Moscow Ballet Teams Up with Knox College, Orpheum Theatre

Moscow Ballet is conducting a 2011 Summer Intensive program for dance students in collaboration with the Orpheum Theatre and Knox College from August 1 to August 5.

The program will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, and lunch will be provided.

Russian soloist Nataliya Miroshnyk will teach the Vaganova method for intermediate to pre-professional students during daily two-hour classes in "pre-en pointe" and "en pointe" at Harbach Theatre in the Eleanor Abbott Ford Center for the Fine Arts on the Knox College campus.

In addition, the Intensive includes workshops in nutrition, physical therapy, dance history, and dance in higher education. The Intensive culminates in an event for students' parents, friends, and fellow dancers on Friday, August 5, at the Orpheum Theatre.

Classes are limited to 20 participants each.

There is no cost to attend the Intensive due to generous grants from Arts Midwest and Knox College Destination College, but participation will be determined by application and ability on a first-come, first-evaluated basis. References will be required from studio instructors in order to best determine ability and class assignment.

Applications are available online at www.theorpheum.org or at the Orpheum Theatre box office, 250 East Main Street, Galesburg, Illinois 61401. Interested studios and students can call 309-342-2299 for more information and to request applications.

This presentation is supported by the Performing Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the Illinois Arts Council, General Mills Foundation, and Land O'Lakes Foundation.

Nataliya Miroshnyk is renowned for her dancing of the athletic "Chinese variation" in Act II of the Great Russian Nutcracker. She graduated in 1988 from the Kiev Academic Choreographic School in Ukraine and is an expertly trained ballerina. Immediately on graduation she was invited to join the company of the Odessa State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of the Ukraine.

Miroshnyk has danced as a soloist with Moscow Ballet for more than five years. Her repertoire includes classic ballets such as Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, Don Quixote and The Great Russian Nutcracker.

She has led Vaganova method training for advanced and pre-professional American ballet students in the Moscow Ballet Summer Intensive. She is also an Audition Director traveling across North America seeking and preparing young dancers to perform with the professionals in the Great Russian Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet.

Agrippina Vaganova perfected and cultivated the theories and practices of classical ballet in her performances and also in a workable syllabus. Her Fundamentals of the Classical Dance remains a standard textbook for the instruction of ballet technique and her technique is one of the most popular techniques in the world today.

Teacher/choreographer and performer Kathleen Ridlon is an assistant professor of dance at Knox College, and she comes from an extensive dance background.

"Along with teaching dance at Knox College, I serve as the director for Midwest Dance Group in Galesburg," Ridlon said. "My interests in the dance field revolve around making community connections through teaching and performing dance in partnership with local organizations. The work and research that I do in the local community creates opportunities for students to further develop their dance experiences through internship and independent study."

Additionally, Ridlon (in photo at left) is the coordinator for the Center for Community Service at Knox College. Outside of the local community, she is a recognized artist on the Illinois Arts Council Arts-In-Education Artist Roster. An alumna of The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center School in New York City, she received her M.F.A. from Smith College and her bachelor's degree from City College of New York.

Ridlon teaches Modern dance (Horton Technique), jazz dance (concert jazz styles and musical theatre), ballet, theory and improvisation, and dance composition. She has taught Knox College 4 Kids and Creating Community Dance classes. She participated in the Horton Pedagogy Workshop at The Ailey School in New York City, with a grant awarded to her through Knox College, in 2006 and 2007.

Moscow Ballet Summer Intensive students gain invaluable ballet experience in the Russian tradition, which is known the world over for excellence in training and execution. The Moscow Ballet program offers young American dancers, who otherwise have limited access to the classical Russian style, a unique opportunity to work closely with a professional Russian ballerina.

Moscow Ballet (performers shown rehearsing in photo at top) will perform the Great Russian Nutcracker at 7:30 p.m. December 5 and 2 p.m. December 6 in the Orpheum Theatre. Tickets are now on sale at (309) 342-2299.

Moscow Ballet - Overview

"Knock-out dancer, thrilling, and elegant," says the New York Times. In 2011, Moscow Ballet is embarking on its 19th tour to 60-plus North American cities by 80 impeccably trained Russian dancers in two companies. Performing Swan Lake, the Great Russian Nutcracker, and other ballets to be announced, the dancers leap, spin, and lunge in their telling of the traditional stories with a Russian flair.

For information and list of tour dates visit http://www.nutcracker.com.