One of the four ballets put on by the United Youth Ballet Company this season was Cinderella pictured above, as the cast prepared for a group bow after the final scene. Photo submitted by Tannis Baerg
The stage is set for the United Youth Ballet Company’s (UYBC) presentation of Beauty and the Beast on Feb. 11.
This performance is the final of four ballets the company has put together this season at the Vic Juba Community Theatre.
“We have found a way to get all the ballets ready in six weeks at a time … These ladies and gentlemen are pretty incredible,” said ballet director and owner of Fame Dance Studios, Sarah Makins.
“Our apprentices come in for two to three rehearsals a week and our senior dancers come in for three to four rehearsals a week of about three hours per rehearsal. We’re all really enjoying the process,” she said, adding this is their last ballet of the season until they begin another series next October.
The upcoming production features its largest cast so far, with dancers of many different ages.
“Our apprentice program has been growing, and we have all 16 senior dancers in this one. There are six pre-teen apprentices, five teen apprentices, and a super-exciting nine adult apprentices,” Makins exclaimed.
“That’s really fun. We’ve got dance moms on stage. It’s really cool to finish our third ballet for this season with the biggest cast yet.”
The UYBC focuses on inclusion in ballet, and with every show they are sure to provide some complimentary tickets.
“We try to give tickets away always to hard-working people in the community, we’d like to say we’re so grateful for all your hard work. That’s a major component of our ballet,” said Makins.
Since there are studios in Lloydminster, Bonnyville, Cold Lake and Elk Point they have sent some special invitations out to community leaders in each city or town.
“We are honoured to have community leaders in attendance from the four locations,” she said, adding that Mayor Aalbers and his wife Christine have already saved the date, along with council members from the other three places.
Some of the biggest fans of the ballet series, however, have been the smallest in stature.
“With Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, even the Nutcracker—we are very aware that it is to be a kid-friendly performance,” said Makins.
“We had the cutest three-year-old Cinderellas showing up in full hair, makeup, and costume to our audience for Cinderella and we’re just so honoured that we have a fan-following of ‘littles’ and we want to inspire them.”
Makins says something that they’ve had positive feedback about is how they are able to keep the storyline intact while making it their own.
“We are very careful to make sure that a three-year-old up to a grandma or grandpa is able to really enjoy the show. Lots of fun, sparkly bits.
“Folks have said that they really enjoy our comedy, in our ballets so we’ve made sure to do some really funny bits for everybody.”
Tickets to the show are on sale now at the Vic Juba Box Office, online, and over the phone.
