OP_070519

OPPrairie.com life & arts
the orland park prairie | July 5, 2019 | 13
Ballet 5:8, OPPL team up to
promote reading and dance
Bringing the six-strings
Strung Out plays Crescent Park for
Village’s outdoor concert series
Mary Compton
Freelance Reporter
The children surrounded
two adult ballerinas
— one dressed in a
lime green tutu, the other
bright pink. With a crown
of golden leaves they
wore as tiaras, both were
excited to share a form of
dance while reading children
a story of ballet in
“Angelina Ballerina.”
“Our summer reading
theme this year is ‘It’s
Showtime at Your Library,”
said Brandi Smits,
the youth services manager.
“I wanted to incorporate
some programs that
had a performance theme
to it. I thought this would
be perfect for the summer.”
Abi Gardner, of Ballet
5:8 School of the Arts,
contacted Smits to bring
ballet to the library.
“We are a professional
company, so we have dancers
that tour, and also we
do a lot of shows in Chicago,”
Gardner explained.
“We enjoy doing outreach
performances like we did
today at the library.”
The other ballerina,
Olivia Kruse, said she
enjoyed every minute of
sharing her love not only
for ballet but also for reading.
“It’s great to make
dance accessible to everyone”
Kruse said. “Sometimes,
it’s hard to find new
students. Coming to the
library where everyone is
welcome, it gives us the
opportunity to show families
who have never taken
a dance class before — try
Olivia Kruse, a ballerina from Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts in Orland Park, stopped
by Orland Park Public Library on June 25 to read to children during the Books and
Ballerinas program. Photos by Mary Compton/22nd Century Media
new things.”
Ilona Kudirka, 11, of
Orland Park, was one the
oldest children who took
part June 25 in Books and
Ballerinas at the library,
dancing with scarves and
listening to the stories.
“It was fun,” Kurdirka
said. “I liked learning the
different ballet positions.
My favorite was the running
steps.”
“This will be a program
we will repeat,” Smits
said. “This was wonderful,
and having the Summer
Reading Program
connection once a year
promotes reading of our
ballet books.”
The Orland Park library
Samantha Groth, 3, of Orland Park, smiles while
learning her ballet steps at the Orland Park Public
Library.
is again to hold the class
at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July
29. Limit for the program
is 20.
For information on
Books and Ballerinas,
visit www.orlandparkli
brary.org. For information
on Ballet 5:8, visit school.
ballet58.org.
Strung Out — (left to right) Ted Spaniak, Tom Culver,
John Chisari and Jeff Sismelich — perform the hits of
the 1970s and beyond on June 23 at Crescent Park.
Photos by Laurie Fanelli/22nd Century Media
Tinley Park residents Lisa and Jerry Brancato have a
picnic during Strung Out’s performance at Crescent
Park.
Julia and Adam Krolo, of Orland Park, prepare for
whatever the weather may bring during the Strung Out
concert.