Light on their feet
Young dancers step into summer recital season
Dance recital season, usually between April and June, is big business. With an estimated 100 studios located in Western Pennsylvania, thousands of teachers and students are busy these days perfecting routines.
The recital is a process that often begins the previous year with planning a theme, choosing music, creating choreography, ordering costumes, making props, designing lighting and special effects and printing programs.
Tammy Croftcheck of Cranberry, coowner of Studio 19 Dance Complex in Mars, said her school’s current recital theme, “Far Out East,” was inspired by a golf course display that she saw in Ocean City last summer. Still, she shrugs off the idea of the recital as the be-all-and-end-all preparation; it’s just a small part of her business, she said, something that runs year round with competitions and other special projects.
She said she will be taking a contingent of students with 250 routines, from solos to ensembles, to a competition in Myrtle Beach in July.
Pittsburgh Ballet House director Kwang Suk Choi starts thinking about the recital while his students are performing their annual “Nutcracker” in December. Mr. Choi is well known as a principal dancer at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, as well an adjunct faculty member at Point Park University and director of the Seneca Valley Performing Arts program.
Both dance schools are located in the North Hills just about a 15-minute drive apart. But they are different in a number of ways. Mr. Choi is strictly classical ballet, with an emphasis on precise technique, and he also provides classes in tap and jazz.
Ms. Croftcheck’s students get a blend of ballet, jazz, tap and acrobatics, with what she called an “old school” approach that has sent many students on to perform with the likes of Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber and Pink and appearances in Hugh Jackman’s “The Greatest Showman” and Steve Harvey’s “Little Big Shots.” Her choreography has been seen with on videos with Jackie Evancho and Judge Judy, among others.
Pittsburgh Ballet House is located in a second-story suite at 8001 Rowan Drive, neighbor to an insurance agency, financial advisers and a chiropractor. In keeping with the surrounding professionals, there are two classrooms, neat and quiet. In keeping with that, Mr. Choi notes,” We try to give our students a professional company feeling.”
Studio 19 is tucked away off Route 228. Resembling a big red barn, the studio’s high pink walls dominate the entrance. It has five studios, a Wall of Fame paying tribute to its successful alumni and its own food court.
They may have different concentrations, but both studiosare highly successful.
Studio 19 boasts posters declaring “National Champions” for 2014 through 2017. Ballet House competes as well, but only in Youth American Grand Prix and USA International Ballet Competition, two of the largest and most respected international ballet competitions, where Mr. Choi has produced the most local winners over the past several years.
Named Outstanding Teacher the past several years with wife Sae Young Kang, he has sent Veridy Treu, currently studying at American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, and Emma Topolova of Upper St. Clair, who this year caused a bidding war for scholarships among The Royal Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, the Houston Ballet and others.
Ms. Topolova played the title role of Coppelia in PBH’s production of “Coppelia” this year at Seneca Valley Intermediate High School, where 150 students performed nine short routines, then participated in the restructured ballet using Delibes’ original music.
Studio 19’s “Far Out East,” has a full set with dragon fans, props like oriental ribbon and umbrellas for a recital that features the non-competitive students. With 300 dancers, 130 of them competitive, she gets both custom-made and costumes from catalogs and uses a Tennessee company that provides custom musical arrangements.
Pittsburgh Ballet House parents also purchase their own costumes, but the “Coppelia” scenery was designed by a parent years ago and kept in a storage facility. Both schools will use the lighting crew at their respective schools and are waiting for the arrival of the programs, which often look like a magazine.
Even with extensive practice and staff and parents helping out, the experienced owners still worry that something might go wrong during recital, such as a lighting issue, a musical glitch or a costume malfunction.
Even after years in the business, both dance experts stress that they still take, what Mr. Choi called a “responsibility,” seriously atrecital season and always.