Northwest Ballet celebrates 40th season

The Northwest Ballet is celebrating its 40th season of dance education and performance in the Flathead Valley this year.

Founded in 1977 by Carol Jakes, current Owner and Director Marisa Roth has been at the helm the last 11 years. Roth has been with the Northwest Ballet since 1979 however, going through the entire program having started at age 3, and working her way up to dancing as a member of the then Kalispell Ballet Co. She continued her training at Pennsylvania’s Mercyhurst University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in dance with a teaching and choreography concentration. Roth danced with the professional Lake Erie Ballet Co. for three years before returning to the Flathead to rejoin Northwest Ballet as faculty, eventually becoming assistant director and manager of the Dance Art Center.

This season the Northwest Ballet will perform its 24th annual “Nutcracker” performances, and the 38th annual Mother’s Day production. Both shows feature the Northwest Ballet School’s elite group of ballet students, the dancers of the Northwest Ballet Co., established in 1980. The Company was formed for the purpose of producing high-quality, classical ballet dancers. The requirements are demanding, and a high level of discipline and technical maturity is expected. Students of the Northwest Ballet School must audition each year for acceptance into the Company.

The Mother’s Day productions are dedicated to presenting new choreography, various story ballets and contemporary works. Repertoire includes “Sleeping Beauty,” “Cinderella,” “Coppélia,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Pas de Quatre,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and many more. The Northwest Ballet Co. has a large wardrobe of costumes to provide for all performances that is continually managed and maintained by two Company wardrobe mistresses, Laurie Smith and Jennifer Rediger, and a host of volunteers.

Company alumni have gone on to continue their dance education and performance experiences in several schools and professional companies. Closest to home, the Northwest Ballet frequently has graduates in the University of Montana’s Dance Department in Missoula. They have also sent dancers to The Ballet Co. of Spokane, Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, University of Utah Dance, Ballet West Academy, Nebraska Modern Dance Co., Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Pre-professional program, Boston Conservatory, Joseph Holmes Company and others.

The Northwest Ballet has also been a member of the Montana Dance Arts Association for almost 40 years. MDAA is a unique state-wide organization which hosts biannual dance workshops throughout central Montana in their mission to advance the art of dance for rural students and educators by providing high quality training opportunities and dance experiences. Faculty members of the Northwest Ballet frequent the MDAA voluntary Board of Directors, as Roth is currently the president, and Mila Baker the secretary.

For years the Northwest Ballet School has also had students consistently audition for and been awarded scholarships for summer dance workshops throughout the state and nation. Some of these programs include Summer Dance Lab, Hartford, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Gus Giordano.

There has been a local dance shop housed in the Northwest Ballet’s Kalispell location for the last 20 years. Let’s Go Dance, under the ownership of Elaine Leatzow, supplies dancers of all ages with the appropriate attire for various classes, as well as customers from out of state and Canada.

The Northwest Ballet School has two locations, the Dance Art Center in Kalispell and the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish. There are currently three faculty members, Roth, Baker and Kristine Stanfield, who instruct in the following dance disciplines: ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip-hop and cheer. The Northwest Ballet also has Russia’s Alina Stvozhenska as guest faculty and classical ballet instructor this year.

For more information on classes and performances, call 406-755-0760 or visit http://www.northwestballet.com.