New ballet ensemble’s Springloaded begins this weekend
Amanda Ivory/MicroMemphis Reporter
April 25, 2014
The New Ballet Ensemble, located on York Avenue, is having their spring show, Springloaded, from April 25-27.
This program will present the ballet Coppélia, a story about a toymaker who wishes for his favorite doll to be alive. However, this dance company is adding their own twist to this classic tale.
Katie Smythe, the founding artistic director of the school, explained how they made Coppélia their own. “We took the ballet and placed it on Memphis, Tennessee in Beale Street,” she said. “What we do is retool classical ballets. We make them multiethnic and we add multicultural dancing, for instance, none of these European ballets had African dolls, but we usually add African dance, flamenco, and Spanish dance.”
The changes that this company made to the story reflect their student membership, as they pride themselves on their diversity. In addition to the variety of dance styles their shows portray, the company also has variety in other ways. Smythe mentioned how unique they were in that regard.
“When you walk into our doors, you see the most beautiful mix of skin color, age, gender, economic strata,” she said. “One grandmother from Orange Mound bringing 20 children because their parents can’t drive here, and then people pull up in their Mercedes from Chickasaw Gardens for the very same class. And I don’t think that’s ever existed in Memphis before. I still think we’re the only organization that can say that.”
Along with the remixed Coppélia, the show will also have three pieces with fusions of flamenco and modern dance, and a piece by guest choreographer Francesca Harper.
Adaline Lawson from Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal School, and Leanthony Douglas from Melrose High School are two students who have been in the company for at least three years. Douglas talked about his excitement with the show and what the company is doing.
“I like that we’re doing more things than we’re used to doing,” he said. “We’re getting to know more people and getting out of our neighborhood. A lot of people would want to be in my position to do dancing.”
“We’re always together, too,” said Lawson, talking about the students. “There’s like a family feeling here.”
Smythe mentioned the familial nature of the company as well, and how this, along with her students, inspires her.
“It’s spending time with them every single day, teaching them, hugging them, having them come up to me and say ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘thank you’ or ‘can I talk to you for a minute?’, or to tell me they just got into a college,” she said. “When I go out and I see parents talking to one another in the lobby who would never know each other if they didn’t come here, I feel like we’re making a difference in the world, not just in the community anymore.”
For more information about the New Ballet Ensemble, go to the website or Facebook page.
April 25, 2014
The New Ballet Ensemble, located on York Avenue, is having their spring show, Springloaded, from April 25-27.
This program will present the ballet Coppélia, a story about a toymaker who wishes for his favorite doll to be alive. However, this dance company is adding their own twist to this classic tale.
Katie Smythe, the founding artistic director of the school, explained how they made Coppélia their own. “We took the ballet and placed it on Memphis, Tennessee in Beale Street,” she said. “What we do is retool classical ballets. We make them multiethnic and we add multicultural dancing, for instance, none of these European ballets had African dolls, but we usually add African dance, flamenco, and Spanish dance.”
The changes that this company made to the story reflect their student membership, as they pride themselves on their diversity. In addition to the variety of dance styles their shows portray, the company also has variety in other ways. Smythe mentioned how unique they were in that regard.
“When you walk into our doors, you see the most beautiful mix of skin color, age, gender, economic strata,” she said. “One grandmother from Orange Mound bringing 20 children because their parents can’t drive here, and then people pull up in their Mercedes from Chickasaw Gardens for the very same class. And I don’t think that’s ever existed in Memphis before. I still think we’re the only organization that can say that.”
Along with the remixed Coppélia, the show will also have three pieces with fusions of flamenco and modern dance, and a piece by guest choreographer Francesca Harper.
Adaline Lawson from Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal School, and Leanthony Douglas from Melrose High School are two students who have been in the company for at least three years. Douglas talked about his excitement with the show and what the company is doing.
“I like that we’re doing more things than we’re used to doing,” he said. “We’re getting to know more people and getting out of our neighborhood. A lot of people would want to be in my position to do dancing.”
“We’re always together, too,” said Lawson, talking about the students. “There’s like a family feeling here.”
Smythe mentioned the familial nature of the company as well, and how this, along with her students, inspires her.
“It’s spending time with them every single day, teaching them, hugging them, having them come up to me and say ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘thank you’ or ‘can I talk to you for a minute?’, or to tell me they just got into a college,” she said. “When I go out and I see parents talking to one another in the lobby who would never know each other if they didn’t come here, I feel like we’re making a difference in the world, not just in the community anymore.”
For more information about the New Ballet Ensemble, go to the website or Facebook page.