This year’s Ballet Under the Stars fundraiser to benefit Ballet Vero Beach soared like a grand jeté into a new venue, the Town Center at Windsor. The evening featured performances by graceful dancers showcasing their talents, followed by dinner and dancing under the stars.
“This is such an amazing place to be. When we come up here, it feels like family, no matter what staff member we are dealing with. Every single person here is the reason we keep coming back,” said Adam Schnell, BVB artistic director and CEO, thanking the Windsor team.
He also thanked the evening’s sponsor, Lulich & Attorneys, his “phenomenal” board of directors and event volunteers; Stacey Lewis, who worked on the décor with Linda Downey, for donating the wine for the auction and for handmaking adorable (and delicious) tutu cookies for everyone; and artists Leonard Mizerek, Xaque Gruber, Tim Sanchez and Barry Shapiro, who donated paintings for the auction.
“Our dancers are absolutely spectacular. They have more talent than we have any right to expect here in Indian River County. I am so proud of them and everything that they’re about to show you this evening,” said Schnell, before the dancers delighted with the first of two pieces.
Tunic and Tutus, a piece choreographed by BVB Ballet Master Camilo A. Rodriguez that premiered in January 2020, featured dancers Katherine Eppink, Ellie Hennequin and Franco Cubero Acosta.
Schnell next spoke about BVB, which was founded in January 2013 to present outstanding dance and initiatives for all ages and socioeconomic groups.
Partnering with the Learning Alliance and the school district, they created a Stage to Page program that currently serves all the district’s first-, third- and fifth-graders.
Their First Steps initiative partners with Childcare Resources, which promotes high quality early childhood development and education for children up to age 5.
“Twice a week, you will find our dancers down on the floor with kiddos as young as 6 weeks old, helping to make sure they are on track developmentally, emotionally, mentally and physically, and working with the phenomenal team over there at Childcare Resources to make sure that all kids in the county are showing up ready for kindergarten,” said Schnell.
Additionally, BVB initiated a Fellowship Initiative for Dancers in partnership with Indian River State College.
“We pay for their education at IRSC. They dance as full members of the company and, at the end when they have their degree, they may stay with us or they may go on to other employment. But they certainly have professional performance experience, all ancillary training, all aspects of our education and community engagement programs and a degree,” said Schnell.
Highlighting the success of that program, the next performance, Living Landscapes, was choreographed by Aneliese Benson, one of their fellows. That piece featured Franco Cubero Acosta, Katherine Eppink, Amy Gilespie, Ellie Hennequin, Jade Princessa and Darien Santos.
Other pilot programs include movement therapy dance classes for people with developmental differences through partnerships with Believe and Achieve and Sunday Strong, and for seniors enrolled in the Senior Resource Association’s Day Away program.
“So we are really excited to be able to be as effective as we can, as a small organization, meeting the needs of almost every population in this county. We are exceptionally proud of that,” said Schnell.
He shared that the entirety of the next season would celebrate the “golden jubilee birthday” of Rodriguez, who at age 50 still dances on point.
“There would be no Ballet Vero Beach if it wasn’t for Camilo,” said Schnell. “He’s given so much to this organization that we feel we should take the entirety of next season to celebrate him.”
For more information, visit BalletVeroBeach.org.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
