Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

August 29, 2007
The Alabama Youth Ballet Company Kicks Off 2007-2008 Season
The Alabama Youth Ballet Company, Pelham and Shelby County's only
pre-professional youth ballet program, will kick off it's 2007-2008 season
beginning with auditions on Saturday, September 8 at Stevan Grebel Center
for Dance, just off Pelham Parkway. The Friends of the Youth Ballet will host
a party for the new company members and sponsors on Sunday, September
16. The most important prerequisite to become a company member is a love
for dance and a desire to learn. All applicants willing to commit will be
accepted. Applicants for the Senior Company (ages 11 & up on pointe) will
audition from 11:00am - 1:00pm. Junior Company applicants (ages 8 & up)
will audition from 1:00pm-2:00pm. During the year, some scholarships will be
available to selected company members for dance classes through the Ted
Haddin YB Scholars Program offered through Grebel Dance. The program
invites sponsors to help fund scholarships as well as productions.
Businesses as well as individuals are invited to participate. All performances
are at Pelham High School. The company plans to perform the Star Concert
Performances on October 13 and March 2, The Nutcracker - Kingdom of the
Sweets on December 15 and 16, and the Spring Dance Concert on May 11.
Nutcracker community cast auditions will be September 15 at Grebel Dance
from 11am-3pm.
Mission
The Alabama Youth Ballet is the performing wing of The Stevan Grebel
Center for Dance. It offers dance students the opportunity to train and
perform with Directors Stevan and Deborah Grebel(who have been residents
of Pelham for 22 years) through high-quality classes and featuring classical
and contemporary ballet performances. It has grown out of a desire and a
vision to contribute and promote dance education through performances and
community outreach in the Shelby County area as well as throughout the
state of Alabama. Company auditions for the Alabama Youth Ballet are for
dancers ages 12 and up for senior company and 8 to 12 for junior company.
Company members are chosen by commitment level, rather than ability. At
times, professional guest artists are invited. All members perform in a
pre-professional company, which adheres to the finest standards, where the
students learn to work as a part of a team, as well as discovering their utmost
potential as individuals. They learn, and prepare for all aspects of dance
company involvement, including: how to audition, professional attitudes and
etiquette, how to dress, apply make-up, as well as stagecraft. There will be a
commitment for involvement: time committal including classes, rehearsals,
stage preparation; and the ability to follow directions, along with
self-discipline. It is the mission of the Grebels that The Alabama Youth Ballet
will offer young dance students the ability to grow and to learn in a positive,
self-fulfilling, and disciplined atmosphere that will enhance their self-esteem
and build a knowledge of the world of professional dance - in the classroom
and on the stage.
Further
The Alabama Youth Ballet performed for the Fort Payne schools in May 2007,
and will continue to offer educational and artistic performances in 2008.
Students of the Alabama Youth Ballet Company have gone on to study and
dance at Alabama School of Fine Arts, Alabama Ballet, Birmingham Ballet,
Montgomery Ballet, Birmingham-Southern College Repertory Dance Theatre,
University of Alabama Repertory Dance, Kirov Ballet Academy in Washington,
D.C., New York City Ballet, Julliard, ABT, Joffrey Ballet, Hungarian Ballet
School, L'ecole de Danse Superiere in Cannes, well as other acclaimed
programs in the United States and Europe. Members of the company of
2006-2007 traveled abroad to study ballet this past July in former Yugoslavia
(Serbia) at the Novi-Sad Ballet in the School of Fine Arts.

For more information: 987-7234 or www.grebeldance.com and
www.alabamayouthballetcompany.com.