Today, our Young at Heart Group attended an excellent program at the Schuster! I never thought I would enjoy the ballet but this program was a lot of fun.
We started with a nice box lunch. Then, as we continued to eat, two ballerinas from the Dayton Ballet provided a very good ballet demonstration. The ballet was performed by Marcia Hetrick and Annalise Woller. The ballet was "Two Sisters”, in honor of Miss Josephine and Hermene Schwarz. These sisters were pioneers of ballet in Dayton.
Following the performance, the girls and Karen Russo Burke, Artistic Director Dayton Ballet answered questions. I found this to be very educational and informative. For example, a typical ballerina retires from performing around the age of 35. Then, they take up a second career, perhaps still involved in ballet, as is Karen.
Both Marcia and Annalise have college educations that they can use after their ballerina careers, if they choose. They go through very rigorous exercises via activities such as Judo, Zumba, Swimming, Elliptical, etc. This is to keep all muscles exercised and joints limber. Both girls are 24 years old so they still have a few performing years ahead of them. They do a small number of programs a year (4 to 6) and about 4 performances each, except for the Nutcracker, which is 6.
After the program, one of the ladies took us on a short tour of the Mead Theater where the Nutcracker will be performed! I learned several interesting facts about the theater. There is a Star Field at the top of the huge room which is what was in the sky at the time the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk. Also the distance from the back of the Upper Balcony to the back of the Stage is the same length as the First Flight. I really like the way they incorporated some of our local history into the design. The Schuster will be celebrating their 10th Anniversary in 2013.
This was a very good program and we will certainly be planning similar programs involving the Schuster Performing Arts Center in the future. Actually, the Carillon Brass (Dayton Philharmonic Brass Quintet) will be performing at our Luncheon program next month on December 11th at 11AM. Don’t miss it. This will be a great way to begin celebrating Christmas.
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