The South African Ballet Theatre's Outreach Project

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A ballet lesson held by the South African Ballet Theatre's Outreach Project

Disadvantaged dancers star in Cinderella The Roodepoort Youth Ballet is staging a production of Cinderella, in which six young dancers from disadvantaged communities will be given an opportunity to shine. May 18, 2006 By Ndaba Dlamini SIX young ballet dancers from previously disadvantaged communities will star in the Roodepoort Youth Ballet's upcoming production of Cinderella at the Pro Musica Theatre. Courtesy of a programme run by the South African Ballet Theatre (SABT) to reach out into the broader community, the six dancers will be joined by children from the theatre's Alexandra and Katlehong outreach programmes as well as by ballet students from the West Rand. The six - Tammy Higgins, Sanmarie Kreuzhuber, Thandumzi Moyakhe, Chase Bosch, Dion Page and Craig Arnolds - will share the leading roles in the production. It is being staged by the SABT's chief executive, Dirk Badenhorst, with choreography based on the version by Veronica Paeper, which centres on a lost shoe. In the production, a girl accidentally loses one of her brand-new shoes and a ravishing young man scours the country for it, finally reuniting shoe and owner. Badenhorst said productions like Cinderella provided an important platform for young dancers, giving the SABT's corps de ballet members the valuable experience of moving into the limelight by taking leading roles they would not normally dance on the professional SABT stage. The production also brought together dancers from diverse communities and ballet studios, honing the skills of all concerned in working within the wider dance community, he added. As part of its outreach programme, the SABT also conducts ballet classes in Roodepoort, Mamelodi and Eersterust, where ballet is taught to children by qualified dance teachers, free of charge. The aim of the outreach programme is to guide pupils in potential careers in dance and then to take them to a professional level, according to the theatre. They are also encouraged "to fuse and develop a new proudly South African dance identity by incorporating the ballet they are taught, traditional African dance learned at school and the other dance forms they are exposed to". To give leverage to the outreach programme, youth ballet companies have been established in North-West province and Roodepoort, with the aim of giving young dancers an opportunity to develop themselves as dancers further and to take part in professionally staged ballet productions. Cinderella will run from Friday, 19 May to Sunday, 21 May at 7pm. There will also be a matinee on Saturday, 20 May at 3pm. Tickets are R50 for adults and R35 for children and may be booked by telephoning Janette Coeztee on 082 442 6758. Block booking prices are also available. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za