Each year, we at Sonoma Ballet Conservatory encourage our progressing dancers to submit themselves to examination by the discerning officials of the Royal Academy of Dance, from which is derived the governing curriculum of our School Program, and we are pleased to recognize the dancers who recently underwent these examinations, respective to their levels and according to the high standards of the internationally acclaimed RAD of London, England: Natalie Baker passed her Intermediate Foundations exam; Natalie Anderson, Elizabeth Eagles, Isabel Falls, Angelica Griggs-Demmin, and Jamie Melendy each passed the Intermediate Examination with Merit; Siobhan O’Reilly passed Advanced Foundation with Merit; and Mallory Bardet passed the Advanced II Examination with Merit.
We also recognize with honor the dancers who were in January promoted to pointe-work: Doris Arjona, Marissa Balchinas, Alexandra Burnham, Olivia Cole, Ariana Lopez-Casillas and Jamie Melendy. Dancing on one’s toes takes a great deal of preparatory muscle-conditioning and -strengthening, and each of these dancers trained twice weekly for a minimum of two years, anticipating this promotion. Not all dancers are candidates for promotion to pointe, as dancing en-pointe requires careful control of one’s body to avoid injury. It is only the dedicated dancer who submits herself or himself to an established and comprehensive curriculum who gains the muscular maturity to dance upon her or his toes and, therefore, we salute these dancers--bravo!
Last but not in the least, each winter we at Sonoma Ballet Conservatory afford our aspiring dancers the opportunity to branch out farther into the world of dance by auditioning for pre-professional programs offered at some of the most prestigious ballet schools across the nation and worldwide: Mallory Bardet auditioned for the Joffrey Ballet and the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and was accepted to both programs; Siobhan O’Reilly will attend the pre-professional program of the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp in Belgium; Jamie Melendy auditioned for the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance; Anika Ljung auditioned for and was accepted to the Summer Intensive Program of Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet School in San Francisco; Olivia Cole auditioned for Ballet West of Utah and Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet School in San Francisco and will spend a portion of her summer at LINES Ballet; Hannah Breall also auditioned for Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet School; and Emma Phelps auditioned for and will attend the American Ballet Theatre’s Young Dancer’s Summer Workshop in New York City. It took a great deal of courage to audition for these celebrated programs, and we could not be more proud of these dancers of Sonoma Ballet Conservatory.
Not unlike other pre-professional programs, Sonoma Ballet Conservatory offers its own Summer Dance Workshop, which provides dancers of the Sonoma Valley and beyond the opportunity to explore dance-styles like Classical Ballet, Character, Flamenco, Jazz, and Modern, as well as Pre-Ballet, taught by our own artistic director, Patty O’Reilly, plus distinguished guest faculty from the Bay Area and as far away as Scotland. Our 2011 Summer Dance Workshop begins Tuesday, July 5, and closes with a public performance at The Sebastiani Theatre on Saturday, August 6, 2011. Visit our website or call (707) 938-1424, to customize your own summer dance experience!
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