CBA Spring Performance Information

Charlottesville Ballet Academy is gearing up for our second annual Spring Performance Seasons of Dance, featuring students from Charlottesville Ballet Academy and a guest performance by members of Charlottesville Ballet’s professional company.  Please see more information below.  Click here to purchase your tickets online!

Seasons of Dance
Saturday, June 1st, 2013 @ 3:30pm
The V. Earl Dickinson Building at PVCC

Around the World Program – Please Help Us Proof!

  • Please click on the thumbnail image below for a proof of the CBA Program.  If you see any errors in your child’s name, please email Moira Price (info@charlottesvilleballet.org) with the page number and the corrected spelling/wording.

Our Monthly “Meet the Artist” Series: Devin Sweet

Photo by Andrea Shirey Photography

Devin Sweet

THE BASICS

Name: Devin Sweet

Age: 25

Astrological Sign: Aries

Hometown: Plymouth, New York. It’s a small village in the middle of upstate NY, surrounded by farms and State Forests.

Role in C’ville Ballet: Company Artist and all-around handyman.

 

FAVORITES…

Devin at North Carolina Dance Theatre’s summer program

Food: Any well-made soup

Color: Turquoise, but I like most blues.

Book: The Tao te-Ching by Lao Tzu

Movie: Star Wars: the original trilogy, Monty Python, Firefly, Serenity, V for Vendetta

Quotation: “Try not, do or do not, there is no try”-Yoda

Musician/Band:  Rise Against, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra.

Spot in C’ville: Any of the forested trails.

 

NERDY DANCE QUESTIONS

A young Devin auditioning for The Nutcracker

Tell us about your dance background and training:

I started training when I was 4 years old at the Decker School of Ballet (later renamed the Fokine Ballet Company). I was trained very strictly in ballet while I was a student there. At 18, I attended college at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA) where I received training in ballet, modern, partnering and choreography. I left NCSA and spent a year dancing for a small company in South Carolina but returned to finish my degree. After NCSA, I started teaching to stay in the dance world while looking for professional work. Eventually I found the Charlottesville Ballet and moved to Charlottesville in 2011.

Devin with Company Artist Caitlin Lennon in “The TogetherColoured Instant” by Peter LeBreton Merz (2012)

 

What genres of dance do you enjoy?

Ballet mostly, I love the classical lines. I also enjoy most ballroom dancing.

 

Favorite dancers or role models?

Rudolf Nureyev and Damian Woetzel as dancers and Bruce Lee as a role model.

 

Do you have a favorite ballet:

Balanchine’s Serenade is wonderful when done well. I also enjoy Jerome Robbins’ choreography.

Photo courtesy Steve Clarke

 

What is your favorite ballet step/movement?

I like petite allegro.

 

Tell us, why do you dance?

Because it’s hard, because it’s something beautiful, and because when you’re on the stage nothing in the world matters.

 

 

OTHER

 

What other jobs/activities/pursuits are you involved in?

I help the Charlottesville Ballet with various handy-man projects, but dance is truly my career–  I do a lot of freelance work, teaching, and guesting for other area studios in Central Virginia and North Carolina.

 

What other talents or passions do you have?

I love to cook just about anything and everything!

Devin as a guest performer at his childhood studio.

Anything else you’d like to express?

I’m really looking forward to the Mainstage Two Performance that will close the company’s season on April 20.  I’m performing in a ballet called L’après-midi d’un faune (or The Afternoon of a Faun), a pas de deux by Associate Director Keith Lee that’s inspired by the original version by Vaslav Nijinsky.

Nijinsky took inspiration from a series of Greek vases he saw at the Louvre and created the original version for the Ballet Russes back in 1912.  Check out this video clip of Nijinsky…from 100 years ago!

Keith Lee’s version of the ballet is a more modern, impressionistic dance (with less abstract choreography and more challenging partnering skills), but I’m pretty excited to play a “faun” animal on stage and bring the story to life over 100 years later.  Come see me perform L’après-midi d’un faune with Sara Jansen Clayborne in the Mainstage Two Performance: Tribute – April 20th at PVCC!

 

Thanks for enjoying our “Meet the Artist” segment– and look for a new Charlottesville Ballet artist profile next month!

 

(c) Charlottesville Ballet 2013

Our Monthly “Meet the Artist” Series: Hannah Deveny

Charlottesville Ballet’s “Meet the Artist” profile for February 2013 features company Artist Hannah Deveny– check out her interview below and enjoy!

Hannah Deveny

THE BASICS

Name: Hannah Deveny

Age: 23

Astrological Sign: Virgo

Hometown: Akron, OH

Role in C’ville Ballet: Company Artist

FAVORITES…

Food: Chocolate, coffee, spicy food!

Color: Green, Blue

Book: Harry Potter series

Movie: Elf

Musician/Band:  The Black Keys—They are from my hometown, Akron! I also love the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Spot in C’ville: Downtown Mall, Saunders Trail, Sugar Hollow, and Humpback Rocks

Business/Store in C’ville:  Trader Joe’s

 

NERDY DANCE QUESTIONS

Photo by Andrea Shirey Photography

Tell us about your dance background and training:

I started dancing around my house and fell in love with ballet at the age of 3. I started studying ballet seriously at age 10 at the University of Akron Dance Institute. I was fortunate to train with many professional dancers and perform with the University of Akron Dance Ensemble in high school.

I attended summer intensives at Washington Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Salzburg International Ballet Academy, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Hubbard Street.

I recently received a BFA in Ballet from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. After graduating this past June, I joined the Charlottesville Ballet!

What genres of dance do you enjoy?

Classical ballet, contemporary ballet, modern dance

 

What kind of pointe shoe do you wear?

Bloch Serenade MK II

 

Favorite dancers or role models?

My Parents—I am thankful for their continual support and appreciate their hard work as doctors, parents, and leaders.

Ana Lobe—My dance teacher growing up who danced with the National Ballet of Cuba.

Ka-Ron Lehman Brown—My modern teacher in college who taught me how to express emotion in my dance.

Gillian Murphy—I will always remember her performance with the American Ballet Theatre in Swan Lake.

Do you have a favorite ballet:

Giselle, especially Act II!

 

What is your favorite ballet step/movement?

Pirouettes, adagio, grand allegro!

 

Tell us, why do you dance?

I have danced for so long that I could not imagine it not being present in my life. I love performing because it is my time to share my art with an audience. I also love how the dance world is so small and connected!

 

OTHER

What other jobs/activities/pursuits are you involved in?

I teach ballet for Charlottesville Parks and Recreation as well as wait tables, cater, and babysit. 

 

What other talents or passions do you have?

I enjoy the outdoors and have had fun exploring the Shenandoah National Park! My family now lives in Colorado where I love road biking in the summer and skiing in the winter! I also love swimming, yoga, and hiking when I’m not dancing.

Anything else you’d like to express:
I am very thankful to be a member of Charlottesville Ballet! Everyone works so hard and we all work very well together, which I really appreciate.

Come see me perform as Aurora, The Sleeping Beauty, in our production of  A Fairy Tale Gathering at PVCC on February 16th!

 

Hannah with Participants from Charlottesville Ballet’s Summer Intensive 2012

Thanks for enjoying our “Meet the Artist” segment– and look for a new Charlottesville Ballet artist profile next month!

 

(c) Charlottesville Ballet 2013

Our Monthly “Meet the Artist” Series: Blake Seidel

 

Charlottesville Ballet’s “Meet the Artist” profile for December 2012 features company Apprentice Blake Seidel– check out his interview below and enjoy!

Blake Seidel

THE BASICS

Name: Blake Seidel

Age: 22

Astrological Sign: Virgo

Hometown: Fairfax, VA

Role in C’ville Ballet: Apprentice

 

FAVORITES…

Food: Chocolate chips and salad, but not together!

Color: Green

Book: This Boy’s Life

Movie: Mean Girls

Musician/Band: Incubus

Quotation: “Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.”-Martha Graham

Spot in C’ville: Whiskey Jar

Business/Store in C’ville:  Trader Joe’s

 

NERDY DANCE QUESTIONS

Blake and his family

Tell us about your dance background and training:
I started dancing at the age of 18 when I was attending Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. My mother was a dancer and I have always loved to dance, so I decided to take a beginning modern dance class my first semester. It was love at first sight. I transferred to the University of Virginia my third year of college and continued to study dance through the University. I auditioned for the Charlottesville Ballet during my final year at UVA and was hired as an Apprentice with the company, simultaneously balancing my work with the company with finishing my final year of college. After graduating, I completed summer intensives with the American Ballet Theater and the Joffrey Ballet School. I am continuing to study and grow as a dancer with the Charlottesville Ballet during the 2012/2013 season.

 

Blake performing in David Dorfman’s “Prophets of Funk: Act One” at the University of Virginia

What genres of dance do you enjoy?

Contemporary, Modern, and Hip Hop dance are my favorites styles of dance. They come most naturally to my body and it feels effortless to dance within these genres.

 

Favorite dancers or role models?

One of my role models is actually a former dancer for Charlottesville Ballet, Voltaire Wade-Green. His work ethic, humility, versatility, and talent are all things that I strive to attain.

Do you have a favorite dance piece:

Rosas Danst Rosas, by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

Blake during a photo shoot with Andrea Shirey Photography

What is your favorite ballet step/movement?

Adagio! Most people hate it, but I love it!

 

Tell us, why do you dance?
For me, dance is just as necessary as oxygen is. I feel full of life with it and feel empty without it. It is a challenge for me – physically, emotionally, and and mentally. It allows me to express with my body what I cannot express in words. I simply could not live without it. Dance brings me more joy than anything that I have ever tried before, so why would I ever stop?

 

OTHER

What other jobs/activities/pursuits are you involved in?

I work at the Whiskey Jar on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall and I teach Contemporary and Hip Hop dance classes at Charlottesville Ballet Academy.

 

What other talents or passions do you have?
I can sing, do yoga, do lots of handstands, and I am working on my breakdancing skills!
Anything else you’d like to express:

I cannot express how much I appreciate all that Sara Clayborne and Emily Mott do – for me, for the company, and for Charlottesville and its surrounding area. They have given me the opportunity to follow my dreams to become a professional dancer and are an integral part of the dancer I am today.

Blake and Resident Choreographer Audrey Fenske as Clara and the Nutcracker

Come see Blake Seidel perform as the title role in our production of The Nutcracker Suite at PVCC December 22nd and 23rd!

Thanks for enjoying our “Meet the Artist” segment– and look for a new Charlottesville Ballet artist profile next month!

 

(c) Charlottesville Ballet 2012

Our Monthly “Meet the Artist” Series: Heather Hutton

 

Charlottesville Ballet’s “Meet the Artist” profile for November 2012 features company lighting designer Heather Hutton– check out her interview below and enjoy!

 

Photo by Andrea Shirey

 

Heather Hutton

 

THE BASICS

Name: Heather Hutton

Age: 47

Astrological Sign: Aquarius

Hometown: Dallas, Texas

Role in C’ville Ballet: Lighting Designer

 

FAVORITES…

Heather’s husband Dirk and daughter Eliza

Food: Mexican

Color: Blue

Book: Harry Potter

Movie:  The Lord of the Rings

Musician/Band: Broken Bells, and Big Band anything!

Quotation: “Wherever you go, there you are”

Spot in C’ville: My yard

Business/Store in C’ville: Oh Susanna

 

NERDY DANCE QUESTIONS

Tell us about your dance background and training:
I have been dancing since the age of ten. Most of my training has been in Modern Dance and Contact Improvisation. I studied at the undergraduate (TCU, Ft. Worth, TX) and graduate level (Bennington College). I was in a dance company in Texas for 5 years. I attended the Bates Dance Festival for 11 years. I still dance every week.

What genres of dance do you enjoy?

Ballet, modern and improvisation.

Favorite dancers or role models?

In Dance: Gene Kelly, Doug Varone, & Nancy Stark Smith.
In Lighting: Jennifer Tipton and my husband, Dirk Kuyk.

Do you have a favorite dance piece:

Jewels by George Balanchine, Rise by Doug Varone, and about a thousand more!

What’s your favorite ballet/dance step:

Anything that involves dancing with another human being.

 

LIGHTING DESIGN QUESTIONS

Tell us, why do you light dance?
I would rather light dance than anything else. Lighting is visible music. I love to create the underpinnings, the inner space, of a dance. The lighting creates another form of flow, from beginning to end.
How did you become involved in technical theater?
When I was an undergraduate dance major, I had to fulfill technical stage hours every year. I discovered I loved working backstage, with all the lighting equipment.

Heather’s Lighting for the Live Art’s “Afterglow” Party 2011

Tell us a bit about your background and training in lighting:

I studied lighting concurrent with my undergrad dance training at TCU. I began to design dance shows, and was lucky enough to light several works by Fernando Bujones while he was an artist-in-residence at TCU. I quickly realized I wanted more training. I received my MFA in lighting from Bennington College. I designed lights for professional theatre for several years before moving to

Heather’s Lighting for “Eurydice” at Live Arts (June 2009)

Charlottesville. While here, I’ve designed for Live Arts, for Wundekammer, and very happily for Charlottesville Ballet. In 2005, I had the chance to accompany Jennifer Tipton to Paris while she was designing lights for the Paris Opera Ballet’s performance of Jewels. It’s the same version that was filmed for PBS Great Performances. It was a real treat to watch a lighting master and a stellar ballet company in rehearsal for 2 weeks while sitting in the amazing Opera Garnier.

What is your favorite show you have worked on:
Eurydice, directed by Bree Luck, at Live Arts.

 

OTHER

Heather’s daughter Eliza as the black sheep in Charlottesville Ballet’s “The Nutcracker Suite”

What other jobs/activities/pursuits are you involved in?

My husband and I are raising our dancing daughter. She is my favorite pursuit!

 

What other talents or passions do you have?
I am a devoted gardener, a good cook, and a voracious reader.

 

Anything else you’d like to express:
I truly enjoy collaborating with Charlottesville Ballet as their Lighting Designer. I am so thrilled that the organization is expanding and will be moving to Charlottesville soon– I can’t wait to see what happens next!

 

 Thanks for enjoying our “Meet the Artist” segment– and look for a new Charlottesville Ballet artist profile next month!

 

(c) Charlottesville Ballet 2012

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