Nutcracker Final.pdf - Fox Cities Performing Arts Center

Chicago, and Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. While
dancing with Makaroff Youth Ballet, she performed in
The Nutcracker, The Brementown Musicians,
Renderings and many others. Currently, Ashlee attends
Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, where
she pursues a degree in Dance as well as Biochemistry.
Her most recent performances include Mel
Tomlinson’s premier of Le Coeur de Ballet as well as a
premiere choreographed by Adam Hougland entitled,
Five Preludes. She is thrilled to return and perform The
Nutcracker with Makaroff Youth Ballet and hopes the
magical performance leaves the audience filled with
the joyful passion of the holiday season.
MJ MARSH (Herr Drosselmeyer) is
happy to be home. A native of
Appleton, he has been living in
Minneapolis for three years performing
with Bearded Men Improv and is a new
addition to Comedy Sportz Twin
Cities. He would like to thank the
Makaroff Youth Ballet for having him back to play one
of his favorite roles.
TERRY L. IRWIN (Grandfather) started his ballroom
dancing career as a dance instructor at Arthur Murray
Dance Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio 35 years ago and has
since developed numerous ballroom dancers into
national champions with whom he shares several titles.
Terry has been the principal choreographer for TC
Dance Club and the Dayton Arthur Murray Studio stage
productions for 16 years. Terry has also choreographed
and performed in Bob Hopes’ last U.S. Tour, as well as
several Miss America Pageants, and the Franki Valli and
the Four Seasons Tour. Terry owns and operates TC
Dance Club in Appleton.
JUANITA MAKAROFF (Grandmother), along with her
husband Nikolai, taught ballet in the Fox Cities
beginning in 1960. She directed the Children’s Ballet
Theatre which became the precursor to the Makaroff
Youth Ballet. Many of their students and subsequent
company members continued to dance with
companies throughout the United States and the
world. Since 2003, the company is now in the capable
hands of their daughter Jeanette who had returned
after many years of dancing with the North Carolina
Dance Theater and the Milwaukee Ballet Company as
soloist, ballet mistress and teacher.
CREATIVE TEAM
JEANETTE MAKAROFF (Choreographer) is the
artistic director of the Makaroff Youth Ballet and the
director of the Makaroff School of Ballet. Since
returning to Appleton in 2000, she has enhanced
Makaroff Youth Ballet’s visibility by adding two
productions each year, the Holiday Concert and Spring
Concert. She has choreographed more than two dozen
new ballets into the repertoire, in addition to
continuing small company appearances through
lecture demonstrations, mini concerts, parades and
collaborations with other Fox Valley arts organizations.
Makaroff received her training at the North Carolina
School of the Arts and at the School of American Ballet
18h
in New York City. For four years she danced and toured
the United States extensively with the North Carolina
Dance Theatre performing works by such notable and
diverse choreographers as Petipa, Balanchine, Tudor,
Vesak, Aiello, Limon, Ailey, DeMille, to name only a
few. In 1979, she joined the Milwaukee Ballet where she
worked for over twenty years as soloist, ballet mistress
and teacher. Jeanette is also a guest teacher at the
Renaissance School for the Arts in Appleton.
BRIAN GRONER (Music Director) Brian Groner has
been the music director of the Fox Valley Symphony
since 1995. He also serves as music director for the
Harper Symphony, and since 1993, has been the
conductor of the Symphony Session at the Birch Creek
Music Center in Door County, Wisconsin. He holds an
advanced degree in conducting from Northern Illinois
University in collaboration with Northwestern
University. His concerts have been broadcast via
satellite, by National Public Radio, in over 50 major
radio markets across the nation. He has also conducted
the world premiers of over twenty substantial new
American compositions.
MAKAROFF YOUTH BALLET
Makaroff Youth Ballet (MYB) is a nonprofit youth
ballet company serving the people of the Fox Valley and
surrounding communities. Its mission is to make the
fine art of ballet performance accessible to the
community through its talented young dancers.
MYB is comprised of dedicated young dancers from
the Fox Valley and surrounding communities. Its
focus is to provide its dancers with superior ballet
training and pre-professional performance experience.
By doing so, they also provide the public with the
wonderful opportunity to see youth in high quality
and unique performances.
The young dancers in this performance appear
courtesy of Makaroff School of Ballet. They are
aspiring to become members of MYB. The adult
performers appear courtesy of the Makaroff School of
Ballet and TC Dance Studio.
FOX CITIES PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization located in downtown Appleton,
provides a premier venue for live performing arts. Since
2002, the Center has proudly served as a gathering place
for the community to engage in educational
opportunities while enhancing a greater understanding
and appreciation of the live performing arts. The
2012/13 Season marks the Center’s 10th Anniversary.
For more information on upcoming performances,
programs and 10th Anniversary celebrations, visit
foxcitiespac.com. The Fox Cities Performing Arts
Center – Where the Arts Come Alive!
* Leta Biasucci and Kyle Davis appear courtesy of
Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Headshots courtesy of Angela Sterling and Bob Rueckl
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center stage personnel
provided by I.A.T.S.E. Local #470.
continued on pg. 26a