Accolades for Ann
Contributed by Columbia Music Festival Association cmfa5678@aol.com

Carolina Ballet will present Accolades for Ann March 7, 2008, 7:30 pm at Township Auditorium.

The gala repertory program is a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Carolina Ballet and a salute to its founder, Ann Brodie and her dedication to civic ballet. Brodie also founded the Columbia City Ballet as a civic company, was a legendary teacher recognized nationally and internationally for her accomplishments and the professional careers of her students.

Carolina Ballet was created in 1988 when Brodie gathered dance teachers, arts leaders, and business leaders who shared her vision for a civic ballet company as a complement to the professional direction for Columbia City Ballet.

Anita Ashley, Donna Lewis, Adolfina Suarez- More, Mimi Wortham Brown with Mimi Worrell, Susan Anderson, and John Whitehead formed the nucleus for Carolina Ballet.

Accolades for Ann salutes the acomplishments of Ann Brodie, her vision, and those who shared her vision. Since 1988, dancers who began their pre- professional training with Carolina Ballet have been members of companies like Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Gottenburg (Sweden) Ballet, HET National Ballet (Netherlands), Royal Ballet of Flanders, Nevada Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and the New York City Ballet.

The guest host for the evening is Donna Drake, a performing member of Brodie's original Columbia City Ballet. Joining her will be Jimmy Moon, who has performed with the Carolina Ballet.

Accolades for Ann will showcase performances by Sara Mearns and Christian Tworzyanski, both graduates of Carolina Ballet, currently members of New York Ballet.

The program will also include performances by Sarah Hairston, Cincinnati Ballet; Rachel McKeever, Atlanta Ballet; and Cooper Rust, Nevada Ballet Theatre. Susan Dabney, who danced with the Los Angeles Classical Ballet, and Keith Mearns, the Pennsylvania Ballet will Ndaicnhcoel aths ea fnind aAl lpexaas ndder dae, ux from which was the last full length ballet set by Brodie for the Carolina Ballet.

The program will open with a sequence from Brodie's award- winning production of Cinderella. Emily Green will dance Cinderella and Eriberto Jimenez, her prince. Brodie's choreography for this was featured over the NBC TV network and the production received the Peabody Award.

Following Brodie's visit to the USSR in the late '60s as an honored guest of the Soviet Minister of Culture, she returned with choreography from Bayaderka, a full length ballet by Leon Minkus, which had not been seen in the West except in Russian performances. She and her dance partner, Michael Lland, created a version, La Bayadere, which will be performed with Mallory Jones and Eric Beckham dancing the pas de deux.

Tickets are $25, $20, and $15. Call the Township Auditorium, 803-576-2650. Immediately following the program will be a dinner and dancing to the music of Ross Holmes. Tickets are $475. Call CMFA, 771-6303.

Crolina Ballet will present Mother

Goose March 8 and 9 at 3 pm at the Township Auditorium. Call 576-2650.