Don't forget us in youth ballet; we need help, too

Don't forget us

in youth ballet; we need help, too

I read [Michael Boylan's] column

with great interest; however, you forgot a very important group in our

community, the dance companies.

I am the artistic director

of the Georgia Youth Ballet and we struggle every year with trying to

get a performing space. We are known all over the eastern United States

but our own community does not have the opportunity to see us dance because

we often have no place to perform.

Imagine having the number one

male dancer in the world (Angel Corella from American Ballet Theatre)

come and perform with our young company, and we have to perform at Creekside

High School because no Fayette County stage was available or large enough

for this dancer's incredible leaps.

Sams Auditorium is not large

enough (the stage) to adequately house our company, although we make do

for our "Nutcracker." Starr's Mills is unusable because of the

back stage area and the low top curtains. Even so we attempt to use these

spaces and can't because they are always booked.

Our dancers have reached a

level of professionalism that requires a good performing space. They have

danced in Memphis, Florida and North Carolina, but at home we struggle

with finding an adequate facility that is available. Our dancers have

received over 50 scholarships related to dance in the past three years

alone!

I will wholeheartedly back

your plan of having a decent theater in Fayette county. We will be available

to perform or whatever you need to have this dream become a reality. But

please, when planning a theater, don't forget the dancers. They too deserve

a stage.

Let me know what we can do

to further this cause. The Georgia Youth Ballet and The Studio are available

for any help we can give you.

Thank you for taking up this

cause!

Magdalena Maury,

Artistic Director

Georgia Youth Ballet