Huntington Ballerinas to Perform in Don Quixote
A group of dedicated ballerinas, trained and educated in Huntington will perform in Lynch Ballet Company’s production of Don Quixote this weekend on the Huntington High School stage.
Six ballerinas who are students in the Huntington School District will be among those performing in shows set for this Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. To purchase tickets call (631) 470-9711.
Huntington High School sophomores Alexandra Smith and Caroline Tonks are sharing the lead role of Kitri. The pair have been students in the Huntington School District since kindergarten and both have been pupils of Lynch Ballet Company artistic director Karen Lynch since they were six years old. “They are both very excited to have the opportunity to dance Kitri in this romantic drama with challenging choreography and beautiful music,” Ms. Lynch said.
Ms. Smith has won American Ballet Theatre’s prestigious national training scholarship in each of the past two years and this summer will return to the ABT’s summer intensive program in New York City.
Ms. Tonks attended the highly competitive summer intensive at Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle for the past four years, once on a full merit scholarship. This year she will be spending the summer with at the Houston Ballet Academy.
The Lynch Ballet Company’s members also include Huntington students Olivia Stamatatos, Madeleine Falk, Madison Buchholtz and Olivia’s sister, Natalia Stamatatos.
A Huntington High School junior, Olivia Stamatatos will be dancing in Don Quixote as a member of the Senior Corps and a Spanish Lady. The teenager possesses sterling academic credentials, including qualifying for the 2016 National Merit Scholarship program, which places her in the top three percent of all high school students taking the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship qualifying test last fall.
Ms. Falk is a high school freshman. She will dance this coming weekend as a member of the Junior Corps and Seguidilla. The teenager plans to spend the summer at ABT intensive in North Carolina.
Ms. Buchholtz, an eighth grader at J. Taylor Finley Middle School is looking forward to dancing as Cupid and as a Spanish Lady next weekend. A member of Finley’s Naitonal Junior Honor Society chapter, she will be spending the summer with Ms. Smith as the ABT summer intensive in New York City.
Seventh grader Natalia Stamatatos will be dancing as one of Kitri’s bridesmaids in the production. She was also recently inducted into Finley’s National Junior Honor Society chapter. The teenager will be attending ABT’s young dancer workshop in New York City this summer.
The ballerinas have been rehearsing diligently since March and have become adept at balancing demanding academics with a training and rehearsal schedule that involves ballet class up to six days a week.
“The dancers have worked very hard to capture the Spanish flavor of the street scenes and complex footwork,” Ms. Lynch said. “This combined with the caliber of sets and costumes make for an impressive professional quality production for dancers in this age group.”
The Lynch Ballet Company is a non-profit organization that stages two productions a year with dancers from Lynch School of Ballet. Under the direction of professional ballerina Karen Lynch, the school includes a premiere ballet academy and an open dance program. The ballet academy currently has an enrollment of about 185 students.