From left to right: Scholarship winner, Abby Fish with Kingsport Ballet Company members, Grace Manna and Alayna Farmer perform during Kingsport Ballet's "Swan Lake' 2015 at Eastman Employee Center, Kingsport, Tenn. (Photo by Larry Souders)
Kingsport Ballet company members performed and won scholarships at the annual Tennessee Association of Dance conference in Murfreesboro.
The Tennessee Association of Dance hosted the annual Tennessee Dance Festival on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University. Ten Kingsport Ballet company members attended the festival and performed in the adjudicated Tennessee Dance Gala Concert as well as in the Celebrations performance. Performed pieces were "The Choice,' a contemporary dance choreographed by Kingsport Ballet instructor Erika Ballard, as well as excerpts from Paquita, staged by artistic director Valeria Sinyavskaya.
Part of the festival included auditions for scholarships for summer study. Of three scholarships awarded, Kingsport Ballet students received two of them. Abby Fish, advanced level student and company member at Kingsport Ballet and resident of Morristown, Tennessee, and Emma Brown also full-time student and company member and resident of Chuckey, Tennessee, were scholarship recipients.
"We are proud of the discipline and professionalism shown by our students during this conference, in classes, audition, and in performances. I believe it is partly due to our high standards and work ethic at Kingsport Ballet, and also of course, they are great kids." says Sinyavskaya.
The weekend of dance activities and events included master classes in various dance techniques, and performances by professional, pre-professional and university dance ensembles. Master instructors included Wes Chapman, formerly with American Ballet Theater and ABT II artistic director, and Allison DeBona, dancer with Ballet West and star of the CW Docuseries Breaking Pointe, among many others.
Performers and festival participants came from across the state and surrounding states, with a large contingent hailing from the Atlanta area."TAD's mission is to ensure that dance is a vital and respected part of life for all Tennesseans. We are excited and privileged to provide this unique dance training opportunity and to showcase to the public the quality companies and university groups in Tennessee, and our neighbors in Kentucky, Georgia, Virginia and Texas," said Executive Director of TAD, Morgan Fleming. TAD is funded in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission.
