Ballet

Final preparations are being made for the Potomac Classical Youth Ballet Company's 10th Anniversary Celebration Performance. The performance is scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the historic Maryland Theatre in downtown Hagerstown. The program will include dancers from the full Company as well as Company II, the training company for PCYBC. This year's performance is a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the company which was founded in 1997 by Artistic Director Lauran Clowser.

INWOOD, W.Va. - Russian ballet dancers doing pirouettes on stage may be the next step in getting the effort to save the Martinsburg roundhouse on track. A ballet program on Saturday raised about $25,000 for the effort to preserve the B&O Roundhouse in Martinsburg, W.Va. Both performances of the International Ballet Theater of the Performing Arts, which featured dancers from the Kirov, Bolshoi and Ukraine ballet companies, were sold out. The programs were held in the Musselman High School auditorium in Inwood.

Auditions for Potomac Classical Youth Ballet Company's Company I and Company II will be held at the City Ballet School in the Elizabeth Hager Center at 14 N. Potomac St., Hagerstown, on Saturday. Company I auditions will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Company II auditions will be held from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Dancers eligible for Company I must be at least 13 years old by Dec. 31 and have had at least two years of pointe work. Dancers eligible for Company II must be at least 12 years old by Dec. 31 and have had at least one year of pointe work.

Potomac Classical Youth Ballet Company's first Nutcracker Gala Benefit Auction will be Sunday, Nov. 13, at Cortland Mansion, near Long Meadow Shopping Center in Hagerstown. Doors will open at 4:30 p.m.. More than 50 items will be offered by silent auction. Silent auction tables will be closed and awarded throughout the evening. The live auction will begin at 6 p.m. More than 20 items will be offered, including getaways to Myrtle Beach, S.C., Ocean City, Md., and Sandbridge, Va. Payment will be accepted by cash, check, or credit card.

Eight high school seniors who are members of the Ballet and All That Jazz dance school performed together for the last time on stage May 22 at The Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown. In other dance school news, dancers from the school participated in a jazz camp at the studio in June. In addition, dancers studied in June with Susie Banks, former dancer with the Houston Ballet.

WILLIAMSPORT -- Rachel Doub says she will get paid to do what she loves as a member of the corps de ballet of the St. Louis Ballet. Doub, a 2007 graduate of Williamsport High School, began dancing at the age of 7, but it has not always been a passion for her. According to Doub, her mother tried to get her involved in dance at the age of 3, but she was not interested. "My mom danced and then tried to get me into it when I was younger, but I didn't actually want to do it until I was 7," she said.

They are focused on their preparation, pushing themselves toward a perfection that is ballet. There are hours of training, long days of rehearsal and time spent learning to balance the physical with the emotional. The strength, elegance and grace of movement won't happen overnight. But this is more than discipline and hard work. It's a love affair - one that began for many of the students when they were preschoolers, anxious to stand on their toes. They walked into a bright room with large mirrors, were taught the most delicate of moves from first position to fourth.

Dancers from the Ballet and All That Jazz dance studio in Hagerstown will participate in the annual recital Saturday. The 2 p.m. show features those ages 3 to 10 and the 7 p.m. show features the intermediate and advanced dancers.  The types of dance include modern, jazz, tap, hip-hop and classical ballet. The school is highlighting 13 graduating seniors each with their own dance solo.   Under the direction of Ranelle W. Flurie, the school was established in 1989 and will offer summer classes and dance camps in June.  Tickets for each show cost $5 and may be purchased by calling The Maryland Theatre box office at 301-797-2000.

megp@herald-mail.com As the former American Legion in Sharpsburg continues to be transformed into a theater, owners Ray and Carolou Russell are closer to having a performing space to call home. Ray Russell bought the yellow brick facility at 104 S. Mechanic St. during an August 2000 auction, a purchase he didn't expect to make. "First thing I knew, I'd jumped into the bidding," Ray Russell said. Since then, the couple, with the help of friends and students, has been renovating the 1949 building, recycling as much as possible.

These 10 high school seniors performed together for the last time on stage at The Maryland Theatre on May 24 from Ballet and All That Jazz. Ballet students from Ballet and All That Jazz learned the Czardas, a character dance, from the Ballet Coppelia under Susie Banks, a Hagerstown native formerly with the Houston Ballet. Dancers from Ballet and All That Jazz participated in a jazz camp in June with Bonnie Slawson of Motion Mania Dance Theatre.