Local talent unite to form resident ballet company
Downtown Uniontown has a fantastic performing arts center at the State Theatre, but some local talent decided that they could take the arts and culture of the city one step further. So, what better way to showcase Uniontown’s arts and culture than to create its very own resident ballet company?
Ballet Lafayette, as the company is called, was created through a joint effort of several local talents.
“It was three people at the same time,” said Marty Schiff, the executive director of the State Theatre Center for the Arts.
Schiff recalled that he had always thought a ballet company in Uniontown would be a great idea, but it was Kelly Jenkins, owner and director of the Fayette School of Ballet, who had the initial idea. Once Joe Hardy, 84 Lumber magnate and Fayette County commissioner, had introduced Jenkins to Schiff, the company started to take off.
“Marty and I have been working on this since September,” said Jenkins, president and artistic director of the company.
Schiff, the acting vice president of the company, thinks this is just what Uniontown needs to take its performing arts up a notch.
“It’s a cultural outlet for our dancers,” he said. “It will enhance the value of the county. Wherever industry looks to move, it looks at its cultural experiences, and we’ve got this great performing arts center.”
He also said that through the creation of the ballet company, a few of his goals for the State Theatre would materialize, as well.
“One of the things I wanted was to open the theater for more days and with wider choices,” he said.
Jessica Hajek, director of development for the Fayette Progress Council and Commercial Center Associates, said Uniontown is doing something that is usually done only in big cities, such as Pittsburgh. Instead of traveling to Pittsburgh to satisfy their taste for ballet, Fayette County residents now can stay in Uniontown.
“With our downtown revival, arts and culture are the focus points, and we want people to come to visit for the arts and culture,” Hajek said.
The company not only brings out Uniontown’s culture but also its rich history by naming the company after the very man for whom Fayette County is named, the Marquis de Lafayette. Ballet Lafayette was named such in an effort to keep the spirit of the company tied to local roots.
“Marty thought it would be good to name it after something local, basically General Lafayette himself,” Jenkins said.
First and foremost, the ballet company hopes to bring “an appreciation of ballet within the community,” as it states in its mission statement. It even has performances planned, beginning with “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in the fall as its premiere piece.
The company plans to take its performances on the road and travel around the area to showcase its talent. It will give the dancers from the 41 dance schools surrounding Fayette County a chance to take ballet seriously.
“We want to encourage college students, those who are probably going to major in or use ballet as a profession, and get them exposed to what it’s like in the real world,” said Jenkins, who has a good idea of what dancing in the “real world” is all about. Having studied with master instructors such as Merce Cunningham, Vladimir Shumeikin and Alexander Boitsov, Jenkins is now volunteering her time to instruct the company.
But she will have lots of help. On Saturday, July 16, the company will hold its first workshop.
It will include four or five other instructors from different areas, including Elizabeth and possibly even Pittsburgh. The senior workshop will begin at 9:30 a.m. that day for dancers 12 and older. The junior workshop will take place at 12:30 p.m. on the same day for dancers ages 7 to 11. A lunch will be served. Anyone who wants to take part in the workshop is required to pre-register and make a deposit by Tuesday.
Ballet Lafayette will make the State Theatre its home, holding its practices there on the stage.
Auditions for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” will be held sometime this summer, and rehearsals will begin in October.
For more information or to register for the upcoming workshop, call either Jenkins at 724-437-8653 or the State Theatre Center for the Arts at 724-439-1360.
(Erin Prah is a 2005 graduate of Laurel Highlands Senior High School who plans to pursue a journalism degree this fall at The Pennsylvania State University at University Park. She is working as a freelance writer for the Herald-Standard’s Weekend Scene magazine this summer.)