Ballet dancers put in hours prepping for celebration

BY TOM NETHERLAND
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER

Seven-year-old Michele Neubauer opened the door and walked inside. She climbed steps to the second floor, opened another door and walked inside.

And met Constance Hardinge, the founder of Bristol Ballet.

Little Michele had no clue.

"It was nothing like what I envisioned," Plescia said.

When she entered the doors to Bristol Ballet, she hadn’t an inkling that several decades later she would open and walk through those same doors, climb those same steps and walk into the same second floor room as a teacher.

Now Plescia teaches dance as the artistic director for Bristol Ballet. And come March 4, her students along with those from a number of area dance companies will stage the Ninth Annual Celebration of Dance at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, Tenn.

"The plan when I was seven was a little bit of piano, a little bit of ballet and some other things," Plescia said. "But my mother couldn’t get me out of here."

One of her dancers, Eva Alom, sure seems pleased about that.

"She’s amazing," Alom said after rehearsing Thursday night for Celebration of Dance. "She’s so focused and dedicated. She does all that without being a dictator."

Celebration of Dance 

Led by Bristol Ballet, Celebration of Dance this year and in years past assembles a litany of local and regional dance companies and dancers. Each presents either a piece or pieces.

"It’s great for the audience to see what’s out there," Plescia said while seated in the lobby of Bristol Ballet last week. "We are so fortunate to have so much culture around here and we want the audience to see that."

So Celebration of Dance will include several classical to contemporary ballet pieces from Bristol Ballet and also Abingdon’s Highlands Center for Ballet Arts and City Youth Ballet of Johnson City. Additional participants include East Tennessee State University’s community-based, modern dance company in residence the Mountain Movers Dance Company. Also on hand, Jen Kintner will perform an eye-popping aerialist routine.

"There is no set," Plescia said.

Just arms and legs choreographed to move precisely this way and that while attired in splendid costumes amid grand music. The attraction is the dance.

"Absolutely," Plescia said. "We pared the show down this year to make a tighter show, a leave ‘em wanting more show. The kids are always ready to go. We’ve worked really hard."

Bristol Ballet 

That hard work began with class at Bristol Ballet. Classes offered range widely in ages and certainly can include boys as well as girls.

"Our youngest is 3," Plescia said. "We have a class of 3 year olds. The oldest performing company member was 45. She was amazing."

Parents, have a child or children who seem interested in dancing? Welcome to Bristol Ballet, Plescia said. About 75 students are currently enrolled.

"We can certainly take more," Plescia said.

Vast history precedes every new child that enters the building that has long housed Bristol Ballet. Constance Hardinge, who taught Plescia and scores of generations of kids, founded Bristol Ballet in 1948.

"We’ve been here for 64 years," Plescia said. "We’ve been through ups and downs."

Plescia, who had been working in ballet near Chicago, returned to her roots with the company in 2004 when hired to serve as artistic director.

"I am dedicated to continuing the history," she said. "But you can’t live on history alone. You’ve got to have the dedication and the knowledge. Whether the students are here for 16 weeks or 16 years, we want to make sure that it’s an artistically exceptional experience."

Imagine a bird without a tweet, a storm with neither thunder nor lightning, a song sans music, a face without a smile.

That’s dance for Plescia. She dearly adores imparting that love of dance to her students. Just as a bird could never imagine a songless existence, her life wouldn’t be like life according to her at all without dance, without ballet.

"Oh," Plescia said, taken aback at the very thought, "I can’t ... imagine ... that."

Behind the curtain

Plescia led eight girls through an hour and then some of rigors of preparations on Thursday night for just one of several pieces for Celebration of Dance by Bristol Ballet. They gathered dead center in their vast studio.

"I tell them to relish the time that they are here," Plescia said. "They can focus on what they are doing. They have these couple of hours to themselves."

The students stood, mostly hands on hips, attentive to Plescia. Some smiled, others appeared restless, yet all appeared intent.

"It’s a good group of kids," Plescia said.

Then upon Plescia’s words of instructions they fell in line like soldiers in the military, poised to practice. Plescia clicked a remote and Bach’s "Tocata and Fugue in D Minor" began, recorded such to bridge classical with a contemporary flair.

As with the music, the dancers began quietly. As the piece picked up, so too did they. Seconds spun to minutes as the dancers twirled like tops. And when the girls stood on point upon the decades-danced wooden floor, a syncopated clop ensued.

Step by careful step led to the accumulated piece. Each aspect of the several-minutes long and quite aerobic work had been broken down and worked upon, over and tediously over again.

"It is tedious," Plescia said. "You rehearse little pieces to make sure they get the timing right, the pairing right. They’re used to it and they understand it."

Sweat, drop by drop swelled to tiny rivers that streamed from the girls’ hairlines to flood foreheads. The product of intense work broke the banks of their eyebrows and drip-dropped down in front of their eyes, except for those who caught the water with a swipe of an arm.

"Obviously dedicated," Plescia said of her charges. "It shows that they care."

To an unbeknownst onlooker, the proceedings would have appeared puzzling.

Ballet is a puzzle. For Plescia, the teacher, she instructs her students such that they gradually mold to a particularly choreographed form. The students, they’re compelled to learn how to fit into that form. Thus accomplished, they’re like pieces in a puzzle pulled together to form a work of art.

A work well done grin graced Eva Alom’s face upon Thursday’s close of preparations for Celebration of Dance.

"It’s my favorite piece that we’ve done," Alom said. "It’s not fluff. I feel like a puppet when I dance it. From the beginning to the end, it’s very powerful."

Diamonds danced within Plescia’s approving blue eyes by night’s end. Sweat glistened on Alom’s forehead like tiny shards of reflected glass.

"It’s incredibly exhausting," she said.

Dance as art

And rewarding.

"The reason why I love dancing more than all of the other arts, I feel like it’s the most honest way of expressing yourself," Alom said. "It’s the purest way. It’s just you."

Dance from ballet to belly, jitterbug to jazz, hip-hop to country, modern to classical and so forth epitomizes art in motion. Think about it. Spin a song and those who can will typically tap a toe, swing a leg or wriggle the rump in time with the tune.

Art can fill a wall in the form of a painting, the ear from notes gathered in song, the eye courtesy film upon the silver screen, a sunset momentarily captured on the western horizon, flowers in the garden, well-groomed words on a page, etc. And etcetera. And so on and so forth.

Get the message?

"The arts are not optional," Plescia said. "Whether or not you realize it, you are touched by the arts every single day, so why not embrace it?"

Alas.

"We have spent decades trying to justify its importance and existence," Plescia said. "They make us feel good. And what’s wrong with that?"

So Celebrate!

Come attired in coat and tie or t-shirt and shorts. Wear a hat or none at all. Step with a life-loving step and cross the threshold of the Paramount from daily life and into an experience that embraces life.

Celebrate!

"It’s fun! It is!" Plescia said. "Entertainment. Dance interprets music nearly always. Think about how music makes you feel."

Ah yeah, when the band plays the legs swing and sway. Or try to anyway.

"Come to see the show!" Plescia said. "Great music! Wonderful dance! I can’t imagine it’s an afternoon wasted. Try it. You might like it."

Tom Netherland is a freelance writer. He can be reached at features@bristolnews.com.

IF YOU GO

• » What: Ninth Annual Celebration of Dance
• » Who: Bristol Ballet, Mountain Movers, City Youth Ballet of Johnson City, East Tennessee Ballet Academy, Leslie Ann Hughes, Highlands Center for Ballet Arts, etc.
• » When: March 4, 2 p.m.
• » Where: Paramount Center for the Arts, 518 State St., Bristol, Tenn.
• » Admission: $5-$15
• » Info: (276) 669-6051 or (423) 274-8920
• » Web: www.bristolballet.org