Arts & Culture
(2009-09-18)
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LEXINGTON
(WEKU) -
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After an 11-year hiatus, the Lexington Ballet premiered its new professional company in September. The company disbanded in 1998 due to financial problems.
With the arrival of eight professional ballerinas, Artistic Director Luis Dominguez is a busy man. In addition to overseeing 100 plus students at the school run by the Lexington Ballet, Dominguez now directs and choreographs for the professional company.
"We have the busiest arts studio in Lexington. What that does to me is I have to be more productive. But it is a joy to be able to have the time to develop new works," Dominguez said.
Beginning last year, the board of the Lexington Ballet developed a six year plan for the professional company. Executive director Joe Tackett moved to the ballet in June.
"This was an opportunity to build an arts organization from the ground up. We have everything mapped out. We're not just going by the seat of our pants, but things are happening in a planned way," Tackett said.
Tackett credits Dominguez, saying he was a major draw when dancers auditioned this summer. Dominguez was a principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and is a well-known choreographer.
Lauren Tenney, a lithe 21-year-old, knew Dominguez from her earliest days as a dancer.
"When I heard he was starting a company, I knew it was something I had to go for," Tenney said.
Tenney arrived in Kentucky in August for her first professional job after 17 years of training. She says that the kindness and relaxed nature of Kentuckians is a welcome change after her last three years at a competitive training school in New York City.
"This is a great company to walk into. Traditionally, when you get a job, you start off in the lowest rank, so dancers can lose their technique, because they don't have the opportunity to dance. They're more like backdrop than they are dancing. Here it's so great because we're walking into this environment where we're really needed," Tenney said.
Like many young men and women in the ballet world, Tenney completed high school via online courses and did not attend college. She lived away from her Michigan home for most of her life at dance academies and once danced on a broken ankle for a month.
But Tenney remains a committed dancer, even after grueling six hour rehearsals.
"When I'm not dancing, I still have that need to do something for dance, to see what I can do to push myself," she said, adding that she spends a lot of time in the gym and pool relaxing and stretching her muscles.
Tenney, and the seven other women aged 18 to 23, were selected for the company based on their attitude as well as their technique. Dominguez acknowledges his dancers are young, but he sees a bright future.
"Right now, I am happy with the group of people I have. First of all, they're young. Whatever they put into it, they're going to get out," he said.
The dancers' strong young bodies will do a lot of work in the upcoming season. Besides regular performances for the general public, the company will tour schools, dance to rock 'n' roll, and perform in parks and urban landscapes as part of an initiative launched by Lexington Ballet called "Dance Should Be Everywhere."
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