Grace takes the stage

Young dancers of the Florida West Ballet are diligent about their craft, and will show it off at a free performance Sunday.

By MAUREEN BYRNE

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 5, 2000

CLEARWATER -- After weeks of practice, nearly 30 young ballet dancers are ready to gracefully twirl and leap across the stage Sunday at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

Florida West Ballet, which draws budding dancers from around the Tampa Bay area, will present its fourth annual Spring Bagels and Ballet, a free performance sponsored in part by grants from the city of Clearwater and the Pinellas County Arts Council.

Suzy Metcalf, president of the non-profit ballet, said the two-hour production has three goals: to educate the public in the art of dance, to introduce people to the Florida West Ballet, and to give everyone an opportunity to attend a professional ballet.

And perhaps one day to dance in one.

"That's what we're here for," Metcalf said. "That's why we're training these students, to see if this is what they want to do."

Each year the company, which has a teaching partnership with the Sarasota Ballet of Florida, offers auditions for youths 10 to 18. If a dancer is accepted into the program, the training is free, Metcalf said.

To pay instructors, the dancers' parents volunteer year-round at a concession stand at the Ice Palace in Tampa. The ballet company's biggest fundraiser is its annual Nutcracker Tea and Sugar Plum Shoppe, which features hundreds of gift items for sale in a private home.

The company, founded in Clearwater in 1981, is under the artistic direction of Robert de Warren of the Sarasota Ballet. The ballet has 28 members (27 girls and one boy) in three levels: trainee, apprentice and company.

"It's not very often that we get a boy," Metcalf said. "I think that's just the way it is in the dance world. There are always going to be more females than males."

Sunday's program includes eight numbers, including a modern piece titled Lucid Apocalypse, a classical dance called Three Movements and two performances by Sarasota Ballet dancer Filipp Gadar.

"This company is really good," said instructor Pavel Fomin. "I think people will be very impressed."

De Warren has been the artistic director for the youth ballet for five years, with co-artistic associates Diane Partington and Fomin doing much of the teaching. Some former students have gone on to win positions in the Sarasota Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet and the Cleveland/San Jose Ballet. Others have been accepted to the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet and Juilliard School in New York.

Students practice Fridays and Saturdays at Judith Lee Johnson Studio of Dance in St. Petersburg. The company encourages them to continue taking lessons at dance studios.

That's what 17-year-old Julianne Rowley has been doing since September, when she was accepted to the ballet company. The junior at Keswick Christian School has been taking ballet lessons for 15 years. She is at the apprentice level with the Florida West Ballet.

"I feel like I've improved a lot," said Julianne, who plans to pursue a career in dance. "I would love to continue ballet, but I'm into hip-hop dancing, too."

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