Just as it is hard to imagine Vero Beach without Riverside Theatre or the Vero Beach Museum of Art, it is becoming equally difficult to imagine a time before the professional dancers of Ballet Vero Beach graced our stages. And it all began with the Riverside Dance Festival, a partnership between Ballet Vero Beach and Riverside Theatre.
This year’s festival features the New York City based Pigeonwing Dance, founded in 2016 by award-winning choreographer Gabrielle Lamb. It will culminate in performances Aug. 2-3 on the Stark Stage.
Adam Schnell, wearing hats as Riverside’s director of dance and BVB founder and CEO, explains that the inaugural festival in August 2012 laid the groundwork for the 2013 incorporation of Ballet Vero Beach.
The concept was to introduce Vero audiences to professional dance companies who would also teach a two-week intensive program, culminating in performances by the students and by the company alone.
“And the response was, ‘This is great; we need more professional dance,’” Schnell recalls. “Pigeonwing is the 11th company we’ve brought to town, so that’s huge.”
Pigeonwing Dance will perform “Rising,” choreographed by Lamb. Dancers will be accompanied on stage by the Grammy-nominated Neave Trio performing the premiere of a score by Robert Sirota.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had live music as a part of this, and it’s never been the entire evening. That’s really cool,” says Schnell.
“The piece itself is about the Earth’s oceans; about climate change and rising sea levels, but also our rising awareness of our humanity and how connected we are to all of this,” said Schnell.
“What I really love, beyond just this work, is Gabrielle is internationally known, and she has this style that I like to call dense but accessible. The movement and the gestures and the way she intersperses ballet and modern dance, it’s so rich. She just has that laser focus.”
There are 14 students this year, ages 10 through 18, plus the five fellows enrolled in the BVB Fellowship Initiative for Dancers, a partnership with Indian River State College.
“So it was a way to deepen and allow not only the fellows to learn from Gabriel’s company, but also the students to learn from Gabriel’s company and our fellows,” says Schnell.
He advises that to get the full festival experience, audiences should plan to attend the Pigeonwing performance and the student showcase.
“The company is just doing ‘Rising,’ but for the student showcase, they’re learning nine separate pieces in two weeks. The pieces are only three or four minutes long, but each student is working with five choreographers. We’re in two groups. There’s one big group piece, and then each group has a piece by all four choreographers,” he explains.
“I always get a little bit of goose bumps when I go into a rehearsal. They’re actually learning Gabrielle Lamb’s choreography. This is an internationally known choreographer. She’s in there mixing it up with them, giving them movement that works for them, working with them, trying to bring things out of them.”
The repertoire of past companies has featured everything from classical and contemporary ballet to jazz and hip hop.
“I want the kids to have varied experiences, and that works for the audiences as well,” says Schnell, noting that students at most ballet summer programs take classes with just their faculty.
“Here, we bring in different companies every year, so you can technically stay here for your entire dance education and get exposed to professionals from many different companies. So it’s opening up the minds a little bit more.”
In May, seven of the previous 10 companies returned to perform here, and Schnell says the dancers all enjoyed reminiscing about their experiences here.
“It’s become a known thing in the dance world, so that’s been a real success. It’s really special. It’s one of the programs that we’d like to grow.”
At some point he hopes to introduce an international company, or possibly a larger company, but funding is always an issue, especially now that all grants for arts funding have been eliminated statewide.
The Riverside Dance Festival student showcase will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3. That performance is free; no tickets required. Performances by Pigeonwing Dance will occur at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, and 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3. Tickets are $10 to $75.
For tickets or more information visit RiversideTheatre.com or BalletVeroBeach.org, or call the Riverside Theatre Box Office at 772-231-6990.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
