Sixty students in the CityDance after-school ballet program completed the 2016-2017 school year May 18 with a recital at Belhaven University Center for the Arts. The five classes, under the direction of instructor Kathryn Wilson, presented selections from the Camille Saint-Saëns suite, Carnival of the Animals. Approximately 300 family members and friends attended. Sponsored […]
Daily meetings at American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey, Harlequin Floors and others—with nights at the Youth America Grand Prix New York Finals—all in preparation for the 2018 USA International Ballet Competition.
The USA International Ballet Competition CityDance program is completing its second year of a three-year grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson. Through the support of CFGJ and other grantors, including the Mississippi Arts Commission and Greater Jackson Arts Council, CityDance provides ballet instruction, dance wear and dance shoes to approximately 80 students from the Jackson Public Schools. […]
Thalia Mara, founder of the USA International Ballet Competition, was posthumously inducted into the Mississippi Innovators Hall of Fame in September 2016. Mara is the first individual from the arts to be inducted by Innovate Mississippi, a nonprofit organization with the mission to drive innovation and technology-based economic development in Mississippi. The Mississippi Innovators Hall of Fame, launched in 2008, celebrates and […]
The USA International Ballet Competition has been awarded a $26,100 grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC). This grant is a portion of the $1.5 million in grants the Commission will award in 2016-2017 and will be used to help with operating expenses for the USA IBC, designated the official international ballet competition within the United […]
Each time Nina Ananiashvili has appeared on the stage of Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson, Mississippi, she has been warmly welcomed by the ballet audience. Her first appearance was as a 23-year-old dancer participating in the 1986 USA International Ballet Competition. With her partner, Andris Liepa, she made history by being the first dancers from the former Soviet Union to compete in America. […]
“The Art of Dance,” a show by the Community Art Group of VSA Mississippi, continues to be on display in the Mississippi Arts Center through July 31. Dance-inspired art, including several pieces painted from photographs of competitors in the 2014 USA International Ballet Competition, is featured. The exhibit is a collaborative effort of VSA, the State Organization […]
The USA International Ballet Competition welcomes and respects the dignity of each dancer and visitor who participates in our quadrennial competition and other events. Distinguished by artistic excellence and integrity, the USA IBC is a great global gathering of people of different nationalities, cultures, religions, ages, races, sexual orientations, gender expressions, and abilities—brought together by […]
She would become one of the greatest prima ballerinas of all times, but even at age 23, when Nina Ananiashvili competed in Jackson, she set a mark few would reach in seven successive USA International Ballet Competitions. In commemoration of the 1986 USA IBC, which drew Ananiashvili, Andris Liepa and Vadim Pisarev as the first […]
Known throughout the ballet world for his contributions as a dancer, artistic director, choreographer and teacher, John Meehan will chair the jury for the 11th USA International Ballet Competition set for June 2018 in Jackson, Mississippi. “I am thrilled and honored to be invited to chair the jury,” said Meehan, who served on the 2010 […]