Dancer Spotlight
By Forrest Preece
Mathew
Cotter
Talk
about focus – Matthew was taking ballet lessons since before
he was born.
I’ve
written about many of the dancers who were taking lessons
from young ages, but that takes the cake!
Fact
is, his mother was pregnant with him when she was taking
ballet lessons from Karen Milligan who had a studio in their
suburban Detroit neighborhood. “My sisters were taking
then, too,” Matthew says.
Karen,
who had gone to Russia to study the Kirov Academy teaching
methods, turned out to be a guiding light in Matthew’s
life. By the time he was four, he was taking lessons with
her and he hasn’t stopped training yet.
(By the way, Matthew still goes home during the summer and
teaches at Karen’s studio.
That
early training paid off. “By the time I was twelve,”
Matthew says, “I was in the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp summer
program. And then in middle school, I went to the Central
Pennsylvania Youth Ballet summer session.”
If
there was any doubt about where Matthew’s career was
heading, it should have been eliminated by the time he was
accepted for full time instruction at the National Ballet
School of Canada in Toronto his junior year of high school.
“That
was really an honor,” Matthew says. “They only take
something like fifteen students a year in each grade. It
was a boarding school with up to four hours of ballet
classes every day—and we were graded on a report card basis
just like you would be for math or English.”
After
graduating high school, Matthew moved to Seattle and started
with the professional division of the Pacific Northwest
Ballet School. He was there for two years and then got his
first professional job with the Oregon Ballet Theatre in
Portland.
From
there, he went to Columbus where he joined Ballet Met. “We
were doing Stephen Mills’ Hamlet and I really grew to
like the style of his choreography. That was 2001 and I was
starting to think about making another move. It was really
cold up there, for one thing.”
“Stephen Mills came to oversee our production of Hamlet,
we met, and when I was looking for my next move, he told me
that he was looking for another male dancer to work with
Ballet Austin.”
Soon,
he was packing up and moving to Austin.
Matthew
says that he had never thought that he’d live in Texas, but
he’s grown to love Austin and the company. “I love the
integrity of my fellow dancers and the staff plus the whole
vision that the company has.”
He says
that one of his favorite ballets since coming here was
Taming of the Shrew. “It was fun to help move the
scenery around – we were busy during the whole ballet. And
of course, it was really exciting to go to the Kennedy
Center.”
He also
says that it has been fun to do Hamlet with two
different companies.
As for
where his life will go after his dance career is over, he’s
taking courses in the St. Edward’s Dance and Humanities
program now. “I’m really enjoying my ‘Critical Thinking and
Research’ course. I can see being a researcher.”
With
the kind of focus Matthew has given his dance career,
digging deeply into a subject sounds like it’s right down
his alley.
back to the top
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jordan
Moser
Jordan
Moser is one more of the multi-talented Ballet Austin
dancers. Yes, he’s a dancer, but he’s also a composer,
singer, and musician.
So
here’s a bit of biography. Jordan grew up in Orange
County. When he was 13, he started ballet lessons at a
small studio in his neighborhood.
“I’ve
been very fortunate to have a supportive family that backed
me up on my performing dreams. It didn’t hurt that my two
older brothers were both rock musicians when they were in
their teens. I took up drums when I was eight and they let
me play in their bands until they hired pros. Doing that
taught me a lot about rehearsing, performing, and the
reality of the music world,” Jordan says.
But,
back to his dancing career. “I went through the Royal
Academy of Dance (RAD) formal set of exams at the studio,”
he says. “I finished the last level when I was 17 and
graded out with Distinction. At this point, I was totally
set on being a professional dancer and set out to prove
myself. College was not a big priority right away.”
So he
packed up and went to New York City, where he auditioned and
auditioned. “I caught a break when I got a job dancing in
John Clifford’s Ballet Casablanca.”
That
ballet was based on the great Bogart movie and Jordan was
thrilled to be a part of it.
“This
was big! Warner Brothers was backing the production. We
toured China and we were getting rave reviews,” Jordan says.
But it
didn’t take long for a monkey wrench to get thrown into the
works. It seems that at the same time, Warner Brothers was
producing a musical based on an Anne Rice vampire novel with
music by Elton John. It opened on Broadway, got panned
unmercifully and shut down in short order.
Bottom
line, after that financial disaster, Warner Bothers decided
to cut its losses on all their live shows and froze all the
projects, including Casablanca, which was doing fine.
So much
for reality checks. At that point, Jordan headed back to
Los Angeles and the O.C.
“I was
young and unemployed, but I started singing and playing my
guitar at any gig I could find.”
He
stayed in tune with his dancing, too, working out every day
and hoping for another chance.
“With
that high profile performing under my belt, I was able to
send some nice DVDs out. I went online to find prospects.
Meanwhile I was taking class with some dance companies in
the LA area to stay in shape.”
“I even
got some guest roles in things like Nutcracker and
Peter and the Wolf for some small schools.”
Then he
got the next good break. “I had heard about Ballet Austin
and the things they were doing down here. The type of
choreography that Stephen Mills was creating sounded like it
would fit me perfectly. I sent a resume and DVD, they asked
me down for an audition and then they hired me in 2007. I
was thrilled.”
So how
does he like Austin? “I love it!”
Jordan
is living on South Congress these days, close enough to Jo’s
and Bouldin Creek Café to walk for coffee and breakfast. “I
really like strolling along the greenbelt by Barton Creek,
too. The whole South Congress scene is so full of energy.”
He adds
that the famous Leslie hangs out at Bouldin Creek and he has
had some interesting conversations with him.
“I’ve
even found a place that has ‘sock hops’ every month and I
like that a lot!” (Isn’t that kind of being a “ringer,”
Jordan?)
Jordan
also collects vinyl records—old 33 rpm records that many of
us have stashed in our closets. “I like the sound of the
vinyl recordings much better than CDs or mp3s; it has a
better feel.”
How
about getting music gigs in Austin? “This town is flooded
with live performers. Finding a place to play is tough. But
I’m keeping up with my music and recording. I’m planning on
getting a band one of these days.”
Jordan
describes his style as country-folk — he does finger picking
and says that his influences range from Bob Dylan to Hank
Williams.
But all
that is on hold for the summer—he has a job in Osaka, Japan
where he will dance a pas de deux from Coppelia.
“I’m
also working hard in the St. Edward’s program for the
dancers and I’m loving it.”
No
doubt, for this 22-year-old, there’s a lot of future ahead.
back to the top
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frank
Shott
When Frank
was growing up in Vestal, New York, he really didn’t want to
be a dancer—no, acting was his dream. He pursued that goal
with such fervor that at age 14, he was accepted into a
noted drama camp called Stagedoor Manor in Loch Sheldrake,
New York. (This school has alums like Natalie Portman and
Robert Downey, Jr.)
“While I
was there, I realized that most of the other kids could do a
lot of things--singing, dancing and acting.” Some of them
were outstanding at all three.
“When I got
home, I started talking to people in the business and they
pointed me towards taking classes to become more
well-rounded.”
Soon Frank
was taking voice lessons and them someone whose judgment he
respected said that he should look into ballet.
He found a
good school in the area and he got a full scholarship to
start. “Being a boy, I had an advantage,” Frank says with a
smile.
Frank took
jazz and modern dance as well as ballet. “But somehow, I
started taking more ballet than the other types of dance and
it really grew on me.”
By the time
he turned 16, Frank was looking at ballet as a very possible
career choice.
“When I was
17, I was accepted into the Schenley School in Pittsburgh
(the same one BA dancer Aara Frederick attended). I stayed
with a host family there during my junior and senior years
in high school.” Frank says that he met a lot of talented
people while he was there and he was really feeling good
about his career choice.
The year
after high school, Frank started with the school of the
Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. “We were
working on our spring performance and the new artistic
director of the Kansas City Ballet was watching our class.”
Frank says that he must have caught his eye because the
director pulled him aside and offered him a job.
“I’d been
thinking ‘big company’—New York or San Francisco—all along.
Now I was in Kansas City and I started enjoying it.” Frank
says that his favorite role while he was there was the lead
in Balanchine’s “Melancholic.”
Unfortunately, Frank had a couple of freak injuries while in
Kansas City and that hampered his progress with that
company.
”I was
working as an understudy one day and my knee just gave out
on me.” It was a dislocation and he was out for four
months. Then after he got well from the knee injury, he was
doing a lift with another male dancer in a “Nutcracker”
rehearsal and dislocated a wrist. “That was the day before
Thanksgiving!” (That would have to put a damper on Turkey
Day.)
In 2000,
after four years in Kansas City, Frank and one of his
friends heard about the new artistic director at Ballet
Austin and that he was holding tryouts.
Since
Austin was a straight shot down IH 35 and they could drive
down here and back over a weekend, they decided to give it a
try.
Frank’s
audition went well and “the rest is history.” Eight years
later, Frank is still here and loving his job and Austin in
general.
“I really
like Stephen’s choreography. I wasn’t versed in
contemporary movement at first-- learning his methods of
movement has been very exciting.”
Of the
pieces he’s performed, the pas de deux with Allisyn Piano in
“Kai” last year has been his favorite.
By the way,
the video of this piece on You Tube will give you chills
every time you watch it. (OK, well, it does it for me.
Type in “Ballet Austin Kai.”) Frank and Allisyn are in the
red outfits. The pas de deux is the story of a king and his
potential wife – a mating dance.
“I loved
workshopping all of that material from the beginning and
being part of the process.”
Like many
of the dancers, Frank says that “Light” was the most
emotionally-loaded piece of any he’s done and that combining
all the educational aspects of it made for a vivid
experience.
Frank notes
that he’s been dancing professionally now twelve years.
That’s twice as long as he was in school. “I love what I’m
doing right now and it’s great that we got to move
downtown. It’s like we’ve connected with a whole new level
of energy. And what a thrill to see the AustinVentures
StudioTheatre decked out for ‘Cult of Color’!”
In “Cult,”
Frank played a darkness baby and a minor vegan. “Being an
evil character is always fun,” he says.
So what
does Frank see in his future after his dancing career is
over?
Right now,
he’s enrolling in the St. Edward’s higher education program
for the dancers.
Then he is pointing towards a career in physical therapy.
“All the programs for physical therapy now are three-year,
doctoral courses of study. That means I have a whole lot of
school ahead of me to make that career happen. But I
already have my massage certification and that’s a step in
the right direction.”
back to the top
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ashley
Lynn
Like
all of the dancers, Ashley Lynn has an immense aura of calm;
and when you sit down with her, she instantly makes you feel
comfortable. I always think that it comes from what they do
for a living. When you stand on a stage in front of
thousands of people and make your body do things it really
wasn’t designed for, talking to one other person just isn’t
that tough.
Anyway,
here’s her story.
Ashley
grew up in Warrenville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. In
her grade school and middle school days, she was about as
all-round a kid as they come. “I was into musical theater
in a park district program during grade school. I was
taking dance classes, playing soccer and softball, and
singing in the chorus.”
“When I
turned twelve, I upped my dance class schedule to twice a
week and Joyce Lang, my teacher who had her own studio, put
me on pointe. I loved working with her, but then she
decided to close her school.”
“She
was so nice—she saw I had potential and sent me off to
another school run by Sherry Moray. I later found out that
Joyce arranged for me to have a scholarship to Sherry’s
school.”
Ashley
says that Joyce was a big source of inspiration for her, as
was Sherry.
After
getting settled in her new school, Ashley was taking class
five times a week and she started concentrating specifically
on ballet. “Now I was starting to consider it as a career.”
“The
summer I was 15, I went away for a summer program and then I
really knew that dance was going to be my passion and
vocation.”
She
says that her parents were very encouraging at this point,
but they emphasized that she’d have to put everything she
had into it and that anything less than 100% was
unacceptable.
Her big
first break came her senior year in high school when she
received an invitation from the Alabama Ballet in Birmingham
to be an unpaid apprentice.
Talk
about being shoved into adulthood!
“My
parents were so supportive. They helped me find an
apartment in Birmingham and I was able to finish high school
there through correspondence. But I had to figure out a lot
in a hurry! That much independence at that age was a big
responsibility.”
“Dancewise, I still needed training, too. Now there was a
lot less one-on-one coaching. I had to learn to take the
corrections that the other dancers were receiving and apply
them to myself.”
She
says that Wes Chapman and Roger Van Fleteren, the artistic
director and assistant director, were very good to her – but
a lot of her progress came from being watchful and
attentive.
“I was
mostly being an understudy at this point, but then I was
pressed onto the stage for Balanchine’s Divertimento #15
when a principal was injured.”
She
also got a solo part in Balanchine’s Allegro Brilliante and
was the Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty.
After
her second year in Birmingham, she started auditioning. “I
loved being there, but I saw it as a beginning. In 2002 I
started sending out videos.” The video caught Stephen
Mills’ eye and she went to New York City and tried out at a
Ballet Austin audition he was holding.
She
notes that when a dancer is in a class, it’s hard to stand
out. That’s why videotapes are a great tool to use for
getting noticed. “And it helped that I had some
contemporary movement on the tape, since that ties into what
we do here.”
Stephen
liked what he saw and gave her a contract. Ashley finished
in Birmingham in April 2002 and came to Ballet Austin in
August.
“I came
here blind – the only other time I’d been to Texas was on
spring break when we went to San Antonio. Moving to Austin,
without knowing much about the city or having any friends
here was an amazing growing experience for me!”
Six
years later, Ashley is firmly ensconced at Ballet Austin and
is totally happy with her work environment.
“I love
being in Stephen’s work – ‘Touch,’ ‘Three Movements,’ and
‘Silence Within Silence.’ And the tours we’re gotten to
take are wonderful—to the Joyce in New York, The Kennedy
Center, and Europe.”
She
also liked being Princess Aurora in ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and
Bianca in ‘Taming of the Shrew.’ “But all my roles have
been fun.”
She
notes that it’s a lot of fun to see how Stephen interprets
stories. He really has a knack for Shakespeare and “Cult of
Color” is just a wonderful way to explore Trenton Doyle
Hancock’s work, too.
As for
Ballet Austin itself, “It’s just an awesome working
environment. There are some companies out there where it is
harsh and cut-throat, but here it’s friendly and
supportive. You know it’s a great place to work when you
see people who have been here for ten to twelve years.”
And
Austin has been good to her in another way—a couple of years
ago, she met Mike Gilfix, a Montréal native who works as a
software architect for IBM here in town and last year, they
got married.
“He
keeps me grounded. He always has me laughing and he makes
sure that I’m not taking things too seriously. We have a
great house in Northwest Hills and he was willing to adopt
my cats! We’re getting a dog this summer, too.”
Ashley
is having some thoughts about where her career might head in
the future, but right now, she’s totally dedicated to
dance. “It’s hard on your body and mind, but it’s always
exciting. You are always adjusting to what your body is
doing and working on a new project. There’s not a lot of
monotony.”
I think
all the fans of Ballet Austin would agree that Ashley has
grown up very well.
back to the top
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Orlando
Canova
“I was
always a ham!” Well, whoda thunk it, Orlando!
Orlando
grew up in “The O.C.”—Laguna Niguel, California to be
exact.
“I was
really involved with acting in junior high and I was a band
geek, too,” he says. “I played flute, oboe and French horn.
“
But in
junior high, he started ballet during his second-to-last
year and the course was set for the rest of his life.
That
first dance school he was in was especially fun. “I took
lessons at the Anaheim Ballet Studio which was next to
Disneyland. I had a season pass and I’d go there after
rehearsals!”
Orlando
showed so much promise that at the tender age of 16, he won
a place in the School of American Ballet. This was the big
move -- all the way across the country to New York City and
staying in a dorm occupying the same complex with the one
for Julliard students. “My parents let me go, but they were
definitely reluctant at first,” he says.
And if
that wasn’t bicoastal enough, he stayed on the east coast by
moving to the Miami City Ballet School as a student
apprentice for a year. Then at 19, he went midwestern by
joining the Joffrey at 19. “When I turned 21, I got into
the company at Joffrey. Their vision encompasses reviving
some really old ballets like ‘Rite of Spring’ and ‘Petrushka.’”
After a
while with the Joffrey, though, Orlando was craving another
place to live. “I enjoyed the places I’d been to that point
– but New York and Miami were just too busy. And Chicago
was too cold. I auditioned at five places by sending out my
resume.”
Luckily, Stephen Mills saw the resume and invited Orlando
down for a talk and tryout. Things worked out immediately.
“I had
some good contacts here already—I knew Reggie from the
School of American Ballet and Paul Michael and Anne Marie
were friends, too.”
“Stephen usually hires people from the apprentice company,
but things worked out for me to be hired into the
professional company right away.”
Beth
Terwilleger and Orlando were hired in that 2005-06 season
and soon, he was driving down here with his beautiful golden
retriever Lia.
“Ballet
Austin and Austin itself were just what I was looking for.
Austin is so blessed to have this company which is doing so
many cutting edge dance pieces. It’s truly inspiring,”
Orlando says.
Anyway,
a couple of years ago, Orlando’s career took an interesting
turn. It seems that the Ballet Conservatory of South Texas
had lost its artistic director and the president called
Lynne Short at Ballet Austin to see if she could recommend
someone to take over that position, at least for the summer.
She
recommended Orlando and one of the other dancers and soon he
had the job. Not long after that, he was asking fellow
dancers Reggie Harris and Jaime Witts to come down and help
him.
That
fall, Orlando was hired as the group’s artistic director.
So he embarked on a schedule of rehearsing with Ballet
Austin during the day and then driving down to San Antonio
and rehearsing his students there on Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday, Saturday and sometimes Sunday.
“I’d
leave at 5:00 and get there at 6:30, teach until 9:30 and
then come home.”
“I’ve
always wanted to choreograph and teaching is a real calling
for me,” he says. “I love seeing people improve and
reaching their full potential.”
Orlando
says that he has learned so much about things like
budgeting, costumes, and lighting. And Jaime and Reggie
have gotten a chance to expand their horizons from this
experience, too.
Jamie
has been the ballet mistress for the school and Reggie has
been the resident choreographer. And all the men in the BA
apprentice company have gotten to perform. So it’s worked
for everyone.
“I’ve
been told that Ballet Austin has wanted to have a presence
in San Antonio, so this effort has paid off.”
But
now, Orlando has made the choice to concentrate on his
performing with Ballet Austin and is giving up the San
Antonio work. “It’s become obvious that I have to
concentrate on my career and that I needed to make a
decision one way or another.”
One of
his last works at the San Antonio Conservatory is happening
May 1-3 at the Carver Theatre. It’s called “Novela’s di
Amor” and it features pieces that Orlando, Reggie, and
Michelle Thompson created, plus an excerpt from “Sleeping
Beauty.”
As for
the upcoming “Cult of Color/Call to Color,” Orlando is
playing Bow Headed Lou and he’s really getting into his
part. “I’m such a ham and I love this character. Trenton
has been a delight to work with and the costumes are crazy
and fantastic.”
So
where is Orlando going from here? “I really enjoy what I’m
doing at Ballet Austin. I’m too young to retire and I’ve
always been a performer. In the future, though, I’d like to
be a company director.”
back to the top
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaime
Lynn Witts
OK—first things first. All
the rest of you native Texans out there need to know that
it’s not “Jaime” as in “HIGH-me.” (Yeah, that’s what I
thought at first. So slap me.)
Nope, it’s “’Jaime’ as in
“JAY-me.” In fact, she says that her mother picked this
name because it’s a play on “Je t’aime.” (And who wouldn’t
love, her, like this apple-cheeked young woman with the
bright eyes, unflappable disposition and constant, cherubic
smile?)
Actually, Jaime’s mom thinks
it’s funny that her mother, (Jaime’s grandmother),
was visiting Texas when Jaime was born in Bucks County,
Pennsylvania – and now Jaime is living down here.
So let’s connect those dots
of fate.
Turns out Jaime wanted to be
a ballet dancer from age three on. (“Well, I thought about
being an archeologist, too.”)
“I come from an active,
sports-oriented family,” Jaime says. “My dad played soccer
at a high level and both my younger sisters have dabbled in
dance.” Matter of fact, one sister teaches Irish stepdancing.
“I started taking creative
movement when I was four.” Then later on, she was lucky
enough to discover a school called Dance Elite near her home
that offered ballet classes taught by Russian teachers. One
of them, Maxim Ponomarenko, had a lot to do with shaping her
approach to dance.
“I found out that I was in a
totally different experience from the one that they went
through. They were picked from age ten to pursue a career
in ballet to the exclusion of all else.”
Jaime had other interests,
too- especially running track. “Through the 8th grade, I
was a serious runner. I did the 100, 200, and relays -- but
my best event was the long jump!” (No wonder she’s so adept
at grand jetés!)
But in the 9th grade, it
became obvious that she’d have to make a choice -- ballet or
track. And ballet won.
Jaime found that the thrill
of her progression towards being a polished dancer was just
too much to resist. “My teachers were always intense.
Nothing was ever perfect. I always left the studio with
instructions about something to work on.”
Her senior year in high
school, Jaime was making post-graduation plans and had
applied to start on a degree in sports medicine at the
University of Tampa.
“That summer, though, I
auditioned for programs across the country and came to
Ballet Austin. After the summer program was done, they
asked me to stay and be a trainee.”
She was a trainee for two
years, danced in Ballet Austin II for one year, and then
moved on to the professional company.
Now Jaime is teaching twice
a week for level 5 classes and in February, she’ll be
choreographing for young artists in the level 4.
All told, she’s been here
six and a half years. She likes Ballet Austin because she
can take something from each of her colleagues. “I have
learned so much about partnering since I’ve been here. For
instance, dancing with Tony at the end of ‘Light.’ That was
fantastic and a huge learning experience.”
As she warms to the subject,
Jaime gets more animated about her experiences at Ballet
Austin.
“The more I teach, the more
I think about what I’m imparting to my students. They see
me perform and it’s like show and tell. It’s very
challenging in a different way.”
Jaime says that her favorite
performance so far has been “Light: The Holocaust and
Humanity Project.” “It was awe-inspiring to be a part of
something so powerful and to know that we were touching on
an experience like the Holocaust.” She adds that thanks to
the resources the dancers were given, she took away a lot of
knowledge about that horrible period in history.
Other favorite roles of hers
were “Serenade” and the “Golden Section” and of course,
dancing as the Snow Queen in “The Nutcracker.”
“I like contemporary dance
now—almost more than the classical.”
She adds that teacher Truman
Finney helped her adapt from her Russian-taught background
to Stephen’s style. “And Michelle Martin has helped me all
the way through my career.”
Jaime is still holding out
sports medicine as a long-term career possibility. “I’ve
learned that you can’t plan for everything.”
But right now, she’s looking
to be a part of Ballet Austin for a good long while.
“How lucky am I to be here!”
back to the top
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reginald
Harris
The name “Reginald” means ‘wise
ruler.”
In Reggie Harris’ case, I have evidence
to underline that definition.
For instance, I have seen him with his
peers backstage at Nutcracker and he’s an energetic
ringleader.
Point two-- after Reggie and I
recently sat down and had coffee with each other, I started
thinking about how some of the dancers were in the audience
on Linda’s Ellerbee’s Public Broadcasting System show after
“Light: The Holocaust and Humanity Project.” Reggie was the
only one to step up and say “Are we all just saying the
right things? What are we really getting out of this?” I
was giving him a mental high five on that one.
No doubt, he’s a strong guy. But what
do you expect from someone who grew up on the southside of
Chicago, decided early on that he’d get a job as a ballet
dancer by the time he was 20 and then found himself planted
in Texas – someplace way south of where he’d ever considered
going?
Where did his career start? When he
was five his uncle Marshall Lindsey, who had a studio and
taught African/modern dance in Chicago, inspired Reggie to
start taking lessons.
“My uncle would have been my mentor if
he had lived longer,” Reggie says. “I really wish that I
could have had someone who played that role in my journey.”
Later, he met Homer Bryant, who had
been a principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Reggie trained with him studying classical ballet until he
graduated from high school. In fact, during his junior
year, he made up his mind that he would get a position as a
ballet dancer by the time he was 20.
“I was fortunate enough to study one
summer at the Rock School in Pennsylvania where there were
some very advanced dancers. Watching and being around them
inspired me to set my goal and stick with it.”
After high school. Reggie studied at
the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Pacific
Northwest Ballet School and then got a job with Ballet
Austin II in 2002 when he turned 20, fulfilling his stated
goal.
Time gets by—he moved up to the
professional company in 2004 and he’s been here six years
now.
“I love Austin,” he says. “It’s been a
growing experience for me. The southside of Chicago isn’t
as intense an energy as New York City, but Austin really
does have a laid-back feel. Certainly more so than anywhere
else I’ve lived.”
“The hardest thing is slowing down.
I’ve come to appreciate the easiness of Austin. Things do
work out and I’ve matured a lot.”
Reggie lives near South First and Live
Oak, so yeah, he is in a easygoing part of town which exudes
Austin character.
“I enjoy the family atmosphere at
Ballet Austin,” he says. “I feel very close to the people
who were in Ballet Austin II with me and to Truman Finney,
who was our teacher.”
Of the pieces that Reggie has performed in at Ballet Austin,
he especially enjoyed “Hamlet” and “Light: The Holocaust and
Humanity Project.”
“Work like ‘Light’ is the reason why I
dance,” Reggie says. “That was a brilliant piece that told
an important story. It was so sophisticated and I
appreciated everything about it.”
Someday, Reggie might like to have his
own company, whether it centers around dance, yoga, Pilates,
whatever. “There’s something so beautiful about movement
and what it does to the body. And performing does so much
for the audience, too – the anxiety and release afterwards.”
“I like what the stage does to people.
Performances should be glamorous and I see them as something
sacred,” Reggie says.
“I don’t want to retire from this
business. I want to keep on creating whether I’m behind the
scenes or on stage.”
Looking back on his life so far, Reggie
says, “The beautiful thing about America is that who your
parents are has no effect on you. There wasn’t a whole lot
about my early life that would have pushed me towards being
a career dancer.”
He says that his stay in London taught
him a lesson on that score. “I made friends with people who
went to the University of London. It was remarkable to see
how being upper middle class vs. middle class sets the way
people’s lives progress.”
No doubt, Reggie is an insightful
observer of society. “If I went back to school, I would get
an art history degree. I love Miro and other modern
abstract artists.”
He notes that paintings and other forms
of art give us a deeper look into what a society is about
than the written word at times. “Clothes, cars, music,
manners – they all tell us what’s going on.”
As for current times, he says that the
styles of the late nineties will be considered ridiculous in
fifteen years—“They were throwbacks to the eighties.”
He’s got some strong opinions -- and
something tells me that we’ll be hearing from Reggie a lot
in the years to come. But hey, I’m always willing to listen
to a wise ruler.
back to the top
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anne Marie Melendez Bloodgood
Like all
of the Ballet Austin dancers, Anne Marie has immense
reserves of calm. When you’ve been onstage in front of
several thousand people, making your body move in ways it
wasn’t designed for, yeah, sitting down and talking to
someone isn’t that unnerving a deal.
But her
first impression of Austin almost broke her cool.
The
evening before their auditions at Ballet Austin, Anne Marie
and her boyfriend Paul had checked into a room in one of the
um, rather marginal motels along IH35. (Ask her about it
sometime. On second thought, no, don’t.) Once they got
unpacked, they looked outside and saw Highland Mall off to
the west, so they decided to walk all the way over there to
find someplace to eat.
She says
that while they ambled across that massive parking lot, as
if on cue, a monolithic wall of black birds rose up from the
asphalt and filled the sky. “It was like that Hitchcock
movie. I’m not easily scared, but that was chilling.”
However,
Austin has certainly proven to be a more hospitable place
than they first thought – and Anne Marie is heading into her
fifth year with the professional company.
So how
did it all start for her? To say the least, she had a
variety of dance and athletic classes that served to enhance
her talent.
“I didn’t
start dancing right away. In Norwalk, California, where I
grew up, I started tumbling when I was three. That was good
for my sense of balance. From five until ten, I took ice
skating and I also started ballet around age eight. After I
stopped the ice skating I started gymnastics. Pretty soon,
I got into tap and jazz dance classes.”
(Is this
wearing you out? What an active child she was!)
“The deal
was, if you were going to be competitive in the other dance
classes, you had to take ballet; in most cases it was even
required.”
“Somewhere along the line, I really started liking ballet
above the other activities and at 12, I got my first pair of
pointe shoes. That really lit me up! And what’s more, I was
getting serious asthma attacks from all the chalk dust in
gymnastics. So ballet it was!”
“I found
a really good teacher in Torrance, Diane Lauridsen, and I
studied with her until I was 18. Then I got a trainee
position at the Louisville Ballet. That was definitely a
maturing experience. During that time frame, I went to a
community college and took some courses. Long term, the
Louisville Ballet didn’t work out for me, and I moved home
to California. Still wanting to work with a professional
company, I auditioned and was cast in Ballet Pacifica’s
‘Nutcracker.’ That’s when I met Paul Michael Bloodgood.”
“I
eventually negotiated myself into being an apprentice, but
the director wasn’t really clear about my future prospects
with the company. By then Paul and I were starting to have
a nice relationship and I felt like my life’s course was
demanding that I make some decisive moves.”
“So we
both drove to Las Vegas to audition for the Nevada Ballet
Theatre. Soon after that, Paul saw an audition flyer on the
bulletin board that had Margot Brown’s picture from ‘Hamlet’
on it. At the time we really didn’t have any idea what
Ballet Austin was about, but there was this beautiful
picture of this beautiful dancer and we decided we needed to
look into it.” Anne Marie says.
“I talked
to Michelle Martin before we made travel plans and she was
so nice, it encouraged us to make the trip. We came down,
auditioned, and everyone was really welcoming. They offered
Paul a job at Ballet Austin and we were both offered
positions with Nevada Ballet Theatre. We decided that at
the time our careers had to come first, so Paul joined
Ballet Austin and I joined Nevada Ballet Theatre. So that’s
where we were then.”
She says
that being in Las Vegas was a great experience for her. “My
self esteem got a real boost because I felt the director in
Nevada appreciated what I brought to the company.”
Soon, she
got some time off, came back to Austin and auditioned once
more. “Needless to say, Paul and I wanted to be in the same
city and throughout the year as we compared notes we felt
that this was the place we should be. Then Ballet Austin
hired me for the 2003-04 season!”
And of
course, Anne Marie and Paul got married in June 2004.
Anne
Marie is one of the company stalwarts now and she has loved
so many of her roles. “I especially liked being Cupid in ‘A
Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and dancing in Stephen Mills’ ‘The
Naughty Ones’ and ‘Hamlet.’”
Now
about that photography. Many of you have noticed Anne Marie
toting that camera with the big lens around. If you haven’t
seen her finished product, you should.
She says,
“I was part of my yearbook photography class in junior high.
That’s when I got the itch do something with a camera. But
my high school didn’t offer any photography classes at all.
Later, I saw all kinds of wonderful things to shoot in
Nevada. There were some good courses to take at a community
college in Las Vegas, and I felt like I learned quite a
bit.”
When she
and Paul got married, her brother gave her a professional
grade digital camera. Now she has had shows in Bass Concert
Hall and in Halcyon Coffee Shop. “Vlada has talked about
putting my work up in the Pilates studio, too.”
One way
she is putting her talent to profitable use is by taking
portraits of kids in their Nutcracker costumes. “Paul and I
do portraits of over 100 kids over two days. I do the shots
and Paul sets up his computer, pulls proofs and helps the
parents view or order prints. We love doing it.”
Many of
you know that Paul is pursuing a film career—acting,
directing and producing. He just got through premiering his
remarkable “Ballet Divas: Self- Proclaimed” thirty-two
minute mockumentary film which used the BA company and staff
for actors. Paul even did the music for the sound track.
And now
he is working on a film as an actor and co-producer with
another Austin filmmaker called “Templar: Honor Among
Thieves.” Anne Marie has been hired to do the production
still photography for it.
Starting
in the spring they will be working on their bachelor degrees
in “Dance and the Humanities” with some of the classes being
held in the BDEC upstairs board room at night, scheduled
around rehearsal times. “Two of our first courses will be
British Literature and World Religions. I can’t wait,” she
says.
Sounds
like she’s in for another life-expanding adventure. And
obviously, that’s what it’s all about with Anne Marie.
back to the top
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paul Michael Bloodgood
It’s
always fun to trace the arc of people’s lives from their
childhoods. In the case of Paul Michael Bloodgood, it’s not
hard to understand the progression from boy to man.
Reason
being, until he was 12, Paul Michael grew up touring Europe
and the US with Bloodgood, his father’s Christian metal hard
rock band nine months a year.
There. I
just had to put that sentence down and look at it for a
minute. So you think you know the dancers? Yeah, well. Go
to bloodgoodband.com and check out the bass player. (Or do
a search on YouTube.) That’s Paul Michael’s dad – Michael,
who could fit right in with Led Zeppelin—in terms of musical
chops and looks. By the way, he’s still rocking – the
band’s tenth album is releasing in April 2008, and he has a
solo album coming out in January as well.
|