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May Munchables
BCB news & updates
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Dear BCB Families and Fans,
Great news! Our fundraising campaign, Give Local, raised $15,703 online with an additional $1,538 donated offline! And I am thrilled to announce that we had 100% participation from our staff, faculty and board of directors! I am so proud to be a part of a group of people who believe passionately in what they do. If you haven't yet contributed during our 2023-2024 season, you can do so by visiting our Support Page. Thank you!
May is a very busy time for us. There is a lot to chew on! On May 19, we have a BCBeats Open House, free to the public.
We are preparing for our end-of-year performances on June 1. Tickets will be going on sale soon. Stay tuned for ways to volunteer in the Costume Shop and at the theater
After the performances, there will be one more week of classes, the last class being Saturday, June 8. The school will be closed for two weeks, June 10 - 22.
Registration is now open for Summer Dance 2024..
Keep on dancing!
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Fisk Barisser
Artistic Director
Brass City Ballet
203-598-0186
www.brasscityballet.org
...where the art, technique and joy of dance go hand in hand
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Mark Your Calendar
May 11
Deadline for Program Booklet Ads
Click here for Season Finale 2024 Ad Form We can accept ads up until Wednesday, May 3. Any questions? Email us at info@brasscityballet.org.
May 19
BCBeats! Free Community Open House
12:00 - 1:30 pm
Free classes & performance
May 20
Flower Sale Deadline
Pre-order your beautiful bouquets
(see below)
PDF Order Form
Google Order Form
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June 1
Season Finale 2024
Season Finale is Brass City Ballet’s end-of-year performances featuring all of the students, from the littlest 3 year olds to adults. Each class gets a chance to perform, and each parent gets a chance to see his/her child on stage!
The final roster of who performs what and when will be determined soon. Please OPEN UP and READ all your emails.
The venue is the Mainstage Theater at the Naugatuck Valley Community College, 750 Chase Parkway, Waterbury, 06708.
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"I have a deep belief that choreography is community organizing."
—Ana María Alvarez
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Join us on May 19 for our Open House!
Dance class for young children, a performance, BCB Co. bake sale
& a Family Salsa class!
Free & open to the community!
12:00 - 12:30 Free dance class for ages 3 - 7
12:30 - 1:00 Performance
1:00 - 1:30 Family Salsa class
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Tickets for Season Finale 2024 will be available soon! | |
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Thanks for Letting Us Know!
Great job students & parents! You are letting us know when your child cannot make it to class! As we near our end of year Season Finale performances, it is vitally important to be in class in order to learn the choreography. So keep up the great communication! Please email us at info@brasscityballet.org if your child is going to be absent. Too many absences may result in removal from the performance.
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BCB Alums, we want to hear from you!
Send your news and updates to info@brasscityballet.org
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Presenting Your Best
A good ballet school prides itself on the attire of its students, and Brass City Ballet is no exception. No one wants to see a dancer onstage with rips in the tights, hair falling out or without the proper shoes. Every dance class is practice for being on the stage. We expect our students to look and behave their best, and they learn this in the classroom.
Please stock your child's dance bag with bobby pins, hairnets, brush and hair gel. Please sew any runs in the tights. Shoes can be purchased at boutique@brasscityballet.org
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Please Drive Safely!
The parking lot at Brass City Ballet can be a dangerous place! We ask all of our students and families to please drive slowly. Children are not permitted to cross the parking lot without an adult escort. Please come to the door to pick up your child.
Permissions
Rules for students leaving the studio during their break:
1) BCB must receive written permission from the parents allowing their children to go to Middlebury Pizza;
2) They must ask permission from an adult at BCB before leaving;
3) They must go as a group.
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Congratulations to Sophia!
Newly inducted into the Brass City Ballet Company as a Trainee, Sophia Person will shadow the other dancers and get a feel for company life.
Brass City Ballet Company members are enrolled in the Concentrated Studies Program at the C2-level and are selected by audition only.
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"It's jeweler's work."
—Irina Kolpakova at 90 on coaching American Ballet Theatre's star dancers
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The ballet, Don Quixote, is based on the novel, Don Quixote de la Mancha, written by the Spanish author, Miguel de Cervantes, in the 17th century. Don Quixote, an eccentric and elderly gentleman, surrounded by books filled with tales of medieval, chivalric knights and maidens, falls asleep and dreams of a beautiful woman, Dulcinea. He awakes and, believing the woman in his dreams to be real, dons his suit of armor and sets off with his servant, Sancho Panza, vowing to bring her honor.
His adventures take him through Spain where he meets many colorful characters: Lorenzo, an innkeeper; Kitri, the innkeeper’s daughter; Basilio, a barber, for whom Kitri declares her love; Gamache, the boring nobleman whom Kitri’s father wishes her to marry; the toreador, Espada, and his partner, Mercedes, a beautiful Gypsy dancer.
| Russian ballerina, Vera Trefilova, as Kitri ca 1900 | |
Don Quixote, with his head in the clouds, often becomes confused. At their first meeting, he mistakes Kitri for Dulcinea. While in the countryside, he is invited to watch a puppet show, but believing the puppet heroine to be Dulcinea, he rushes with sword in hand to defend her and destroys the puppets. He mistakes a windmill for a giant and as he jousts with its sail, he is struck on the head and falls to the ground. He lies unconscious and is swept away to a Dream Scene of forest nymphs, Cupid and the Queen of the Dryads. In his dream, Kitri becomes Dulcinea.
Don Quixote, after he wakes up, helps Kitri and Basilio in their scheme to trick her father into letting them marry. The couple are granted their wish, celebrating with a festive wedding party until Don Quixote and Sancho Panza bid farewell and continue on their adventure.
| Above: The Gypsy dance of Mercedes | |
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Above & below: The famous dance partners, Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov, were especially renowned for their interpretations
of Kitri and Basilio
| The story was first created as a ballet in 1740 in Austria. A later adaptation was staged there by Jean-Geaorges Noverre in 1768. The ballet as we know it best was choreographed by Marius Petipa in 1869 at the Bolshoi Imperial Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Originally set in four acts, the ballet today is performed in three. Much of the music by Ludwig Minkus is spirited, feisty and filled with Latin flavor, perfect for Kitri’s and Basilio’s virtuosic variations. By contrast, those of the Queen of the Dryads, Dulcinea and Cupid are lyrical, spritely and dreamy. | |
Above: Evgenia Obratsova as Cupid
in the Dream Scene
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“Don Q”, as it is affectionately referred to by dancers, has many solo and corps de ballet variations that are excellent educational vehicles for ballet students. They challenge the dancer with their call for musicality, technique, stamina and artistry.
Brass CIty Ballet will be presenting excerpts from “Don Q” at its Season Finale on June 1st. Tickets will go on sale soon, so stay tuned!
Sources:
https://petipasociety.com/don-quixote/
https://www.sfballet.org/discover/backstage/the-story-of-don-quixote/
https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-23-24/ballet/don-quichotte
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Brass City Ballet's Associate Artistic Director, Julio Alegria (seen here rehearsing for Don Q as Basilio), is staging Welcome to Don Quixote for BCB's Season Finale 2024.
"Don Q is my favorite ballet", he says. "I think I danced all the roles - except maybe for Kitri", he laughs. The energy and technique is demanding, and Mr. Algeria is not letting any of the dancers sit back and relax during rehearsals. Here's what the dancers have to say:
"It's fun, a little less traditional, and has more acting and more sass." - BCB Co. member, Mary Moreira
"It's challenging!" - BCB Co. member, Kiley Legg
"It's stamina building." - BCB Co. Trainee, Sophia Person
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Happy May Birthdays!
5/8 Meredith Tiso
5/10 Sophia Nicolasora
5/12 Mila Kostandini
5/16 Emily Kolan
5/18 Kendra Sperry
5/20 Ella Moissonnier
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Brass City Ballet 1255 Middlebury Road, Middlebury, CT 06762
www.brasscityballet.org 203-598-0186
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