BALLET AND
ACROBATICS COMBINE AT NATIONAL THEATRE
Promising a ‘Dance
Extravaganza’, this coming Saturday, March 13th at noon, dancers
from both the Ballet Kenya Studio and the Sarakasi Trust will combine ballet
and acrobatics at Kenya National Theatre.
Like all
performing artists worldwide, Kenyan dance companies have also been hit hard,
says BKS artistic director and founder, Charmaine Smith.
“Before
COVID, we were working with 60 young dancers. Now we will have just 18
performing in ballet numbers that I have choreographed,” the former ballerina adds.
Sarakasi’s
choreographers, Oscar Mwalo and Aggie the Dance Queen have only been working
with nine agile acrobatic dancers since their numbers have also been affected
by the pandemic. Nonetheless, the nine have been working hard and look forward
to Saturday’s combined performance.
The idea of
combining ballet and acrobats is one proposed to Ms. Smith by Sarakasi’s
managing director Marion. Smith who has kept a relatively low profile since she
came to Kenya from South Africa in 2010 and opened her ballet studio in 2011,
saw the suggestion as a good challenge for her young dancers.
All COVID-19
health protocols will be followed, says Ms. Smith whose studio also teaches
contemporary jazz as well as classical ballet.
“I teach from the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus in UK, and as soon as COVID restrictions are lifted, the Academy will be sending an Examiner to Kenya to examine our students,” she says. “I trust they will all pass.”
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