Diana Totten in the 'Sleeping Beauty,' circa 1950s
Seventy-five years ago, Constance Hardinge started Bristol Ballet, and it’s still keeping audiences entertained and dancers on their toes.
“Constance Hardinge was a visionary leader in bringing ballet to our community. Her story leading up to that time is very interesting, as she traveled back and forth between America and England for most of her childhood. While in England, she strictly studied the Cecchetti methods until she moved to New York City. Once in the Big Apple, she was able to study with some of the best, like Gene Kelly and Leon Fokine,” Amanda Hairston, artistic and development director says.
When the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo announced auditions for the company, 100 dancers auditioned. six were taken and one was Hardinge. Her mother then decided that it wasn’t “appropriate” to go into show business, so she was forbidden to join the Ballet Russe.
She eventually did go on the Broadway stage in “On Your Toes.” From there, she danced in “Babes in Arms, “I Married an Angel” and “Oklahoma.” She also joined the New York City Opera Ballet Company and appeared in many opera productions.
“Constance then had many opportunities to travel and perform. She did not happen upon teaching until 1938 when she saw an ad for a summer camp for ballet in New Hampshire. From there she went to Miami to teach, and then she came to teach at Sullins College. Seeing that many of the dancers were progressing beyond a two-year college education and training, she opened a school for dance in 1948,” says Hairston.
But after she taught at that first summer camp, she discovered that her true love was teaching, and thus she founded Bristol Ballet.
Hairston met Hardinge when Hairston was a child. She says that most people who knew Hardinge called her Hardye.
“My mom danced under the instruction of Hardye at both Bristol Ballet as a student as well as a ballet major at Virginia Intermont when Constance was the head of the dance department. My mom said that she was ‘the strongest woman she has ever met’ and from what I have gathered talking to her, and others, she was a force to be reckoned with and would always command the room. She was extremely intelligent and always had a plan in the back of her mind in terms of costuming, choreography, scenery, etc.
“She was always known to have a legal pad and a pen during rehearsals, some of which now exist in the Archives of Appalachia. Her drawings were amazing, and it has been a real treat to see them come to life in costume form. We have some of those very costumes also in the Archives of Appalachia,” Hairston says.
“I also want to mention our new partnership with East Tennessee State University’s Archives of Appalachia and the Reece Museum. Last fall, we transferred all of Bristol Ballet’s historical materials (photos, videos, program books, some costumes and much more) to ETSU’s Archives of Appalachia. They will restore and stabilize the materials and keep them safe. It is a great opportunity to protect, organize and safely house our historical materials. The archive is well equipped with the resources needed to securely house these materials in climate-controlled library space, as well as organize and digitize them. They are also able to stabilize any damaged materials. The materials are also available for educational purposes and are accessible to both ETSU students and the public. The archive houses collections from other regional arts organizations, such as Symphony of the Mountains and Barter Theatre, but Bristol Ballet’s materials are the first dance or ballet specific materials in the Archives of Appalachia.
“We are also working with the Reece Museum to present an exhibit highlighting the history of Bristol Ballet for our 75th Anniversary. In partnership with East Tennessee State University’s Reece Museum and Archives of Appalachia, Bristol Ballet’s history will be highlighted in a special exhibit at the Reece Museum for the entirety of the 75th Anniversary season. It will feature photographs, costumes and other historical artifacts from the Archives of Appalachia Bristol Ballet collection. The title is ‘Ballet in Appalachia: 75 Years with Bristol Ballet.’ The opening reception is Aug. 10, 5-7 p.m., and the exhibit will be open to the public through June 2024,” says Moira Frazier Ostrander, artistic and school or ballet director.
When Hardinge retired, Michele Plescia took over in 2004. She led the school and company until 2022. Under her leadership, Bristol Ballet continued to thrive and eventually bought a permanent home, the former Athens Steakhouse building.
Hairston and Ostrander took the reins in 2022, but they’d both been involved with the school before.
Ostrander grew up dancing with Highlands Ballet, Abingdon, Virginia, however they did several joint productions with Bristol Ballet, including “The Nutcracker,” “A Christmas Carol” and “Dance Celebration” (a gala-style spring performance). “I met Michele Plescia, Bristol Ballet’s former artistic director and current director emeritus, when I was 13 years old, the first time we did ‘The Nutcracker’ as a joint production. During and after going away for college and grad school, I started teaching for Michele at Bristol Ballet. Eventually, I was offered a full-time position as managing director working under Michele in 2018, which was a position divided between administrative and artistic duties. In 2022 when Michele retired, I was promoted to Artistic and School of Ballet Director, in partnership with Amanda Hairston,” she says.
Hairston says she feels “like Bristol Ballet is in my blood. My mom took classes under Constance and was a ballet major at Virginia Intermont. Both of my parents served on the board - my mom served as president. My mom served as house manager for many years backstage. My stepfather worked backstage on many shows (he has been the Barter Theatre’s Master Carpenter for over 30 years). My dad worked on the stage, as he played Herr Drosselmeyer for a few years. I danced at Bristol Ballet from 1989-2001. I went to Virginia School of the Arts afterward and then danced at Richmond Ballet. I served as the ballet mistress for interim director, Janelle Tatum, in 2017 when Michele Plescia was on medical leave. After that, I started teaching classes and guest dancing for many productions. My last role was a stepsister in Michele’s “Cinderella” in 2022. After Michele retired, I was hired to be the artistic and development director,” she says.
Hairston and Ostrander are continuing Hardinge’s legacy which includes costumes from the 1960s.
“Bristol Ballet stores a large amount of costumes. We have about 75 tutus alone, not to mention all the other costumes, and we still regularly use costumes from as far back as the 1960s. We also supplement the collection each year and rehabilitate costumes when needed. As an arts nonprofit, we are often repurposing or altering existing costumes for new shows. We can get quite creative. The same costume might be used for two very different roles. For example, a pair of brown faux-fur pants made an appearance in 2023’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ production for Red Riding Hood and the Wolf and will likely also be used in 2024’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ for Bottom (the actor-turned-donkey).
“We also have used the same pink tutu for Sugar Plum Fairy and Aurora. While we use the same costumes for ’The Nutcracker,’ we often put a new spin on them each year (different trim, decorations, etc.), and we rotate through a large collection of ‘Nutcracker’ costumes so not all of them get used every year. All company dancers’ costumes are provided by Bristol Ballet, while our school students purchase and take home their costumes for the spring shows,” Ostrander says.
They also have to find room to store backdrops. “We regularly rent backdrops for our productions, but we build sets and props for most shows. We store a fair amount of set/prop pieces for the ‘Nutcracker,’ as we do this show every year. But we often reuse materials for new set pieces for the spring shows. For example, we built a carriage for ‘Cinderella’ in 2022 and will likely be repurposing those materials for Titania’s fairy lair in our upcoming 2024 production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ We also sometimes borrow certain items from Theater Bristol (and reciprocate in kind when they need it) and are grateful for their help. We are also very grateful for our parent volunteers; they help us tremendously with building sets and altering costumes, among other tasks,” Ostrander says.
Owning their building not only means room for storage, it provides opportunities for growth. They are renovating the space “bit by bit” to provide more space for dancers.
“We currently have two studios and hope to add a third in the near future. Once we have a third studio, we plan to expand our school offerings to include multiple sections of our current class offerings to serve more people, as well as expand into offering other genres of dance as well (such as jazz, musical theater, clogging, hip hop, ballroom, folk dance/square dance and more) as well as exercise classes (yoga, Pilates, Barre, etc.).
“We also hope to offer a more robust adult ballet program with different classes for different skill levels. We also hope to enrich the current curriculum for our company dancers and younger dancers by adding additional classes in the third studio space, like dedicated weekly time for dance history, terminology, variations, Spanish and Slavic character dance, and more. We also hope to increase our outreach efforts with a third studio, reaching students and offering regular classes at no charge in the public and private school systems and through programs like Girls Inc., Tech GYRLs, and Boys and Girls Club. We would love to be able to offer dance classes for special needs children as well.
“In the future, we also hope to have a black box theater that would offer additional performance opportunities for our performing company; additional outreach opportunities; and a venue for social dance events to further engage the community (square dance, swing dance, Contra dance, etc.) We hope to continue to grow our organization and continue to offer quality programming, performances, dance training, and arts access/outreach to our community for another 75 years and beyond,” Ostrander says.
Hairston continues, “As Director of Development, I intend to see our renovations to the fullest. We will continue to offer high quality instruction from all our faculty and staff as we grow. I also plan on cultivating more relationships with our community - for example, I am a Bristol Rotarian and very much enjoy serving our community in that capacity. I would also like to see some of our space converted into a black box-like theatre. When I danced with Richmond Ballet, they did a few studio series during their season with their in-house theater, and it was amazing. I think this will give us more opportunities to perform outside of the ‘Nutcracker’ and our Spring concert. There were a few years that I performed more of a gala-type production with Bristol Ballet, where you have several pieces that vary among different dance types such as contemporary, jazz and modern. The ability to perform across various genres of dance showcase a well-rounded dancer - adapting to different styles is very important in my opinion. I finally have the job I love, and I feel confident this is where I will retire.”
