Samohi, Seven Days, Santa Monica, Dance

Local Dance Youth Present Holiday Recital This Weekend

Posted Dec. 5, 2013, 7:50 am

Mitch James / Mirror Contributor

Students from local ballet school Dance Studio No. 1 invite the community to celebrate the holiday season this weekend during two performances.

Two productions are being prepared for community presentation: “Peter and the Wolf” performed by the school’s junior dancers aged 6-11, and “Dances Through the Year” performed by the senior dancers aged 12-18.

Both productions are open to the public and will be staged at Santa Monica High School’s Barnum Hall on Saturday, Dec. 7 and Sunday, Dec. 8 at 5 pm.

Tickets are available for purchase by calling 310.979.9929. Non-profits are welcome to apply for free tickets.

The productions have been choreographed by artistic director Elizabeth Banke and her team of teachers and will feature more than 100 young ballet students from the local community.

The first ballet, “Peter and the Wolf,” is based on the classic children’s tale and set to Prokofiev’s inspiring symphony written expressly for children’s theatre, in addition to some of the composer’s other works. The story follows Peter and his adventurous encounters in the forest with a duck, a bird, a cat... and a wolf.

The second ballet, “Dances Through the Year,” is a collection of original choreography celebrating the culmination of another year by taking a look back at the milestones and holidays observed over the past year such as St. Patrick’s Day, 4th of July, and Halloween.

Rehearsals are well underway for both performances and the students are much looking forward to presenting their work to the community.

Established in 1992, Dance Studio No. 1 is a classical ballet academy highly regarded for two core offerings: its strong and successful, pre-professional classical ballet program, and its endearing young children’s program.

Well-known in the west Los Angeles and surrounding communities, Dance Studio No. 1, or “DS1,” focuses on technical and artistic excellence. The Studio offers limited class sizes and aims to foster each student’s potential through well-designed dance programs that carefully consider each dancer’s developmental age, motor skills, capabilities, and interests.

Featured in Los Angeles magazine’s Best of Los Angeles “Hall of Fame” as an “exceptionally qualified dance school,” DS1 works to instill the love of dance in all students and truly is a “home away from home” for many dancers and their families. Dance Studio No. 1 is the official school of SoCal Ballet.

SoCal Ballet is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2008, whose mission is to support the classical ballet aligned with the youth, creativity, and spirit engendered by the Southern California experience. SoCal Ballet helps to train and educate dancers, and enhances the public’s knowledge and appreciation of dance.

For more information, visit dancestudiono1.com.