The Arts Association of Newton County and Covington Regional Ballet will not only present the ballet, Alice in Wonderland, but will also introduce a new professional dance company to the community.
The show, sponsored by SKC, Alcovy Fitness and Wellness and Bank of North Georgia, will be at Newton High School Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. for a cost of $15 for general admission, $10 for seniors and $5 for students.
All Kindergartners in the Newton County School System will be bussed into the theatre as a part of the Arts Association and NCSS’s Project LEAP—Learning Enrichment Through the Arts Project.
During the first act of Alice in Wonderland, six professional dance artists will be introduced. Each artist boasts an impressive pedigree of dance educators who have shaped the dancers into technically proficient powerhouses who are equal parts inspiring mover and malleable muse. Their personal and professional experiences bring an inherent level of maturity that enables an exchange of ideas during the creation of the work.
Amanda Bonilla, Gabrielle Gambino, Alexa Goldberg, Melissa Mitchell, Josiah Savage, and Josh Schadl will take the stage for the first time with Covington Regional Ballet on Friday, April 30 in Artistic Director, Peter Swan’s, original work Static/Erratic.
Following Act I of Alice in Wonderland, the Covington Regional Ballet company will present the Swan’s original ballet, Alice in Wonderland, based on the 150-year-old classic stories by Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass". Dancing the role of Alice is Rosie Kitchens, her mom—Cameron Crowe, Jack—Shawn Enright, and the White Rabbit—Molly Cady. Other members of the senior and junior company will round out the cast. Founded in 2001, Covington Regional Ballet is the dance performance arm of the Arts Association in Newton County’s Young Artists Programs. During Act I along with the professional piece, the Senior Company will perform their contemporary work, The Presence of Absence, another original work by the Swans debuted in their fall contemporary show at Oxford College.
The work performed by the professional company is loosely based on the ideas surrounding sleep deprivation; Static/Erratic is sure to strike a chord with its viewer, highlighting the artists’ athleticism and fluidity of movement within Swan’s unique movement style. “This is a huge feat for dance in Covington,” says Peter Swan. “Not only does a professional component elevate the level of dance among the students in our program, but it allows we, the creators, to explore dance in a new way that will enable us to reach a new audience. It is our belief that live dance has something to offer all people, both the dance enthusiast who has a child in our production and a resident within our community who has never attended a dance performance.”
The Arts Association in Newton County, the umbrella organization of which Covington Regional Ballet is a part, received a $5,000 Vibrant Communities Grant from Georgia Council for the Arts, a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development for the addition of a professional dance company in January of 2016. In addition to the grant, generous individual and corporate sponsors who believe in the power of live dance as an offering in our community, provided matching funds for the grant.
