Tag Archives: Ballet Arkansas

LR Cultural Touchstone: Charlotte Gadberry

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charlotte-gadberryCharlotte Gadberry has long been a supporter of Little Rock’s various cultural institutions. She has both served on boards and consulted with boards in strategic planning.  She is a Cultural Touchstone, however, because of her vision to found ACANSA Arts Festival.

A trip to Charleston, South Carolina, amid it’s Spoleto USA arts festival inspired her to dream that Little Rock could play host to a similar endeavor.  Using her fundraising prowess and connections, she started to raise funds, friends and awareness for this idea.

In September 2013, the inaugural ACANSA Arts Festival was announced for September 2014.  Under her leadership, ACANSA (a name derived from an early Native American variation of what is now called Arkansas) incorporated both local cultural institutions as well as performers brought in for the event.

It kicked off on a Tuesday with a reception at the Governor’s Mansion and concluded the following Sunday with a reception at Wildwood Park for the Arts.  In between there was theatre, dance, mime, puppetry, instrumental music, choral music, opera, jazz, painting, photography, history, lectures, and gallery tours.

Under her leadership as founder, plans are already underway for the next edition.  ACANSA Arts Festival 2015 is scheduled for September 16-20. Tickets go on sale next spring.

LR Cultural Touchstone: Lorraine Albert Cranford

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Lorraine Albert Cranford formalized ballet training and performance in Little Rock.  Together with her husband, she was the founder of Ballet Arkansas—a company that traces its roots to the Little Rock Civic Ballet of the 1960s—as well as a dance teacher.

Lorraine Albert was born on September 4, 1918, in Steubenville, Ohio, to Henri Albert and Arthurine Van Klempette Albert. Her mother was a ballroom dancer who started her daughter in dance classes. By the time she was three, her family lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Albert studied ballet under Karl Heinrich in Pittsburgh and went to New York at age fifteen to continue her dance training. Her training was not limited to classical ballet, and she studied and danced in the same shows as famous performers such as Gene Kelly and George M. Cohen.

She married D. Cater Cranford, a dancer originally from Little Rock, with whom she had performed. They had one daughter. They moved to Dallas, Texas, and lived in a house formerly owned by the outlaw Belle Starr. In 1957, they founded the Cranford House of Ballet, which developed dancers for the Dallas Civic Ballet, later named the Dallas Ballet. The company was dissolved in 1988.

In 1966, D. Cater Cranford moved to Little Rock, where he founded the Little Rock Civic Ballet; Lorraine Cranford joined him in Little Rock later. D. Cater Cranford died in 1977, and Lorraine Cranford founded Ballet Arkansas in 1978. Ballet Arkansas is perhaps best known for its annual production of The Nutcracker, which had begun with the Little Rock Civic Ballet. Ballet Arkansas has also contributed to the formation of most of the other ballet companies in central Arkansas, such as the Arkansas Festival Ballet, established in 2000. In addition to her work establishing ballet schools and companies in Arkansas, Cranford was a teacher herself and even performed as the grandmother in The Nutcracker.

Cranford died on December 3, 2004.

LR Cultural Touchstone: Lucy Lockett Cabe

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lucy-cabeLucy Lockett Cabe grew up in Missouri and died in Texas, but made an enormous impact on the cultural life of Little Rock and Arkansas.

While best known as the major benefactor of Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts, she also supported many other cultural organizations including the Arkansas Arts Center, Ballet Arkansas, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Arkansas Repertory Theatre and many smaller organizations. For over 30 years, it was rare for there to be a musical performance in Little Rock without Lucy as either a performer or in the audience.

A lifelong musician, as she aged, her voice shifted from soprano to alto to tenor while singing. She also served as a church organist. She studied piano from the age of eight.  Meeting her future husband Harold Cabe while summering in Michigan, she moved to Arkansas in 1940. From that time until 1975, she lived in Gurdon but was actively involved in the arts scenes of Arkadelphia and Little Rock.  The couple moved to Little Rock in 1975.  Harold died in 1984.

In 1971 she was one of the original appointees to the state Arts and Humanities Council. For her work with musical and volunteer groups, she was honored as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Woman of the Year in 1986. In 1993 she received the Arkansas Arts Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Little Rock Arts and Humanities Ed Hanlin Memorial Award for Outstanding Individual Contribution to the Arts.

Lucy was an honorary life member of the Arkansas Symphony, the Community Theatre of Little Rock and Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts. She was involved in every step of the formation of the Arkansas Opera Theatre, which subsequently evolved into the Wildwood Park. She supported and was honored by Wildwood with the 625-seat Lucy L. Cabe Festival Theatre on the grounds.

In the early 2000s she moved to Dallas to be closer to her family.  She died in 2005.

It is fitting that she be remembered in October, as Halloween was her favorite holiday.  Starting on October 1, the Halloween jewelry, socks and shirts would be donned.

LR Cultural Touchstone: Jana Beard

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BeardJana Beard has taught dance in the central Arkansas area for over 30 years and has been the owner and director of her own studio for over twenty of those years.

In addition to being committed to offering the highest quality of instruction and the opportunity to experience all forms of dance, she has enjoyed performing in many Arkansas Rep productions, including Sweet Charity, Guys and Dolls, Chicago, Good Woman of Setzuan, A Soldiers Tale, Evita and Into The Woods.

Jana attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville as a dance major, and while at UALR she performed in the productions of Cabaret and Pippin.  She has also been an instructor in the Theatre and Dance Department.

She has served for many years as director and choreographer for the bi-annual legal cast spoof The Gridiron (which returned this year after a hiatus) and has also served as the stage director for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas Spectacular.

A few years ago, Ballet Arkansas was on the brink of closing its doors.  Jana let the organization use space within her studio complex for offices, classes and rehearsals.  She sometimes served as the only staff member as the ballet was trying to regain its footing.  In addition, for several years she was the coordinator of The Nutcracker which was Ballet Arkansas’ only revenue source during the lean years.

Because of her lifeline, Ballet Arkansas is now poised to grow to heights never seen in the company’s history.  The move to Main Street, the new programming and statewide touring would not have been possible had Jana not offered a home when it needed it.

In addition, Jana choreographed high school musicals in which the Culture Vulture appeared in the 1980s.

A Grand Finale for ACANSA Arts Festival

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Tacansahe inaugural ACANSA Arts Festival concludes today with dance and song at Wildwood Park, in addition to a repeat performance downtown of Phillip Huber and his marionettes.

A POINT OF CHORUS
12:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Wildwood Park for the Arts
$20 to $50

Acansa BalletBallet Arkansas and Arkansas Festival Ballet perform at the Lucy Cabe Theatre during a festival picnic on the ground of Wildwood Park, with a musical performance by Finger Food between the ballet performances

12:00       Doors Open – Box Lunch available
2:00        Ballet Arkansas Performs
3:00        Finger Food Performs
4:00        Festival Ballet Performs
5:00        VIP champagne reception and festival overview

The mission of Ballet Arkansas is to provide Arkansas and the region with the highest quality dance performance and education.  Each season, Ballet Arkansas offers a choreographic competition, a regional touring production, educational programming, an annual production of The Nutcracker, and a mixed repertory concert that features world premieres of newly commissioned choreography Arkansas

Finger Food is American Fingerstyle guitar at its best featuring three of Arkansas’ finest guitarists. Danny Dozier from Batesville and Steve Davison and Micky Rigby from Little Rock. Their performances are an eclectic mix from Chet Atkins to Merle Travis to Leo Kotke to gut bucket blues and original compositions. They perform in the round playing solo, duets and trio work that features the many voices of the guitar and showcases the many styles that make the guitar the worlds most popular instrument

Festival Ballet is a repertory dance company dedicated to classical ballet training and performance. Their seasonal programming includes enchanting storybook ballets and mixed-bill productions with new choreography and excerpts from ballet classics.  They will perform a short Neo Classical ballet based on the writings of an 18th century Suffolk poet.

 

Acansa PuppetSUSPENDED ANIMATION
3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Scottish Rite Masonic Temple
$10 to $20

In a cabaret presentation distinctly adult in its sophistication and artistry, internationally acclaimed marionette artist Phillip Huber is in full view of the audience as he controls incredibly compelling characters through a series of variety vignettes revealing humor, pathos, drama and grace.

Phillip Huber is most widely known for his work in the 3-time Academy Award nominated film “Being John Malkovich” and his work in the Disney film “Oz the Great and Powerful,” starring James Franco, Michelle Williams and Mila Kunis. Shimmering with nuance, sophistication and imagination, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to experience a world of sophisticated puppetry designed for entertaining discerning tastes.

Science of Dance and Movement tonight at Museum of Discovery, featuring Ballet Arkansas

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science of danceScience After Dark: The Science of Dance and Movement takes place tonight! The Museum has partnered with Ballet Arkansas and ACANSA Arts Festival to bring you some great moves, including demonstrations by Ballet Arkansas dancers.

They will also explore how nanotechnology is changing dance, learn about locomotion and much more! The regular Science After Dark refreshment friends from Damgoode Pies, Stone’s Throw Brewing and Juanita’s Cantina will all be there too!

The event takes place at the Museum of Discovery tonight from 6-8 p.m.

These monthly programs (normally the last Wednesday of the month) are for adults 21 and up.

Passholders for ACANSA are admitted for free.  Museum of Discovery members receive free admission too.  For those who are neither members nor ACANSA passholders, the cost is only $5.00.

Ballet Arkansas kicks off 2014-15 with VISIONS

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BA_VISIONS_600x300ad_25july2014Ballet Arkansas kicks off the season tonight with their first annual Visions Choreographic Competition.  It will take place in the CALS Ron Robinson Theater in the River Market at 7:00 pm.

Thirty-six emerging choreographers from around the country competed for five spots in this competition. The winner will receive a commission to create a complete new work on Ballet Arkansas’s company dancers for their 2015 spring show.

The five choreographers  selected for the competition are:

  • Sayoko Knode,  former principal dancer with Idaho Dance Theatre;
  • Jerry Opdenaker, former principal dancer for ballet companies such as Milwaukee Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Kansas City Ballet and Ballet Florida;
  • Brandon Ragland, dancer with the Louisville Ballet;
  • Christopher Stuart dancer with Nashville Ballet;
  • Hilary Fullmer Wolfley who graduated in 2013 from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in Ballet.

The five pieces will be judged by Adam Sklute, Artistic Director of Ballet West, Rhythm McCarthy with UALR’s Theatre and Dance Program, former Ballet Arkansas Principal Dancer Michael Tidwell with the Tidwell Project and the audience will be the fourth judge.

“I am very pleased with the talent level of our five guest choreographers” said Artistic Director, Michael Bearden “Their abilities in collaboration with our beautiful dancers will make for an evening you won’t want to miss.”