As the opening movements of a decade-and-a-half tradition, the curtain will rise and stage snow will fall next week for the River City Youth Ballet Ensemble's annual holiday ballet showcase, "The Snow Queen."
That stage curtain will ascend at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, at the West Virginia Culture Center in the state Capitol Complex in Charleston. General admission tickets are $15 for the performance. They can be purchased at the door.
Clendenin native Michelle Raider-Simon founded the RCYBE in 1989, and she continues to serve as its director and an instructor at the Kanawha City studios. She developed and nurtured the ballet company's signature "The Snow Queen" approximately 15 years ago.
"We're always looking for new, original ballets to do," Raider-Simon said, "and we try to gear our shows for the whole family. At the time, around 2007, one of the board members, the late Dr. Jim Hissom, suggested, 'What about 'The Snow Queen'?"
After delving into the 1844 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, Raider-Simon drew up a storyboard for a balletic version for her charges. "I used some different ballets and music to go along with it. Dr. Hissom came up with the narrative," she said.
Brother and sister Gerda and Kai are the primary characters in "The Snow Queen," she explained. "The story is told through an older version of Kai, who is reflecting on the story of the Snow Queen."
Bella Bowen, 15, will dance the titular role of "The Snow Queen," having worked her way through the balletic ranks of the holiday production. While "snowflake" has acquired a derogatory meaning in the contemporary parlance of snark, it was Bella's first step, so to speak, on stage in becoming this year's "Snow Queen" prima ballerina.
A Herbert Hoover High School student, Bowen has studied dance for 12 years, the last nine of them with the RCYBE. "My very first production with River City was 'The Snow Queen,'" the Elkview resident recounted. "In fact, I was the Baby Snowflake. Now that I'm the Snow Queen, it's like déjà vu watching the little kids. It's been really awesome to watch."
George Washington High School student Angela Magee has danced with the RCYBE for 12 years, beginning when she was 3. She'll play Gerda, the Snow Queen's adversary of sorts, she explained, having danced other roles each year.
"Basically, Gerda has this friend that the Snow Queen takes to build her castle. And then she goes on a hunt for him and her memory gets taken. Eventually, she is reminded of him and she finds him in her castle," the 15-year-old said.
"Angela and I battle it out," Bowen interjected, a laugh punctuating her statement.
"Eventually, she gets her wall built and she's happy and she lets Kai, the guy in the production, go -- and it's happily ever after!" Magee then declared (revealing major spoilers in the process).
While he's not a member of the RCYBE, Capital High School student Isaiah Canterbury will portray Kai this year. Raider-Simon had worked with him during a CHS stage production of "Elf" earlier this year and offered him the role.
Along with multiple rehearsals every week that began in mid-August, Bowen, Magee and their "Snow Queen" troupe of approximately 60 dancers attend their other RCYBE classes diligently; Bowen and Magee are taking contemporary dance lessons this semester.
"It's a lot of practice on your own, too, just to make sure you know what you're doing before you go out on stage," Bowen said of her "Snow Queen" preparation.
On becoming the 2022 Snow Queen, she said, "I've studied dance all these years and kind of worked my way up the ladder. Miss Michelle tells us what show we're doing, and we get a general idea of the characters, storyline and all that. Usually about a month after she tells us, she releases a cast list."
The show is shored by a longtime cast member bond and kinship, they said, that makes all of their sweat equity in the studios well worth it.
"Pretty much everyone in our company has come up together," Bowen said.
"We're all around the same age, and some of us go to school together," Magee added.
The dancers are also galvanized by the prospect of performing again in front of a live audience after two years of pandemic-mandated pre-emptions, postponements and venue pivots.
"Last year, we did 'Sleeping Beauty' and our 25th-anniversary show, but we still had all of the COVID protocols, so we weren't fully back, but this is the first show where we're back on the full stage," Magee said.
"Coming out of the pandemic, we thought it would be good to have the girls work on something that would give them something to grow into," Raider-Simon said. "It's something we've had so much fun with for several years.
"It's a great story. Even though it's not necessarily a holiday story, it has sort of a holiday feel to it," she added.
RCYBE dance instructor Meghan Wood has come full circle (or pirouette, perhaps more appropriately?) with "The Snow Queen." She started her dance training at the River City Youth Ballet Ensemble in 2002 (she played Gerda one year), continued taking classes and joined the faculty 15 years later.
"I've been in every performance we've done of 'The Snow Queen,' since I was 8," the Marmet resident said as she prepared to teach a group of younger children -- her specialty set at the studio -- earlier this month. "I'm working with the younger group, the Snowflakes. They're the 7- and 8-year-olds in the performance this year.
"There are a lot of rehearsals. We rehearse at least four days a week on the show. That varies, from the younger kids up to the lead parts," Wood said.
The "Snow Queen" dancers range in age from 6 to 18, she said, and each year's production is a one-of-a-kind experience for her. "Every kid's different that you work with. They change it up, so it's always fun, seeing their different takes on it. And getting the younger kids into the theater and seeing their excitement is great, because, for some of the girls, this will be the first time they're actually on a stage. They're excited because they've never been involved in something like this."
Wood shares some of that stage anticipation, she confessed. "Personally, I wish I could get back out there and do it again. I had a lot of fun doing that first show. It's my favorite show we've ever done at River City. It's unique, because Michelle choreographed it and put it together completely on her own. The music is actually from the ballet 'Cinderella' that she's turned and cut and made it her own. You're not going to be able to see this show, really, anywhere else."
"We don't do specific auditions for 'The Snow Queen,'" Raider-Simon said. "We have the kids re-audition every year for their class placements, though. It's good for them to have the audition process, which they'll have to do later on if they study dance in college or audition for summer programs.
"I really enjoy watching the kids grow through the whole process. It's always a rewarding process, looking back and seeing what the girls that have been in the show have accomplished, where they are now and where they started," she said.
While "The Snow Queen" represents the youth ballet troupe's staple holiday season program, the dancers are active performing or practicing during the entire year. As a current example, the RCYBE dancers are scheduled to take classes this weekend with Dance West Virginia instructors.
They will also be joined by members of the Appalachian Children’s Chorus and the University of Charleston Chorus, Band and Dance Team on stage for an “Evening on Broadway” performance on Feb. 17 at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The RCYBE dancers have partnered with the UC Dance Team and the Drug Enforcement Administration Foundation in the past couple of years to present entertainment and educational programs, which include dance classes, to at-risk youth groups throughout the Kanawha Valley.
"We went to the library, also, and a lot of kids were there. I think it's nice for kids to be able to see how we dance and maybe encourage those kids to get into something like this," Magee said.
"Usually in December, we're in the Christmas parade," Bowen said. "That's just fun!"
Typically, the RCYBE's fall dance classes get underway every year in mid- to late August, with curricula ranging from pre-school to pre-professional levels and skill sets.
For more than 10 years, Raider-Simon has produced satellite dance classes for Clendenin area dancers. "We're now working on getting classes started again in Clendenin this fall," she said. "I got the West Virginia Youth Symphony to start offering workshops there. I believe they're taking this year off, but we're planning on restarting those next season. I'm trying to get some other youth groups to do some workshops out there, hopefully, like the Appalachian Children's Chorus and the Children's Theatre of Charleston."
The RCYBE and its School of Dance are located at 4110 MacCorkle Ave., S.E., in Kanawha City. For further information about the troupe and its programs and classes in Kanawha City and Clendenin, call 304-925-3262, send email correspondence to rcybe@aol.com or, online, visit the website, rcyb.org, or the RCYBE's Facebook page.
That stage curtain will ascend at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, at the West Virginia Culture Center in the state Capitol Complex in Charleston. General admission tickets are $15 for the performance. They can be purchased at the door.
Clendenin native Michelle Raider-Simon founded the RCYBE in 1989, and she continues to serve as its director and an instructor at the Kanawha City studios. She developed and nurtured the ballet company's signature "The Snow Queen" approximately 15 years ago.
"We're always looking for new, original ballets to do," Raider-Simon said, "and we try to gear our shows for the whole family. At the time, around 2007, one of the board members, the late Dr. Jim Hissom, suggested, 'What about 'The Snow Queen'?"
After delving into the 1844 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, Raider-Simon drew up a storyboard for a balletic version for her charges. "I used some different ballets and music to go along with it. Dr. Hissom came up with the narrative," she said.
Brother and sister Gerda and Kai are the primary characters in "The Snow Queen," she explained. "The story is told through an older version of Kai, who is reflecting on the story of the Snow Queen."
Bella Bowen, 15, will dance the titular role of "The Snow Queen," having worked her way through the balletic ranks of the holiday production. While "snowflake" has acquired a derogatory meaning in the contemporary parlance of snark, it was Bella's first step, so to speak, on stage in becoming this year's "Snow Queen" prima ballerina.
A Herbert Hoover High School student, Bowen has studied dance for 12 years, the last nine of them with the RCYBE. "My very first production with River City was 'The Snow Queen,'" the Elkview resident recounted. "In fact, I was the Baby Snowflake. Now that I'm the Snow Queen, it's like déjà vu watching the little kids. It's been really awesome to watch."
George Washington High School student Angela Magee has danced with the RCYBE for 12 years, beginning when she was 3. She'll play Gerda, the Snow Queen's adversary of sorts, she explained, having danced other roles each year.
"Basically, Gerda has this friend that the Snow Queen takes to build her castle. And then she goes on a hunt for him and her memory gets taken. Eventually, she is reminded of him and she finds him in her castle," the 15-year-old said.
"Angela and I battle it out," Bowen interjected, a laugh punctuating her statement.
"Eventually, she gets her wall built and she's happy and she lets Kai, the guy in the production, go -- and it's happily ever after!" Magee then declared (revealing major spoilers in the process).
While he's not a member of the RCYBE, Capital High School student Isaiah Canterbury will portray Kai this year. Raider-Simon had worked with him during a CHS stage production of "Elf" earlier this year and offered him the role.
Along with multiple rehearsals every week that began in mid-August, Bowen, Magee and their "Snow Queen" troupe of approximately 60 dancers attend their other RCYBE classes diligently; Bowen and Magee are taking contemporary dance lessons this semester.
"It's a lot of practice on your own, too, just to make sure you know what you're doing before you go out on stage," Bowen said of her "Snow Queen" preparation.
On becoming the 2022 Snow Queen, she said, "I've studied dance all these years and kind of worked my way up the ladder. Miss Michelle tells us what show we're doing, and we get a general idea of the characters, storyline and all that. Usually about a month after she tells us, she releases a cast list."
The show is shored by a longtime cast member bond and kinship, they said, that makes all of their sweat equity in the studios well worth it.
"Pretty much everyone in our company has come up together," Bowen said.
"We're all around the same age, and some of us go to school together," Magee added.
The dancers are also galvanized by the prospect of performing again in front of a live audience after two years of pandemic-mandated pre-emptions, postponements and venue pivots.
"Last year, we did 'Sleeping Beauty' and our 25th-anniversary show, but we still had all of the COVID protocols, so we weren't fully back, but this is the first show where we're back on the full stage," Magee said.
"Coming out of the pandemic, we thought it would be good to have the girls work on something that would give them something to grow into," Raider-Simon said. "It's something we've had so much fun with for several years.
"It's a great story. Even though it's not necessarily a holiday story, it has sort of a holiday feel to it," she added.
RCYBE dance instructor Meghan Wood has come full circle (or pirouette, perhaps more appropriately?) with "The Snow Queen." She started her dance training at the River City Youth Ballet Ensemble in 2002 (she played Gerda one year), continued taking classes and joined the faculty 15 years later.
"I've been in every performance we've done of 'The Snow Queen,' since I was 8," the Marmet resident said as she prepared to teach a group of younger children -- her specialty set at the studio -- earlier this month. "I'm working with the younger group, the Snowflakes. They're the 7- and 8-year-olds in the performance this year.
"There are a lot of rehearsals. We rehearse at least four days a week on the show. That varies, from the younger kids up to the lead parts," Wood said.
The "Snow Queen" dancers range in age from 6 to 18, she said, and each year's production is a one-of-a-kind experience for her. "Every kid's different that you work with. They change it up, so it's always fun, seeing their different takes on it. And getting the younger kids into the theater and seeing their excitement is great, because, for some of the girls, this will be the first time they're actually on a stage. They're excited because they've never been involved in something like this."
Wood shares some of that stage anticipation, she confessed. "Personally, I wish I could get back out there and do it again. I had a lot of fun doing that first show. It's my favorite show we've ever done at River City. It's unique, because Michelle choreographed it and put it together completely on her own. The music is actually from the ballet 'Cinderella' that she's turned and cut and made it her own. You're not going to be able to see this show, really, anywhere else."
"We don't do specific auditions for 'The Snow Queen,'" Raider-Simon said. "We have the kids re-audition every year for their class placements, though. It's good for them to have the audition process, which they'll have to do later on if they study dance in college or audition for summer programs.
"I really enjoy watching the kids grow through the whole process. It's always a rewarding process, looking back and seeing what the girls that have been in the show have accomplished, where they are now and where they started," she said.
While "The Snow Queen" represents the youth ballet troupe's staple holiday season program, the dancers are active performing or practicing during the entire year. As a current example, the RCYBE dancers are scheduled to take classes this weekend with Dance West Virginia instructors.
They will also be joined by members of the Appalachian Children’s Chorus and the University of Charleston Chorus, Band and Dance Team on stage for an “Evening on Broadway” performance on Feb. 17 at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The RCYBE dancers have partnered with the UC Dance Team and the Drug Enforcement Administration Foundation in the past couple of years to present entertainment and educational programs, which include dance classes, to at-risk youth groups throughout the Kanawha Valley.
"We went to the library, also, and a lot of kids were there. I think it's nice for kids to be able to see how we dance and maybe encourage those kids to get into something like this," Magee said.
"Usually in December, we're in the Christmas parade," Bowen said. "That's just fun!"
Typically, the RCYBE's fall dance classes get underway every year in mid- to late August, with curricula ranging from pre-school to pre-professional levels and skill sets.
For more than 10 years, Raider-Simon has produced satellite dance classes for Clendenin area dancers. "We're now working on getting classes started again in Clendenin this fall," she said. "I got the West Virginia Youth Symphony to start offering workshops there. I believe they're taking this year off, but we're planning on restarting those next season. I'm trying to get some other youth groups to do some workshops out there, hopefully, like the Appalachian Children's Chorus and the Children's Theatre of Charleston."
The RCYBE and its School of Dance are located at 4110 MacCorkle Ave., S.E., in Kanawha City. For further information about the troupe and its programs and classes in Kanawha City and Clendenin, call 304-925-3262, send email correspondence to rcybe@aol.com or, online, visit the website, rcyb.org, or the RCYBE's Facebook page.
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