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Five aspiring dancers from USC's dance program and five of the best dancers in America will share the Koger Center stage March 31 as part of "Ballet Stars of New York."
The single performance, which will feature four principal dancers and a soloist from the New York City Ballet, will benefit scholarships and activities in USC's dance program, which recently began offering a BA degree. The USC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Donald Portnoy, music, will accompany the dancers.
"The Board of Dance views increasing the scholarship endowment as one of its top priorities. This fund raiser will provide scholarships to draw the strongest dancers to our program," said Susan E. Anderson, a professor of dance and director of the USC dance program, which is now in its 28th year. "We want our students to go on to dance with major ballet companies around the world."
President Sorensen has called the dance program "the crown jewel of the University," Anderson said. No other university in South Carolina offers a BA with an emphasis in classical ballet.
Anderson credited Stacey Calvert with helping arrange the gala performance. Calvert, an instructor and associate director of the dance program, is a Columbia native who studied at the School of American Ballet in New York and went on to become a soloist with the New York City Ballet. Calvert also secured permission to perform works choreographed by George Balanchine, works carefully controlled by the Balanchine trust.
"It's incredible for the students. They're blown away that they're going to be on stage with dancers from the New York City Ballet," said Calvert, who compared the guest dancers to movie stars of the ballet world. "It's an honor to have them come and an honor for our students to be able to dance with them. They can learn so much from them."
"Ballet Stars of New York" will feature New York City Ballet principals Wendy Whelan, Nikolaj Hubbe, Philip Neal, and Yvonne Borree, and soloist Tom Gold. Whelan, who recently was featured in a New York Times Magazine article about dancers to watch in 2006, is considered possibly the best ballet dancer in the United States. Mikhail Baryshnikov called her "the best. There's a complexity, a sense of internal life, a woman on stage. You're always trying to decode this person when she moves."
"The caliber of talent is extraordinary, a rare opportunity for South Carolina to see five internationally famous ballet stars dance," Anderson said. "We hope to entertain but also to inspire young dancers, their families, and cultural fans throughout the state with this amazing performance."
The USC dancers who will perform with the New York City Ballet stars are Susan Dabney, Sarah Coats, Caroline Privette, Lindsay Shatzer, and Kathryn Jensen.
"It's a huge honor. Wendy Whelan is my idol. I can't believe I get to dance on stage with her," said Dabney, a junior from Columbia who danced professionally with the Los Angeles Classical Ballet in California before coming to USC. "I'm a little intimidated and a little scared, but we are rehearsing six days a week, and with a coach like Stacey, we'll go on stage the best we can be."
The program will feature works choreographed by Balanchine, founder of the New York City Ballet, including Apollo, the pas de deux from Agon, Mozartiana, and Tarantella. Apollo, choreographed in 1928, is the story of the young god of music. Tarantella is a lively classical ballet named for a rapid twirling dance of Italy with many instantaneous spins and directional changes.
"Ballet Stars of New York" will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and $25. For tickets, call 251-2222. For more information, call 7-7500.
Sorensen and his wife, Donna, who sits on the USC Board of Dance, are honorary chairs of the event. A gala seated dinner at the Koger Center is planned immediately after the performance. At the dinner, guests will dine with the ballet stars. Music will be provided by the Dick Goodwin orchestra. Tickets for the performance and gala dinner are $250 per guest. "Ballet Stars of New York" is presented by sponsors Coplon's and Bunni Crawford/Coldwell Banker United.
For more information on the USC Dance Program, "Ballet Stars of New York," or the gala dinner, contact Anderson at 7-7264 or e-mail SusanEA@gwm.sc.edu. For more information on USC's dance program, go to www.cas.sc.edu/dance/. For more information about the New York City Ballet, go to nycballet.com.
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Dance education and performance major Susan Dabney of Columbia takes it as a point of pride to have been asked to dance with the New York City Ballet.
