Each show will offer 100 free tickets to area veterans
By Heather Ruenz
SLN staff
Each spring, Toe to Toe Ballet School in Elkhorn produces an originally choreographed ballet, school owner Colleen Huberty said. Previous ballets performed include: “Peter Pan,” “Coppelia,” “Rodeo,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “Alice in Wonderland.”
The upcoming show, titled “Stars and Stripes” will be Toe to Toe’s 13th ballet. Directed by Huberty, it will be performed at 1 p.m., Saturday, May 20, and Sunday, May 21, in the James Wehner Theatre at Elkhorn Area High School. The Sunday show will include a sign language interpreter.
“The Spring Ballet takes the place of a recital and all of our students who attend the full school year have a part – from our 3- and 4-year olds, who will be the colors of ‘Old Glory’ to our adults who play the part of ‘Rosie the Riveter.’ There will be nearly 140 dancers in this production,” Huberty said.
Stars and Stripes Forever was first choreographed by George Balanchine in 1958 to the music of John Philip Sousa and Hershy Kay, Huberty said. The ballet is divided into five “campaigns” or pieces, the most famous of which is Stars and Stripes Forever – which is done at the end of the ballet.
“In addition, since our audience is used to story ballets – Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz and so on – we will be telling the story of our country, with each campaign danced as a vignette of a particular period in history. We have added additional pieces of music, given that we are primarily working with children to teens and young adults,” she said.
The five campaigns are: The Colonies, Manifest Destiny, The Civil War, War to End All Wars and Stars and Stripes Forever.
Campaign five, Stars and Stripes Forever, will feature the ballet school’s salute to the 15th anniversary of 9/11 and to the men and women who serve, or have served, in the Armed Forces.
“This final vignette features almost 30 of our intermediate, advanced and senior dancers,” Huberty said. “The actual salute to the anniversary opens campaign five and will be done to the piece ‘America.’ It will be performed by our Select Performance Company with 13 dancers in all.”
Huberty said the show features original choreography: the ribbon regiment is by Pauline Urso; red, white and blue regiments by Huberty, and; pas de trois choreo is by Huberty’s son, Sam, who is currently an apprentice at Fort Wayne Ballet.
Support from the kids
Emma Terpstra, 16, of Delavan, has dancing ballet for 13 years and said it’s a good fit for her because she’s not the type of person who would get up and speak in front of a group.
Terpstra said she loves “the idea of remembering those from 9/11 and I like how we use so many dancers in it.”
Sara Sperle, 15, of Elkhorn, has been in ballet since she was 4 years old. She said she enjoys it because she doesn’t have to think about anything else while dancing.
“Stars and Stripes is different from anything we’ve done before. It’s more military focused with salutes and sharper movements, not so floaty like ballet can be,” Sperle said.
Joe Huberty, 14, and another of Colleen’s sons, has been in ballet for seven years and said he enjoys it because it’s a way to exercise and he doesn’t get judged for it.
He said the Stars and Stripes show is a “great way” to remember 9/11 and he has a cousin being “shipped out on the day of the performance. She’s in the Navy.”
Machenzie Petrasek, 12, is in her fifth year of ballet. She said she can “really express myself and show how I feel. I also have a lot of friends that dance so it’s really fun.
“This show is an amazing idea, that we get to do a tribute because the veterans really deserve it. I like it because I get to dance with the older dancers and that’s inspiring.”
Petrasek said in addition to family, she invited her English teacher to the ballet because her teacher’s dad is a veteran.
The timing is right
Colleen Huberty said the idea to select Stars and Stripes came during a meeting with staff last August, when Peggy Strimple, the jazz and teen ballet teacher, mentioned that September was the 15th anniversary of 9/11.
“Immediately we all thought, ‘It has to be Stars and Stripes’ this year. While we had discussed performing Stars and Stripes in previous years, we had always set it aside as the timing never felt quite right. Realizing that it was the 15th anniversary of 911, we felt the need to honor our men and women who serve, and to commemorate the anniversary for our community,” she said.
The decision to tell the story of our country has been a group effort, she said. Various classes are on stage together, working with each other to tell their part of the story, so the staff has to work as a team to produce the final ballet.
“We have 100 free tickets per show for our veterans. At the end of the show, we will be playing ‘Armed Forces Salute’ – not to dance, but to simply honor these amazing men and women. We will be asking them to stand so we can applaud for them,” Huberty said.
Thirteen dancers in the show have family members in the military or who have served.
Toe to Toe Ballet School has students from eight area school districts: Badger, Big Foot, Burlington, East Troy, Elkhorn, Delavan-Darien, Whitewater and Williams Bay.
Megan Meier, a student at the ballet school and a member of its Select Performing Juniors Group, is the winner of the artwork contest for the Stars and Stripes ballet. Her artwork is featured on the posters, flyers and tickets.
Tickets are $8 and are available at Toe to Toe Ballet School, 5 W. Walworth St., and the Elkhorn Area Chamber of Commerce, 203 E. Walworth St.
For more information call the ballet school at (262) 723-1700, visit toetotoeballetschool.com or email toetotoeballetschool@tds.net.
