Young Dancers Boost Velveteen Rabbit
Valley Academy students shine at PAC event

By Kara Patterson, The Post-Crescent, May 12, 2010

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In the touring ballet "The Velveteen Rabbit," that came to Appleton last Thursday, it was only fitting that youth helped to tell the beloved children's story of a boy's stuffed toy that wants to become real.

Fourteen girls ages 7-11 who study ballet at the Valley Academy for the Arts in Neenah performed as the children's dance chorus, or corps de ballet, for ODC/Dance San Francisco's production of "The Velveteen Rabbit" at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. They danced in the public performance Thursday and in two performances for schools on Friday.

Valley Academy for the Arts is not new to taking part in touring ballet productions at the PAC; dancers participated in "The Velveteen Rabbit" when it came to the PAC in April 2005.

For about two months, the girls learned about 16 short dances for the ballet. They also rehearsed with the professional dance company. Each girl performed in several different dances for an average of 10 to 15 minutes on stage using techniques typically reserved for older, more experienced dancers, said Anne Marie Abderholden, artistic director of Valley Academy for the Arts.

"It's actually modern ballet," Abderholden said. "They're looking at it as an awesome challenge. Modern dance is really more free, and you move your bodies in very different shapes than (classical) ballet, where everything is straight up and sideways and forward. In modern ballet they have to do circles with their bodies. We watched the whole ballet. They were just in awe of, 'Wow, that's what we're going to do.'"

The ballet, based on author Margery Williams' book of the same name, tells the tale of a Velveteen Rabbit, a special Christmas gift to a young Boy. While he waits in the nursery for the Boy to choose him as a playmate, the shy Rabbit befriends a Skin Horse, the wisest toy in the nursery, who tells him that toys can become real through a child's love. This becomes the Rabbit's wish.

The young dancers set the scenes throughout the ballet. They come to life as wrapping paper on Christmas morning when the Boy receives his presents. When the Boy becomes ill, they dance as nightmares.

Jessie Bittner, a fourth-grader at St. Margaret Mary School in Neenah, said she loves the stage at the PAC and gets excited every time she sees community advertisements for the ballet.

"Even though there are such short dances, it's an honor to be in it," said Bittner, 10. "There are all these brochures and it's like, 'That's what I'm in.'"

Kara Patterson: 920-993-1000, ext. 215, or kpatterson@postcrescent.com

 

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Valley Academy for the Arts, Inc., admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its administered programs. Valley Academy for the Arts is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and donations are tax exempt to the extent allowed by law.