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Art for the Arts: Missouri River Dance Co. combines art with ballet in magical production
November 08, 2011
GREAT FALLS - A spell is cast over Great Falls each year when the art of ballet merges with fine art.
The Missouri River Dance Company's vision to raise the awareness and presence of the fine arts throughout Montana burgeons with an event headlined, "Art for the Arts," in which some of the region's finest artists show work inspired by dancers from the city's ballet school.
Each artist synthesizes the classical tradition of ballet with his or her personal nuance of illumination, form, shadow, color and media. One artist portrays the poetry of classical glissades and pirouettes as another strips away the illusion to illustrate the fatigue, the waiting, or stretching at the barre.
Backstage an anxious mother urges a tiny ballerina with innocent cherubic rouged cheeks from the dressing room. A father fingers the worn toe shoes deposited in his keeping. The teenage ballerina in the wings pins a bell to the costume of a younger, painted dancer. These are images only another artist would find in a world of tights, tulle, and slightly faded pink satin ballet shoes. Through the eyes of an artist, the customs and shadows are disclosed to give a profound understanding and appreciation for the art of ballet.
Ballerina Angelie Melzer founded the pre-professional dance company when her search for a ballet company upon moving to Great Falls came up empty. With high standards and a strong vision, she approached the executive director of the local ballet school, Dugan Coburn, with the idea of a non-profit, pre-professional dance company. She became the artistic director and as a team they made her passion happen.
As a team, Melzer, Dugan and his wife, Dr. Vicki Chapman, had a vision to elevate all the arts in the area by joining forces in one gala event. Thus began the fascinating story of collaboration between the visual arts and performing arts.
This year, that collaboration will take place May 13, 2006, when "Paquita" will be performed in the Mansfield Theatre of the Great Falls Civic Center.
The idea came to fruition through the creativity and determination of artist and mother of two dancers, Laurie Stevens. She had an image and gave it form, developing the concept into a significant event. Stevens contacted some of the finest artists in the region to create pieces using dancers as models.
Stevens arranged a photo session at the dance studio for the artists to observe, sketch and photograph the dancers. "In the beginning the teachers were trying to get everyone to do their routines and do things on the barre and be synchronized and pose where everything was symmetrical, Stevens said. The artists lost interest right away. They were all looking at the kids in the corner who were talking, or playing with the props, or practicing. They wanted the impromptu, the emotional things going on in the room. "They didn't want anything to do with all that regimented, synchronized stuff," Stevens said.
Two weeks before the production, local Gallery 16 donates space for the paintings to be displayed. The art is moved to the Great Falls Civic Center the night of the ballet where some 24 artists display approximately ninety pieces. Since 2003 Art for the Arts has had a favorable outcome for the artists and the Missouri River Dance Company. Last year $30,000 of art was sold, netting the dance company $10,000.
Melzer moved from Great Falls in the spring of 2005 after the stunning Lewis and Clark ballet, "A Tremendous Journey." The ballet became a celebration of cultural and artistic diversity when the renowned Great Falls Symphony Orchestra, Indian dancers and drummers performed with the ballet. The packed Great Falls Civic Center was drawn into the emotionally charged story and the crowd thundered its appreciation at the end. Then, as if the senses had not been filled enough, the crowd moved from the auditorium to the art show to view and bid on an amazing collection of art and mingle with the artists and dancers - a fitting culmination of an extraordinary event.
Another leap for the dance company has been finding a new artistic director, master teacher and choreographer with high professional credentials. Montana native Sallyanne Mulcahy left the state for a professional career in the ballet field but returned with a dream to start a professional dance company in Montana. Professional dancers followed her back and have flowed in and out of the state performing with the company she created in Helena, Artisan and Dance. "The creative possibilities are endless," she says.
Participating artists in the annual "Art for the Arts" ballet and showing are Carolyn Anderson, Amy Archer, Bye Bitney, Jackie Larson Bread, Gloria D, David Dragonfly, Dudley Dana, Tom English, Charles Fulcher, R. Tom Gilleon, Frank Hagel, Phil Korell, Jay Laber, Valentina Lapier, Christine McKay, Jolene Monheim, Laurie Stevens, Steve Oiestad, Jerry Painter, Bob Phinney, Sheila Rieman, David Sanford, Tom Saubert, Debi Schmit, Steve Seltzer and Ron Ukrainetz.
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