Arabesque aplenty for JYB
JOHANNESBURG – Young ballet dancers celebrate 40 years of the Johannesburg Youth Ballet through dance.
This year, the Johannesburg Youth Ballet celebrates 40 years of captivating pirouettes by sensational ballet dancers.
Daniella Meunier (17) and Amy Todd (17) are local dancers with the company and have practically danced all their lives.
They explained why ballet will always have a special place in their hearts.
Meunier, a pupil at the National School of the Arts and a dancer for Joburg Ballet, said that she has been dancing for the past 13 years. The Cresta resident said that when she was younger, she would accompany her aunt to pilates classes. At the same studio, ballet dancers would hold their practice and she would watch them move gracefully with the hope that one day she would be just like them. “From then on I knew I wanted to dance,” she said.
“There’s lots of music in ballet and through it, you can get into character – it has a lot of the arts incorporated into one thing and another great thing is that you can do ballet to any sort of music.”
Todd, a Blairgowrie resident, explained that she started ballet as a way to avoid doing swimming as an extra-mural when she was in primary school.
What she loves most about the art form, is that she gets to perform on stage. “On stage, I become a completely different person.”
She added that the stage gives her the ability to set herself free and, through it, she finds new ways to surprise herself.
Through her many years of dance, she has played various roles and she said that one of her most loved roles was Sassy Cat in Peter and the Wolf. “I am very shy, so this role really made me come out of my shell and I really loved that.”
The plié queens are currently in rehearsal for Johannesburg Youth Ballet’s gala opening of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Both ballerinas said they feel very proud to be part of a young ensemble of dancers who will celebrate the ballet company’s 40 years of great ballet.
The celebration will be held at the Joburg Theatre on 14 to 16 October.
Details: Johannesburg Youth Ballet, devar@iafrica.com or 011 325 4475; 082 600 6739.
