Youth ballet to perform ‘Cinderella’

BANGOR – Bangor Youth Ballet will perform “Cinderella” at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 15, in Bangor High School’s Peakes Auditorium.

“Bangor Youth Ballet was founded in 1994,” said Jane Bragg, owner of Thomas School of Dance, adding that “Cinderella” was performed that year, but has not been performed since.

Some 40 young people will participate in the performance. They represent seven different dance schools and come from about 15 different communities, including Swanville, Etna, Ellsworth and Verona.

Nina Robinson-Poole, 15, of Brooksville has the role of Cinderella. She attends Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield and is in the ninth grade. This also is her first year dancing with Bossov Ballet Theater. Before that she danced with Thomas School of Dance. What does she like about dancing?

“I really like performing. That’s one of the main things,” she said.

Lewis Marston, 17, of Orland has the lead male role of the prince. Marston, a senior at John Bapst Memorial High School, dances with Maine State Ballet, Thomas School of Dance and Robinson Ballet. He also enjoys dancing and performing.

“Ballet’s always the same. It’s a constant in this hectic world,” he said, adding, “It’s very challenging. I like a good challenge.”

Kate Smedal, who attended North Carolina’s School of the Arts, and is now a kinesiology major at the University of Maine, is the instructor. Also from Brooklin, she currently lives in Old Town and has been teaching at Thomas School of Dance for about two years, since age 19.

She has been dancing “seriously since I was 11,” she said, and began dancing with Thomas School of Dance in 1996.

With this particular performance Smedal also has been involved with choreography and coaching advanced students, Bragg explained, adding that she’s “sort of had her eye on the overall production.”

This year’s “Cinderella” is a redo of the original choreography “to a great extent,” Bragg said. The performance is based largely on Prokofiev’s music, but also includes music from “Swan Lake” and from Enya, and features flute music as well. Another feature offers dancers as white horses tap-dancing to Billie Joel music.

“You’re watching a ballet and all of a sudden you’re in a Broadway musical,” Bragg said. Also, traditionally, the stepsisters are portrayed by males, but in this performance they will be performed by females, “so we don’t have anyone in drag this year,” she said. The performance will run about an hour and 15 minutes, including intermission.

“So it’s a good length for families,” Bragg said.

Bangor Youth Ballet tries to be inclusive, Bragg said, but it is good if a young dancer has had at least a year of ballet, and is at least 8 years old. There is no specific age limit. A graduate student will perform in the stepmother’s role.

Tickets for “Cinderella” will be available at The Grasshopper Shop, Patrick’s Hallmark Shop and Thomas School of Dance. The cost is $10, $5 for under 12, and $20 for reserved patrons.

The day after Bangor Youth Ballet’s “Cinderella” performance, Thomas School of Dance will have its recital at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 16, at Bangor High School’s Peakes Auditorium.

For information about Thomas School of Dance, Bangor Youth Ballet, or performances, call 945-3457.