UNION COUNTY LOCALSOURCE LOCALSOURCE.COM THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2010— PAGE 29

NJ Ballet Co. dances with beautyBy Bea SmithStaff Writer

• An international array of balletexcellence was presented with "ARepertory Concert" Saturdayevening by the New Jersey BalletCo. at the company's old testinggrounds. The Wilkins Theater atKean University, Union, and itsdevoted audience welcomed Artis-tic Director Carolyn Clark's mas-terpiece offerings with enormousdelight.

The fact that the New JerseyBallet Co., located in Livingston, ischanging as it brings more Russian,European and Asian performersand artists to its American reper-toire.

In the first part, 'four glorioussegments of a variety of ballets hadthe audience in a state of awe. Thefirst, "La Vivandiere, Pas de Six,"was wonderfully interpreted byMichelle deFremery, Andre LuisTeixeira, Carmen Gonzalez, Ste-fanie Truppi, Kelly Lands and KitNemecek. It was beautifully chore-ographed by Arthur Sant-Leon,staged by Leonid Kozlov, withmusic by Cesare Pugni and cos-tumes by A. Christina Gianni. •

One of the more popular ballets,"The Fairy Doll," with its comedicsignificance, boasted of a mar-velous • dancer with a wonderfullyexpressive face that taunted, teasedand seduced two defeated youngclowns, splendidly played byAndrees F. Neira and Vitaly Vert-erich. She is Kotoe Kojima-Noa,who is genuine proof -that balletsneed no dialogue as she dances her

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Kotoe Kojima-Noa and Alberty Davydov performingthe worldwide favorite 'Flames of Paris.'

way in an imaginative one-act bal-let about a toyshop where mechan-ical dolls come to life. Nicolai andSegei Legat served as choreogra-phers, with music by RiccardoDrigo. Luba Gulyaeva staged thepas de trois offering.

Man Sugawa and Kuei-HsienChu — he is a welcomed newcom-er to the company — dance beauti-fully as a Pas de Deux in "Le Cor-saire," which was inspired by apoem by Lord Byron about a

princess and a pirate shipwreckedon a desert island. Choreography isafter Marius Petipa with music byRiccardo Drigo.

"Para Dois," delightfully dancedby Ana Luiza Luizi and Junio Teix-eira, was choreographed by CriniaHelena and Teixeira, with music byTom Ze and costumes by Paul H.McRae.

In the second part of the pro-gram, the ever popular "Esmeral-ihi." .1 P.is de Sk. JJl'ihrai 11K-

Kean audience with dancers Ekate-rina Smurova, Sergio Amarante,Sarah Pennie, Ana Luiza Luizi,Lands and Kit Nemecek. The cho-reography was by AgrippinaVaganova after Petipa with musicby Cesare Pugni and RiccardoDrigo.

The audience welcomed AndreiJouravlev, the tall, handsomeexpert dancer,, who paired withKerry Mara Cox in "Poco Adagio."It was choreographed by the SateGeorge Tornal with music fromSaint Saens, Symphony No. 3 andcostumes by Vasia Benusi. It has,been on television as part of theGovernor's Awards Program.

The classical "Grand Pas Clas-sique," was beautifully performedby Mari ^Sugawa and VladimirRoje. It was choreographed by Vic-tor GsoVsky with music by Fran-cois Auber and first-staged by theRoyal Ballet in .1963.

A worldwide audience favorite,"Flames of Paris," is set in the timeof the French Revolution. And howwonderful to see Kojima-Noa, themany faceted performer, performagain — this time with AlbertDavydov.

What makes the New JerseyBallet Co. so unique is that it hasvery little competition from theother national companies.

Thanks to its artistic director,Clark, it has everything for whichthe other ballet groups are known—- with a little something extra tostimulate the cultural aspects of itscompany, its performers and 'itsnppreeiarre audiences

UC artistic workersshow off paintingsNinth annual Union County artshow highlights employees' work

Since 2002, employees of theCounty of Union and their familieshave participated in a unique pro-gram that gives them the opportuni-ty to display their artistic creations.

"What a pleasure it is to see theoutstanding artwork done by UnionCounty employees and their fami-lies," said Freeholder Bette JaneKowalski, liaison to the Culturaland Heritage Programs AdvisoryBoard. "Whether it's people whohave exhibited before or newartists, the participants display awide variety of work that alwaysimpresses with its quality."

Entries will be accepted in thecategories of painting, photogra-phy, artworks on paper, sculptureand crafts.

Recognized artists and art pro-fessionals will serve as judges,selecting entrants for cash awardsand honorable mention in the exhi-bition's five artistic classifications:amateur, intermediate, profession-

al, teens 13 to 18 years old andyouths age 12 and under.

"We are happy to extend theinvitation to enter the program toUnion County College "employeesand tlieir relatives again this year,"said Freeholder Chairman Daniel P.Sulliyan.

"We share the goal of TheNational Arts Program to reach asmany people as possible of all ages,offering them a chance to displaytheir artistic talents in a pubjicexhibition," he added

The National Arts Program runs84 annual programs reaching 450cities in 44 states.

The National Arts Programallows ail artists to upload their art-work, free of charge, to their onlineInteractive Gallery.

To request a registration formand information, contact the UnionCounty Office of Cultural and Her-itage Affairs, 633 Pearl St., Eliza-beth, 908-558-2550.

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STATE'S TOP TRUMPETER — At the CentralJersey Music Educators Association SymphonicBand concert, Nate Figueroa, a sophomore atRahway High School was selected as one-of 15 ofthe best 100 trumpet players in the state. Af thehigh school, Nate performs in Marching Band,Wind Symphony and Jazz Ensemble.

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