(Photo by Allison Mayer)
By Sophie Pappas
Carmel-based, Central Indiana Dance Ensemble, celebrated its 15th anniversary last week with quite an honor. The pre-professional ballet company was been chosen by the Gerald Arpino and Robert Joffery Foundation to perform a special ballet, Birthday Variations.
This is a great honor and the first time an Indianapolis-area ballet company has been recognized by the prestigious foundation. A choreographer from the Joffery Ballet came to town to teach the piece to the local students.
Artistic director of CIDE, Suzann DeLay, was present in the rehearsals.
“We are thrilled to have received this incredible honor, and it’s a privilege to be able to perform this beautiful piece during our fifteenth season,” she said.
Kim Sagami, a former Joffrey dancer and secretary of Arpino Joffrey Foundation, worked with CIDE’s senior company last week as well.
Birthday Variations is a classical work commissioned by Becky D’Angelo as a birthday present to her husband. This piece was first performed in 1986 and features six dancers, with the five female dancers representing the five women in his life.
Birthday Variations will be performed at CIDE’s Mixed Rep production in March at The Tarkington – Center for the Performing Arts. Season tickets are now on sale for CIDE’s fifteenth anniversary season, which includes two full-length ballets, The Nutcracker and Cinderella, and a repertoire performance, Mixed Rep. For more information on season tickets, visit cidedance.org or call 844-7453.
