery

Photos property of Ballet Idaho
Photographer: Idaho Exposure, Tom Oetzell

Paul Kaine named new Executive Director for Ballet Idaho

(Boise, Idaho) January 6, 2011 Ballet Idaho Board Chairman Pat March named Paul D. Kaine as its new executive director of Ballet Idaho, effective January 10, 2011. Paul is currently the Principal Partner of KPK Consulting, LLC, in Nashville, TN. Arts Consulting Group (ACG), a national arts management firm, coordinated the national search process to hire Kaine.  As was planned when she joined Ballet Idaho, current Executive Director Julie Numbers Smith is concluding her interim tenure after serving transitionally to help shape Ballet Idaho as its own independent Company under Peter Anastos’ artistic direction.

In his role as Executive Director, in partnership with Artistic Director Peter Anastos, Kaine will develop a strategic vision that grows Ballet Idaho’s Company and Academy. He also will provide managerial direction to the organization to achieve the artistic and entrepreneurial goals established in tandem with the Board and Anastos.

“Paul will serve as the chief translator of Ballet Idaho’s strategic, artistic and educational goals into a language of best business practices that drives institutional vibrancy and sustainability,” said March. “His extensive experience will help broaden the dialogue about why it is imperative to embrace Ballet Idaho as a vital component of the quality of life in Boise.”
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The Smallest Dancers Steal Their Own Show

The New York Times
Critic’s Notebook
By: Alastair Macaulay
Published: 12/23/2010

…In comic episodes like that “The Nutcracker” becomes the American equivalent of the traditional British Christmas pantomime, a show with all kinds of character numbers telling a serious, noble story with lots of comedy and vulgarity. Some versions of “The Nutcracker” are actually more Las Vegas than the one I saw there on Sunday, but that one, well danced (though to taped music) by Nevada Ballet Theater with choreography by Peter Anastos, always showed a sure instinct for rapid changes of tone and color. (Among the many children the two little Spanish-dance girls, in frothing skirts and mantillas matching those of their adult companions, gave the most gleefully assertive performances of the show.)

Mr. Anastos’s “Nutcracker” is often remarkably formal. Was any Snow choreography ever more classically hierarchical and imperially regimented than this?

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Nutcrackers Around the Nation Display Regional Flair

When creating his version of the Nutcracker, Ballet Idaho Artistic Director Peter Anastos wanted both a life-size Nutcracker doll and mechanical Mouse doll to entertain the party guests. “In the scene the Nutcracker doll and the Mouse doll have a fight and the Nutcracker is broken,” he said. “This gives a rationale for the battle scene later on in the ballet between mice and soldiers.”

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/multimedia/nutcraker/12.html

The Nutcracker Chronicles: Vegas but No Showgirls

The New York Times
ARTS BEAT
The Culture At Large
Published: December 23, 2010
By: Alastair Macaulay

LAS VEGAS — “All is calm, all is bright, Round yon Virgin …” Sinatra sings ill-advisedly amid the hubbub of my hotel lobby. In what’s said to be Las Vegas’s quiet season, this is one of the busy days. In the vast pool in front of the Bellagio, hundreds of fountains are dancing like Rockettes to the “Hallelujah” chorus.

Paris Las Vegas has whole streets, boulevards, precincts, as well as innumerable shops and restaurants. Fortunately it’s easy, within this, to find the Théâtre des Arts – lined with reproductions of Madame de Pompadour and other Parisian celebrities (as well as Barry Manilow). The Nevada Ballet Theater has been dancing one “Nutcracker” or another here for several decades, and if the times didn’t clash I could also catch another production in the city this day, by Anaheim Ballet. People who meet me in the lobby laugh at their own surprise to have found that Las Vegas contains two productions, and they assure me too that within this brash noisy city there’s a friendly small town.

The production here is by Peter Anastos, artistic director of Ballet Idaho. His company danced it earlier this month in Boise, but I wasn’t able to see it then and since I’ve never visited Las Vegas either, this is my opportunity to catch both the city and the Anastos “Nutcracker.” He is enduringly celebrated as founding director-choreographer (and a lead ballerina) of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, but has also been choreographing non-drag and classical ballets around the nation for 30 years.

And there’s no drag in this “Nutcracker” – not even a Mother Ginger. His Snow scene is the most collectedly classical response to the music I’ve ever seen, with the Snow Queen and Snow King and male and female Snowflakes much more concerned with maintaining a calmly imperial order than in surrendering to the whirl and gathering storm of Tchaikovsky’s music drama.

Despite some reordering of music in both acts and an interpolation from “The Sleeping Beauty,” this is a clear, efficient production. The Stahlbaums live in a minor palace (but with a painted Christmas tree); the Nutcracker is an adult even when he’s presented to Clara in doll form; she’s an adult too. It all works.

Admittedly, it’s not very Vegas – several “Nutcrackers” are more over the top than this — but Mr. Anastos’s professional skill shows best in the lively individuality of all the Act 2 divertissements. There are some child bakers who assemble a three-tier cake, and each of the national dances arrives with its own retinue of children.

But the adult Nevada dancers are warm, clean, and strong. I must confess I had expected a much less accomplished trouple. And here’s a touch that’s not just Vegas but basic showbiz: They and Mr. Anastos know – amazingly few do – how to make the ballet’s finale the real climax of all that has gone before. When they return to the stage, it’s not just more of the same. They seem recharged.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/the-nutcracker-chronicles-vegas-but-no-showgirls/

Thank you Colorado Springs!

Ballet Idaho made its first appearance in Colorado Springs dancing The Nutcracker over Thanksgiving weekend.

We were produced by the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, a wonderful orchestra that played beautifully for us.  The musicians, staff and many members of the audience told us it was the best and most lavish Nutcracker they had ever seen!  We were really happy to be working with such a wonderful group of people there and it looks like the Thanksgiving weekend in Colorado will become an annual feature of the Ballet Idaho schedule.

In September, Alex Ossadnik and Racheal Hummel went down to Colorado to coach the local ballet teachers and their students in our production.  Using a DVD of last year’s Boise performances, they took everyone through the show.  Alex visited Colorado again in early November to see how the kids were getting along and he reported they were doing magnificently.

When the company arrived on Thanksgiving Day we were nervous about the Friday.  We had never rehearsed with the children and never heard the orchestra.  Friday was a difficult day.  In the morning we did a complete technical rehearsal for the sets and lights, at 2pm we had a dress rehearsal, which was the first time we were with the orchestra and children together.  It was rough, but we got though it.  We had to establish tempos with the orchestra, iron out stopping and starting after variations, all the different things about my production, including a slight re-order of the numbers in the score.  The maestro, Thomas Wilson, was fantastic and very patient.  He did a superb job with the orchestra and they played beautifully!

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Ballet Idaho’s The Nutcracker at Morrison Center-Idaho Statesman

Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/12/10/1449909/ballet-idahos-the-nutcracker.html#ixzz17jUqJsaK

Nutcracker Photo Gallery!

Don’t miss this season’s celebration of The Nutcracker!

Enjoy some highlights and images from Ballet Idaho’s 2009 presentation of The Nutcracker.

So your child wants to perform?

So Your Child Wants to Perform, By Amy Pence-Brown

Meet the artist: Ballet Idaho’s Jared Hunt

2010 Nutcracker Auditions

Thank you to everyone who braved downtown Boise on Saturday to audition for Ballet Idaho’s 2010 Nutcracker!

(Thursday 9/30) Nutcracker cast list coming soon!

Nutcracker Rehearsal Schedule for October 1 & 2

Academy Parent Season Subscription Discounts

Parents who enroll in the Academy for the 2010-2011 academic year AND order a season subscription,
can receive up to a 20% discount on the cost of your tickets. New this year: 2-show, 3-show and 4-show
packages, PLUS youth prices too!
Call the office at 343-0556 to enroll and order today!

Tickets on sale Monday, November 1st for Ballet Idaho’s The Nutcracker

Date: October 28, 2010
Contact: Heather Calkins 343-0556 x 22

Single tickets go on sale Monday, November 1st for Ballet Idaho’s holiday classic, The Nutcracker. Join Ballet Idaho at this classic holiday tradition on December 10th, 11th, or 12th at the Morrison Center, made possible as a gift to the community “from our family to your family” by the J.R. Simplot Company.

With extraordinary choreography, beautiful sets and costumes, this celebrates the season in dazzling fashion —come watch a joyful and elegant Holiday Party at the Stahlbaum household, a children’s Christmas Garland Dance and discover unusual gifts from Herr Drosselmeyer — a whimsical mechanical Mouse, a life-size Ballerina doll and, of course, a handsome Nutcracker doll. An astonishing growing Christmas tree captivates as we enter into a thrilling battle scene and delightful lands and kingdoms.

Tchaikovsky’s classic score is performed live for each performance by the Boise Philharmonic musicians conducted by Robert Franz.

A large and enthusiastic cast of student dancers and singers from throughout the Treasure Valley join the professional company on stage as angels, bakers and a variety of sweets. This year’s cast features Ballet Idaho Academy students returning to the stage: Cristina Zimmerman as Clara and the brother/sister duo Brenna and Sebastian Houk dancing the roles of Clara and Fritz. New this year is Jake Wolford, who will perform the role of the Nutcracker doll. Jake, age 17, trained since he was a child in hip hop and jazz and started taking ballet classes only two years ago. He joined Ballet Idaho Academy this year and will also travel with the entire company to tour Ballet Idaho’s The Nutcracker in Colorado Springs, CO this Thanksgiving weekend hosted by the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. When asked what it means to have the opportunity to perform with a professional company and work with experienced dancers, he replied, “I hope it rubs off and I can continue dancing!” The Ballet Idaho Academy encourages talent and rewards hard work by giving students meaningful opportunities to perform on stage with the company. Ballet Idaho Academy is the only dance academy in the State of Idaho and the intermountain west with a professional company affiliation.

Single tickets start at just $25 and range to $55 with both adult and child pricing in all sections. Contact your Select-A-Seat outlet, call 426-1110 or visit www.idahotickets.com. Discounted group tickets are also available by calling the Ballet Idaho office at 343-0556 or visit www.balletidaho.org.

(((Editors: Photo and interview opportunities with dancers and the Artistic Director are available. We would be happy to help in making this a feature story for your publication.)))
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What’s in that drink?

This past Tuesday Ballet Idaho dancers and staff held a taste-testing soiree at the Tully’s in BODO.  It was a rainy, windy fall day…so absolutely PERFECT to be all cozied up in our neighborhood coffee house to taste and decide on selected Nutcracker drink specials!  Terry, Jerry and Jill treated us to a variety of latte’s, mocha’s, chai’s and tea’s.  By overwhelming taste tests…the famous drinks to make it to the Tully’s-Ballet Idaho 2010 Nutcracker drink menu were: Sugar Plum Chai, Nutcracker Mocha and Clara’s Cocoa. 

Thank you to Sarah, Audrey, Jessica, Angela, Kathryn, Phyllis, Racheal, Ryan, Jared, Kim, Catherine, Julie & Lacey who came down and helped with this fun event!  A big thank you to our friends and neighboors at Tully’s!  Ballet Idaho is very lucky to have community support from you!

Stop by your local Tully’s to try a Ballet Idaho Nutcracker beverage with your friends and family and join us at the Morrison Center on December 10, 11 & 12th for Ballet Idaho’s family tradition, The Nutcracker!

Ballet Idaho Opens With ‘Baroque!’

Three years in and the company is finding its footing.
By Dana Oland – doland@idahostatesman.com
Published: 10/22/10

Music and dance are inextricably intertwined, especially in classical ballet. One can’t think of the movement or ballet story without hearing the rich, orchestrated, memorable music that accompanies it.

So when Ballet Idaho artistic director Peter Anastos started on the job in 2008, he vowed he would make live music a regular feature for all the company’s performances. That’s hugely ambitious for a start-up regional ballet that is growing.

Now, for this season opener, Anastos takes a big step toward that goal. You’ll hear music played live for three of the ballet’s four season concerts, starting with the ”Baroque!“ this weekend. ”It (live music) is something we really want to dedicate ourselves to,“ he says.

For this concert it was a natural to partner with Boise Baroque Orchestra, a 30-member community group that specializes in the delicate, lilting and haunting baroque music. The music side of the performance will offer some of the traditional core composers of the genre: Handel, Bach and Rameau. The movement side will range from Anastos’ neo-classical ballet ”Trianon“ to ballet master Alex Ossadnik’s contrasting contemporary piece to Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 3., played by soloist Paul Hatvani.

And company dancer Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye will make his main stage choreographic debut with his sizzling duet with Racheal Hummel to Bach’s Aire on a G String. Dancing to live music is an important part of the performance and artistic process for a dancer, Anastos says.

”That’s when you really start listening and paying attention to what you hear,“ he says. The music and the musician become partners, and the experience for the audience is that much richer. ”The whole thing feels alive,“ Anastos says.

Later this season, the Boise Philharmonic will perform with the company for ”The Nutcracker,“ and in February, Ballet Idaho will perform a program of piano ballets to music played by Felix Eisenhauer and Juli Draney. Only the season finale, ”The Sleeping Beauty“ will use recorded music. The live musical performances are really a sign of the progress this company has made under Anastos and Ossadnik. The dancers are growing. The company is evolving: Anastos has added five new performers this season. Ballet Idaho now owns a full-length ”Nutcracker“ that will tour again this year, and it is tackling ”The Sleeping Beauty,“ truly grandest of the grand ballets. That production will — like ”Nutcracker“ — pull in dozens of kids from the academy.

”It’s a fairly elaborate season and I think we’re on a good trajectory,“ Anastos says. ”The community has been so welcoming. I had someone stop me at Fred Meyer the other day to tell me how much they like what we’re doing. It’s heartwarming.“

What makes Ballet Idaho so special?

Meet the talented and inspirational dancers of Ballet Idaho!

Ballet Idaho Opens the Season with Baroque! and Welcomes New Company Dancers!

Please join Ballet Idaho returning and new company dancers and Artistic Director, Peter Anastos for the 2010-2011 opening season performance of Baroque!, October 22, 23 and 24 at the BSU Special Events Center. Tickets on sale now through Select-a-Seat outlets.

Ballet Idaho welcomes new and talented dancers this season. Ryland Early, from San Francisco, previously danced with Houston Ballet II, Ballet West, Ballet Arizona, and as a guest artist across the country. John Frazer, from Salt Lake City, is a graduate of the Ballet West Academy and danced with Ballet West until coming to Ballet Idaho this season. “I enjoy the humor and simplicity in Peter’s choreography,” comments Frazer. “The pace at Ballet Idaho is much faster than what I’ve worked before in a professional setting. He pushes you a bit, keeps you sharp. If you don’t pay attention for a little, you’ve missed something.”

2009-2010 company apprentices Monique Betty and Adrienne Kerr return this season as company members.

New apprentices joining the company are Brooke Frandsen from Yuma, Arizona. Brooke was a member of Ballet Yuma and has received scholarships to attend Utah Regional Ballet, The Craft of Choreography Conference in Seattle, Washington and Ballet Nouveau Colorado. Kathryn Harden, from New Market, Maryland, began her dancing career at the Frederick School of Classical Ballet and continued at Pacific Northwest Ballet School, in addition, she has studied at summer programs such as the National Ballet of Canada, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Exploring Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Nic Gili from Idaho Falls, started his professional career with the Atlantic City Ballet and attended the Ballet West Summer Intensive on full scholarship before joining Ballet Idaho this fall. Keston Meyer, from Pocatello, Idaho, has studied with Houston Ballet, International Ballet of Houston, Richmond Ballet, and Salzburg Ballet.

Principal dancers, Heather Hawk, Phyllis Rothwell Affrunti, Racheal Hummel and Jared Hunt all return to Ballet Idaho from last season.