Posted July 26th, 2010 by Heather Calkins
It’s been so exciting to hear the fun stories from our girls who are attending Jillana’s Summer Intensive. It’s also been rewarding to hear from their parent’s who are sharing their thoughts about sending their daughters away to a 4-week Summer Intensive.
Julia Dunlop, Ballet Idaho Academy Student
The flight down was typical, but the 3 hour drive from Albuquerque was very bare and boring. Once in the ski valley there are lots of trees and mountains all around. Im excited to drive home and see all the canyon lands and stuff. The first week was very exciting and hard. Partially because of the altitude (about 9,500 ft) and the classes are simple but very fast which really makes you use your muscles a new way. This week (3rd) is going very well, personally my favorite so far. I’m getting used to things and some things are getting easier but the teachers are still pushing us and we are still working. Plus I can already tell I’m getting stronger and hopefully better.
My favorite things about being here are the classes. Teachers make the classes fun and the variations we are doing are very exciting. Plus we get to perform Serenade which is very very pretty. I’ve learned just general ballet things, and very pretty Balanchine choreography. We have learned the variations Stars and Stripes, Esmerelda, Tchaikovsky Pas, Russian Pas, and Calliope the muse of poetry. I really like them all but Stars and Stripes is definitely the hardest. Some of the hardest things I’ve had to do are the combinations. They’re very fast and not always in the order you would expect and we do a lot of beats. Plus being away for so long is weird.
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Posted July 24th, 2010 by Heather Calkins
I was curious to find out what our dancers were doing this summer. I found Company Principal, Jared Hunt, in San Francisco dancing with a new company called Post:Ballet. Here’s a word from Jared:
There is an African Proverb that states “When the music changes, so does the dance.” Well, in my case, when the city changes, so does the dance.
This summer I have had the wonderful opportunity of dancing for an old friend of mine, Robert Dekkers, who I met as a ballet student in the Boston Ballet School. Now he lives in San Francisco and is trying to start a dance company of his own. He brought several of his very talented friends from all over the country to perform in his inaugural season and I was flattered that I was involved. He is an amazing choreographer and I really enjoy his work! It’s very athletic and is as contemporary as it gets. It was really wonderful expressing myself through this very different type of movement. I love classical ballet and the aesthetic it offers, but I also love to challenge myself, mentally and physically, by exploring other types of dance.
The new company is called Post:Ballet and we performed at the Cowell Theatre in the Fort Mason Center. It was an amazing facility with an amazing view. The stage door was literally inches away from the bay and had a panoramic view of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the beautiful rolling fog. We also rehearsed in some of the great dance studios in San Francisco. Over the past month I have fallen in love with the “city by the bay,” but I truly left my heart in Boise and I can’t wait to return for the upcoming Ballet Idaho season! That’s the beauty of travel… you leave home and enjoy every minute of it, but it sure is nice to come back!
-Jared Hunt
Read the reviews: http://www.heatherdance.com/ and http://www.speakingofdance.com/2010/07/18/postballet-concert-one/
Posted July 22nd, 2010 by Heather Calkins
A huge smile crept across my face and I am ever so slightly embarrassed to say a small tear appeared in my eye as I saw the parents join their budding ballerinas on stage for the finale of the end of camp performance. As they leapt into their parents arms or twirled around, smiles across their faces, I realized the true value of this experience. Each girl had blossomed in front of me, from maybe shy, withdrawn, or slightly rebellious to more confident, approachable, and good-natured. Watching them discover the wondrous ways our bodies can move. The twinkles in their eyes when they Grande Jete over Mr. Alligator or learn how to Port de bras their arms and while doing a tondue showed me not only the joy of dance and ballet, but of learning. The basic joy of experiencing something new, of figuring it out, trying and failing and trying and succeeding is one of greatest things we can experience. It is such a rewarding feeling at the end of the day, even when I am tired and my feet are sore, to know that I am helping them to experience and appreciate dance, something that has given me such joy. It has also given me a new perspective; I am better able to find the joy, beauty, and simplicity in what I am doing. It is a marvelous thing to be able to look at world with that child like wonder and open my mind to the beauty around me.
Hannah Dunlop, Instructor with Ballet Idaho Summer Dance Camps
Posted July 12th, 2010 by Heather Calkins
First week of Pre Ballet Camps – what a journey! Every summer brings new excitement and new dancers to begin the love of ballet. This past week we had two camps for ages 2-3, as well as ages 3-5. Each one of these camps started out with a lot of excitement and nerves on the first day, as the week went by the dancers soon became aware of their surroundings and comfortable with the concept of ballet. Each dancer gained the knowledge of how to behave in a studio and how to interact with instructors plus other students. At the end of the week the dancers earned the opportunity to perform on stage. During the performance the room filled with sounds of dancing feet and sweet words from the audience. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start of the camps than with this group of kids. Thank you for a wonderful week. I can’t wait to see what else is in store for the next three weeks of camp!
-Lacey Vander Boegh
Posted July 12th, 2010 by Durea Thrall
Ditch the Workout—Join the Party!
On Tuesday June 22nd Ballet Idaho’s Natalie Gallegos Wickstrom and guest instructor from Seattle, Washington set up studio 1 at the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy with live drummers and 30 guests for some intense, energy-induced Zumba!
Natalie is high energy and an extremely talented dancer and instructor! She gets in the class and you immediately feel that energy she brings in with her. She brought with her John Delapena, her fellow Zumba and Ballroom Dance Instructor from Seattle with equal. matching energy and exuberance. Together they were extraordinary!
I had the privilege of being a guest at this remarkable event. At first I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to go or what to expect. About 10 minutes before it started, the drummers showed up with African style drums. They were so excited to be here and be a part of this event. Then the guests started arriving. I wasn’t sure how many we would have, but was hopeful we would have a good turnout. Well, they kept arriving….I was thrilled to have so much support for Ballet Idaho and Natalie and John. Pretty soon the music started and the drummers began warming up and it was truly electrifying! And the guests were still coming! At that point we had about 15 people which was great. I went in to the studio to take a peak and John and Natalie were doing a Tango, Cha-Cha, Rumba, Ballroom combo together that was simply beautiful! The guests just stood and stared in amazement watching them warm-up. And the guests kept coming! We were about to 25 people at this point. WOW! They went ahead and started the class. They started out with explaining a little bit about Zumba:
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Posted July 7th, 2010 by Peter Anastos
This year’s Ballet Idaho Summer Intensive had a lot of interesting students from Idaho, Montana, New Jersey and British Columbia, Canada. In a previous blog you can read what Madison Cole’s mom said about their experience here in Boise at the Summer Intensive. Madison is going to be 12 years old soon and she comes from the same school in New Jersey, The Academy of Dance Arts, that Jessica Sulikowski came from. Jessia is a professional dancer in our company and I worked with her many years ago on The Nutcracker in New Jersey when she was a child. See how good training can lead to great things?
watch?v=HKC1Kewfbe8
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Posted June 18th, 2010 by Peter Anastos
Since moving to Boise two years ago, I had not been back to New York City, my hometown. So after the company finished this season and the Academy Year-End Performance had taken place, I felt it was a good time to make the trip and catch up.
I love Boise, but there’s nothing like New York! I saw lots of good friends, old friends, professional friends, teachers and dancers, and even new friends and got right back into the pace of the city. The School of American Ballet gave its annual workshop performances and they were amazing. The SAB performances are more like New York’s 3rd professional company, the dancers were so accomplished. Heather Hawk, an alumnus of the school, was with me at the matinee and we saw a fantastic performances of two Balanchine ballets, Valse Fantasie and Bouree Fantasque, both beautifully danced. Bouree has always been one of my favorite obscure Balanchine works — it’s a comedy, which is rare for him, but also looks like a speeded-up Dior fashion show from the 1950s! It’s so beautifully dressed, so witty, elegant, stylish, and full of great good humor —- and that nutty music by Chabrier!!
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Posted June 18th, 2010 by Heather Calkins
When Durea and Heather from Ballet Idaho asked me to write a blog about our experience here in beautiful Boise, I was more than happy to do it! We are from New Jersey and this is our first time here and so far… so very good.
My daughter is dancing with Ballet Idaho in their Summer Intensive for 2 weeks. Many people asked me, “Why Idaho?” Well, for starters, Peter Anastos is highly regarded in our neck of the woods for his choreography. Of which, my daughter’s ballet school, the Academy of Dance Arts (ADA), in Red Bank, NJ, uses for many of their performances, including the Nutcracker, every year. Jennifer James Church, Artistic Director for ADA highly recommended that Madison (my daughter) take the opportunity to study with Peter and the Ballet Idaho Company. Jessica Sulikowski, a former dancer with ADA and present BI company dancer, took the time to answer many questions I had about coming out to Boise. (Thank you, Jessica!) Jessica was definitely a “Prima Ballerina” at ADA and I felt that if this was the caliber of dancer that BI was taking in, then this was a very good place for my daughter to be studying.
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Posted May 28th, 2010 by Peter Anastos
The Regional Dance America Festival is a breathtaking event! There are over 500 students from across the Western and Pacific states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Utah, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, who participate in classes and seminars, and who perform nightly for an audience of their peers. It’s amazing. 4 days of intensity that will stay with us forever!
This year, the Festival was held in Richland, Washington, at the Mid-Columbia Ballet, Debra Rogo, artistic director. And the Ballet Idaho Youth Ensemble was an important part of the Festival!
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Posted May 28th, 2010 by Heather Calkins
Three teenagers, two mothers, two ballet teachers, Racheal Nole and myself and Ballet Idaho’s Artistic Director, Peter Anastos, take a road trip to Richland, WA. While the scenery was great, the purpose was a four day dance-filled adventure. I accompanied five young dancers, and three very supportive mothers, from the Ballet Idaho Ensemble to Regional Dance America’s Pacific Region Festival, hosted by Mid-Columbia Ballet. I attended Festivals in the Southwest region for years and was eager to share the experience with the students. On the car ride there I tried to encourage homework and studying, as they would most likely sleep the whole way back (I was right), but instead we played cards. My family took many road trips and balancing the deck on a cooler and reaching back and forth over the seats was a familiar episode. We checked-in to the hotels with little time to un-pack before the first performance. The Festival‘s opening ceremony included introducing the faculty and we vocally expressed our support for Peter and Rachel. Classes began at 8:30 am the next morning and continued till 5:00 pm. I did my best to keep up with the young dancers. Our students shined beautiful in their classes. It was a great pleasure to watch them with new instructors. Every dancer’s history of training and performing varies from person to person, and it is this constant stream of new experiences and details, from one life to the next, that contribute to training artists.
Sarah Ellis
Company Dancer
