March 31, 2011
Misty Copeland and Sascha Radetsky will perform as guest artists at the 7:45 p.m. program on Saturday,
April 9, in the Culture Center’s Norman L. Fagan West Virginia State Theater when the West Virginia Division of Culture and History presents the 2011 West Virginia Dance Festival. This marks the 29th year of the event.
Copeland took her first ballet class at 13, an advanced age to begin this traditional art form. She was en pointe within three months. At age 15, Copeland won first place in the prestigious Los Angeles spotlight awardsprompting the Los Angeles Times to name her the Best Young Dancer in the Greater Los Angeles area. In 2000, she was offered a full scholarship to attend American Ballet Theatre’s (ABT) Summer Intensive Program. At the completion of the program, she was one of six girls chosen to join the ABT’s Studio Company. In 2001, she joined the company’s Corps De Ballet and in 2007, director Kevin McKenzie promoted Copeland to the rank of soloist, making her the first African American female to earn that position. Her roles include the Muse in Duo Concertante; Gulnare in Le Corsaire; Flower Girl in Don QuixoteRomeo and Juliet; and Fairy of Valor in The Sleeping Beauty.
Radetsky began his ballet studies in the San Francisco Bay area and, at the age of 15, was invited to study in Moscow at the Bolshoi Academy. One year later, he studied on scholarship at the Kirov Academy in Washington, D.C. Radetsky began his professional dance career with ABT in 1996 and was promoted to soloist in 2003. His repertoire includes roles of Lankendem and Birbanto in Le Corsaire; Lescaut and the Jailer in Manon; Cavalier and Nutcracker Prince in The Nutcracker, Tybalt, Paris and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet and Lead Gypsy in Don Quixote. He joined the Dutch National Ballet (DNB) in 2008 where he danced in Giselle, Nutcracker and Mouse King, Don Giovanni and Prodigal Son. In 2010 he returned to ABT and continues to dance with the DNB as a guest artist. He has appeared in television and print commercials and had starring roles in the Public Broadcasting System movie Home at Last and on the NBC television series Midnight Caller. He is a student at Long Island University and has written articles for and Newsweek.
The festival runs April 8 - 10. Two nights of performances beginning on Friday, April 8, at 7:45 p.m., will showcase the talent of West Virginia dancers who come to perform and take classes from a nationally-acclaimed festival faculty. The Friday night program will feature performances by 21 West Virginia dance groups and Saturday night will feature 19 groups. Copeland and Radetsky will perform Frederick Ashton’s Thais Pas de Deux and Twyla Tharp’s Sinatra Suite during the Saturday performance.
The evening performances are free and open to the public. Seating is limited. A schedule of both concerts in attached.
The West Virginia Dance Festival features dance professionals leading workshops and classes, performance situations and a focus on dance as an art form. Forty-one dance groups consisting of more than 400 dancers will participate in this year’s festival. Classes begin on Friday, April 8, and continue throughout the three-day festival.
For more information about the 2011 West Virginia Dance Festival, contact Caryn Gresham, deputy commissioner for the Division, at (304) 558-0220.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts with Kay Goodwin, Cabinet Secretary. The Division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the Division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
Friday, April 8, 2011 Performing Groups (in order of appearance)
Mid Ohio Valley Ballet Company and Academy, Parkersburg
Suzy Gunter, Director
Trillium Performing Youth, Lewisburg
Carli Mareneck, Director
Red Stone Dance Initiative
Angela Dennis and Elissa Evans, Directors
Jeslyn Performing Arts Center, Huntington
Jessica Lynn Fox, Director
American Academy Ballet, Charleston
Kim R. Pauley, Director
Dance Underground, South Charleston
Kristen L. Pennington-Hackman, Director
Todd Rosenlieb Dance Center in Norfolk Virginia Scholarship Winner
Brigette Madden, Charleston Ballet, Charleston
Marshall University, Huntington
Jessica Lynn Fox and Julie Jackson, Directors
Schrader Youth Ballet, Parkersburg
Velma Schrader, Director
Academy of Arts at January’s, Charleston
January Johnson Wolfe, Director
Beckley Dance Theatre, Beckley
Jerry Rose, Director
Alchemy Dance Project, Morgantown
Angela Dennis and Elissa Evans, Directors
The Art Center School of Dance, Huntington
Ella Hay, Director
Elite Performance Academy, Huntington
Marlo Shaver Wentz, Director
Huntington Dance Theatre School, Huntington
Laura Finlay, Director
Inwood Performing Arts, Inwood
Denna Smith, Director
Performing Arts Academy, Morgantown
Robyn Naugle, Director
Augusta Youth Ballet Company, Buckhannon
Nina M. Scattaregia, Director – Lance Russell, Assistant Director
USDAN Center for Creative Performing Arts in New York Scholarship Winner
Sponsored by Maurice Brandon Curry
Amelia Virtue, Kat and Company Dance Studio, Morgantown
Capital High School, Charleston
A. Michelle Legg, Director
Kat and Company Dance Studio, Morgantown
Katreena Snyder, Director
Saturday, April 9, 2011 Performing Groups (in order of appearance)
Princeton Dance Studio, Princeton
Janis Gunnoe, Director
Shepherdstown School of Dance, Shepherdstown
Emily Wanger Romine, Director
West Virginia Wesleyan College Dance Company, Buckhannon
Nina M. Scattaregia, Director
Morgantown Dance Studio, Morgantown
Jennifer Lawrence, Director
Bridgeport High School Dance Ensemble, Bridgeport
Alicia Smolder Kinsey and Stephanie Morris, Directors
Jerry Rose Scholarship of Excellence
Sponsored by West Virginia Division of Culture and History
and
USDAN Center for Creative Performing Arts in New York
Sponsored by Maurice Brandon Curry
David Lockwood, Kat and Company Dance Studio, Morgantown
Guest Artists
Misty Copeland and Sascha Radetsky
Jeslyn Dance Gallery, Huntington
Jessica Lynn Fox, Director
River City Youth Ballet Ensemble, Charleston
Michelle Raider, Director
JADCO Contemporary Dance Company, Charleston
January Johnson Wolfe, Director
Oglebay Institute School of Dance, Wheeling
Cheryl Pompeo, Director
West Virginia Dance Company, Beckley
Toneta Akers-Toler and Donald Laney, Directors
Trillium Performing Arts Collective, Lewisburg
Carli Mareneck, Director
Morgantown Ballet Company, Morgantown
Jennifer Lawrence, Director
Inwood Dance Company, Inwood
Denna Smith, Director
West Virginia University Dance Program, Morgantown
Yoav Kaddar, Director
Huntington Dance Theater, Huntington
Jamie Turner, Director
Charleston Ballet, Charleston
Kim R. Pauley, Director
Friends of West Virginia Culture and History Scholarship Winner
Ali Nagy, Kat and Company Dance Studio, Morgantown
Guest Artists
Misty Copeland and Sascha Radetsky
Performing Arts Connection and Education, Parkersburg
Dee Ann Florence, Director
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