FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LEHI, UTAH, November 2020—This November, Central Utah Ballet held its first performance since their grand opening in August. The performance included excerpts from the Nutcracker and took place at Covey Center for the Arts in Provo on November 11 and 12. The ballet was directed and choreographed by Central Utah Ballet owner and artistic director, Jennie Creer King, with instructor and renowned Utah contemporary dancer, Lindsay Folkman also participating in choreography.
Holding their inaugural performance is not what Creer-King imagined when she opened the doors to her ballet studio this fall. Still, despite uncertainty regarding the venue, the notorious ballet director and choreographer decided to move forward as planned.
They worked with the performance venue to take precautions to keep dancers and audience members safe. This included limiting ticket sales, practicing social distancing, and requiring mask-wearing.
“When we recognized that the pandemic situation wasn’t going to change, we went back to the drawing board and asked, ‘Okay, what do we need to do to make this performance happen?’”
Canceling the performance was not an option, and switching to a virtual show as many dance studios have done did not seem ideal.
“Live performances are so important to our dancer’s ballet education experience. Without the live audience, they are missing out on many of the learning experiences of live ballet–the stagefright, feedback from the audience, stage lights and sound systems, perfecting timing and costume changes… Our responsibility to our students is to provide them with the best opportunities to pursue ballet at universities or professionally, and live performances are a part of that.
Central Utah Ballet’s next performance, Act 2 of Swan Lake, will take place February 16, 2021.
About Central Utah Ballet
Central Utah Ballet is a fully comprehensive, classically-based ballet program for youth seeking to learn classical ballet and contemporary dance. The ballet studio provides preschool and toddler ballet, children’s ballet technique classes, pre-professional ballet training programs, junior and senior ballet companies, adult dance classes, and live stage performance opportunities.
Central Utah Ballet focuses on training students with a proper syllabus appropriate to the emotional and physical development of each student. Parents find that the young children’s creative ballet programs are fun and engaging while introducing techniques, children’s ballet classes teach a progression of classical technique and discipline, and the pre-professional/company ballet programs prepare young adults for college or professional auditions.
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For more information on this topic, please contact:
Mikelle Despain
[email protected]
801-369-5338
https://centralutahballet.com
About the Author
Jennie Creer-King
Owner & Artistic Director
Jennie Creer-King is the owner and artistic director of Central Utah Ballet Academy. She is an award-winning dancer, instructor, and choreographer. Among her awards include “Best School Award” by the Youth American Grand Prix, “Best of State” in Choreography and Youth Performing Group, and the Presidential Scholar’s Teacher Recognition Award. Jennie has a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Utah School of Dance with an emphasis in Ballet Performance and a Master's Degree from the University of Utah School of Dance emphasis in teaching pedagogy and choreography.
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