MOVEMEDIA: Handmade

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MOVEMEDIA handmade

FEBRUARY 8-10, 2019 | PETER MARTIN WEGE THEATRE

Cassidy Isaacson photo by Scott Rasmussen

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PROGRAM NOTES GRAND RAPIDS BALLET presents

MOVEMEDIA: Handmade

Choreography Music Lighting Design Costume Design Dancers

The Rise

Cassidy Isaacson Glass Animals Matthew Taylor Brennan Smith Madison Massara, Alexandra Meister-Upleger, Gretchen Steimle, Isaac Aoki, Levi Teachout, Ben Waldvogel, Nathan Young

This piece deals with different types of relationships and how those relationships affect your ability to reach your full potential.

Errant Thoughts

Choreography Music Lighting Design Costume Design Artist Inspirations Unfinished Works of Art

Nigel Tau Daigoro789, Yann Tiersen, Video Game Piano Players Matthew Taylor Sadie Rothenberg Adriana Wagenveld Grace Haskins, Lauren Yordanich Ashley Conroy, Lydia Slack, Ruby Staczek, William Shearstone, Ben Waldvogel

Centered around an artist caught in a self-destructive cycle, ‘Errant Thoughts’ touches on the life-like qualities that a work or project may take on in the eyes of its creator— and the loss of control felt when those ideas start having ideas of their own.

Choreography Music Lighting Design Costume Design Dancers

Divine Light

Nicholas Bradley Gray Franz Schubert Matthew Taylor Brennan Smith Claire Ashcraft, Emily Barrows, Jade Butler, David Senti

Dedicated to the life and memory of Raffaella Stroik. This work is about the profound impact one person makes in their lifetime. I ask you indulge me by closing your eyes, taking a breath, and by finding your own divine light. Radiance dwells within each and every one of us. Just make the choice to let it shine!

Choreography Music Lighting Design Costume Design Dancers

what are you

Isaac Aoki Chihei Hatakeyama Matthew Taylor Danielle Truss Cherilene Guzman, Celeste Keranen-Lopez, Amadeo Keranen-Lopez

This piece is about youth and defiance. It’s about being a person of color in a white world. It’s about the future.


Choreography Music Lighting Design Costume Design Costumes Dancers

Eriha

Yuka Oba Arvo Pärt Matthew Taylor Yuka Oba Danielle Truss Micaelina Ritschl, Steven Houser, Josue Justiz

Eriha is inspired by my sister who is currently a geisha in Kyoto. It represents the struggle between the two worlds of her personal and professional life; one in which she is true to herself, and the other in which she is committed to her career.

— INTERMISSION — Testimony

Choreography Penny Saunders Lighting Design Trad A Burns Prop Designer John Ferraro Costume Design Danielle Truss & Penny Saunders Music Nico Muhly, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross Sound Design Penny Saunders Yuka Oba Matt Wenckowski Dancers Cassidy Isaacson Nigel Tau Gretchen Steimle Steven Houser Adriana Wagenveld Isaac Aoki Connie Flachs Ednis Gomez Ashley Conroy David Senti Sydney Scully Levi Teachout Micaelina Ritschl Alexandra Meister-Upleger Branden Reiners Grace Haskins Nathan Young

— INTERMISSION — Choreography Lighting Design Projection Design Costume Design Music Dancers

Aquatic Hypoxia

Nicolas Blanc Matthew Taylor Mark Neumann Brennan Smith & Nicolas Blanc Joby Talbot Isaac Aoki, Yuka Oba Connie Flachs, Cassidy Isaacson, Madison Massara, Emily Reed, Gretchen Steimle, Ednis Gomez, Steven Houser, Branden Reiners, Levi Teachout, Matt Wenckowski, Nathan Young

Aquatic hypoxia is a characteristic of so-called ‘dead zones’ in water where oxygen is too low for marine life to survive. It can be a natural phenomenon but is mostly caused by human pollution and exacerbated by climate change. We are already witnessing the effects, as seen in Florida’s enormous red tides and the ‘dead zones’ in the Great Lakes.


ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MESSAGE Welcome to MOVEMEDIA: Handmade! I am so excited to be presenting seven world premiere works on this program. New works and cultivation of choreographic talent is an important part of the Grand Rapids Ballet’s mission, and this program exemplifies that commitment. I’m pleased to welcome Nicolas Blanc, creating his first work for the company. He has previously created ballets for Joffrey Ballet in Chicago as well as New York City Ballet. Penny Saunders, our choreographer-in- residence, is no stranger to the company and she knows how to use our dancers in the most effective way. From Penny’s reflection on the recent Supreme Court nominee hearings in her Testimony to Nicolas’ take on ocean’s and lake’s ‘dead zones’ in his Aquatic Hypoxia, this program is definitely not the ballet of the past. These ballets are current, poignant, and relevant to the world we live in today. I’m also very happy to boast that five works come from within the ranks of the dancers themselves. To switch back and forth from dancer to choreographer is no small task and these dancers have risen to the challenge. I’m so pleased to offer them an opportunity to explore another side of their artistry and I think you will be pleased with the results. Each of them has given us something very personal and each performance is extraordinarily unique and special. I am so proud to be leading such a talented group of artists. Art has the power to open our minds and challenge our mental habits. I hope you can take away a new thought, idea, or perspective on the world we live in. Thank you for joining us as we explore everything that ballet can be. James Sofranko, Artistic Director

YOUR GRAND RAPIDS BALLET STAFF COMPANY Artistic Director James Sofranko Executive Director Glenn Del Vecchio Development Director Elizabeth McCarthy Musil Marketing Director Michael Erickson Production Stage Manager Mellissa Slack Asst. Costume Shop Managers Danielle Truss, Brennan Smith Costumer Sadie Rothenberg Company/Facilities Manager John Ferraro Box Office Manager Kelly Herremans Artistic Coordinator/Ballet Master Dawnell Dryja Black Asst. Ballet Master Steven Houser Guest Services Manager Errol Shewman Pianists Brendan Hollins, Lonnie Ostrander

PRODUCTION CREW Asst. Stage Manager Margaret Elise Petersen Production Electrician Glenn Gould Production Properties Ben Knudstrup Production Audio Randy Hoekstra SCHOOL Director & Junior Company Director Attila Mosolygo Curriculum Coordinator Mindy Mosolygo Administrator SarahJean Bos Faculty Lara Faucher, Connie Flachs, Jillian Gasper, Ednis Gomez, Gina McFadden, Claire Millard, Yuka Oba, Taryn Ortega-Furgeson, Kara Taylor, Jessica Winter-Troutwine Pianists Ryan Blok, Kenneth Creager, Idalmira Lopez, Mark Moran, Lonnie Ostrander Night Receptionists Mary-Ann Carpenter, Madeline Harrington


[

ONE CLICK [

YOU’RE ALL CAUGHT UP


2018-19 SEASON DANCERS COMPANY

Connie Flachs

Grace Haskins

Cassidy Isaacson

Alexandra Meister-Upleger

Yuka Oba

Emily Reed

Micaelina Ritschl

Sidney Scully

Isaac Aoki

Ednis Gomez

Steven Houser

Josue Justiz

Branden Reiners

Nigel Tau

Levi Teachout

Matt Wenckowski

LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE DANCERS AT GRBALLET.COM/DANCERS. Nathan Young


APPRENTICES

Claire Ashcraft

Jade Butler

Cherilene Guzman

Madison Massara

Gretchen Steimle

Adriana Wagenveld

Nicholas Bradley Gray

Ben Waldvogel

Emily Barrows

Ashley Conroy

Payton Field

Celeste Lopez-Keranen

Lydia Slack

Ruby Staczek

Lauren Yordanich

Grace Young

Amadeo Lopez-Keranen

David Senti

William Shearstone

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CHOREOGRAPHERS ISAAC AOKI Company since 2014

/iaokiphoto

Isaac is from Salt Lake City, Utah and began his ballet training at Ballet West Academy. He then studied at Salt Lake Ballet Conservatory, The University of Utah Ballet Department with Conrad Ludlow and Mikhail Tchoupakov, and the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington DC with Nikolai Kabaniaev. Isaac attended summer courses on scholarship at The School of American Ballet, Kaatsbaan, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ellison Ballet, and Miami City Ballet School.

NICOLAS BLANC Nicolas Blanc started his dance training in France continuing at the Academie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace in Monte-Carlo. After winning a scholarship in the 1994 Prix de Lausanne, he completed his education at the Paris Opera Ballet School. He went on to dance for Nice Opera Ballet, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, Zurich Ballet, and San /nic.blanc Francisco Ballet, where he was made Principal Dancer in 2004. His repertoire included lead roles in Balanchine’s Jewels, Square Dance, Divertimento no 15, The Four Temperaments, and Tarantella pas de deux. He also danced the leads in Robbins’ Dybbuk and Mats Ek’s Carmen, Benvolio and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and Cavalier in The Nutcracker, and danced in various ballets by Mark Morris. Blanc originated roles in Wheeldon’s Rush and Quaternary; Welch’s Falling and Naked, Possokov’s Study in Motion and Reflections; and Tomasson’s 7 for Eight and Blue Rose. In 2006-07, he created two pieces for San Francisco Ballet School. He also created After Having Been for the International Ballet Competition (IBC) in Jackson, MS. Blanc was awarded a special prize in performing arts by the city of Dusseldorf in 1998, and a special award of recognition by his hometown in 2004 (and 2013), and he was named one of the “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine. In 2010, he was


nominated with Tina LeBlanc for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award (Best Ensemble in Wheeldon’s Within The Golden Hour). He joined Scottish Ballet as Ballet Master in 2009. In his time with the company, he coached Page’s Nutcracker, Cinderella, Alice, Fearful Symmetries, Pastor’s Romeo and Juliet, as well as Ashton’s Scenes de Ballet and Balanchine’s Rubies. In 2010, he was the personal assistant of Val Caniparoli for the world premiere of Still Life. Recently, he has created Purple, Memories of The Future, Unveiled, The Spell, and Encounter for the annual fundraiser for Embarc, a Chicago organization dedicated to supporting low-income high school students in their training. In July 2014, Blanc received the choreographic award at the IBC in Jackson, Mississippi, for his duet Rendez-Vous. In 2015, his ballet Evenfall made its U.S. debut on The Joffrey Ballet’s spring program. Blanc was selected to participate in the 2015 National Choreographers Initiative (NCI) and created Orphee, which was presented at the Barclay Theater in Irvine, CA. He was also chosen to participate in New York City Ballet’s New York Choreographic Institute where he created Mothership, which premiered at New York City Ballet’s 2016 gala.

NICHOLAS BRADLEY GRAY Apprentice since 2018

/nicholasgray23

Nicholas is a graduate of Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He grew up in Milwaukee, WI, studying at First Stage Theatre Academy from 2006-13 and beginning his classical ballet training at Milwaukee Ballet School in 2010. Nicholas then moved to Torrington, CT, in 2013 to continue his classical training with Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory. He spent summers at Pacific Northwest Ballet (2014-15), Chautauqua Institution (2017), and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (2018).


CHOREOGRAPHERS CASSIDY ISAACSON Company since 2013

/casassidy_

Cassidy began her ballet training at age four in Redmond, WA. She trained at Pacific Northwest Ballet (2002-08) under the direction of Abbie Siegel, Meg Potter, Marisa Albee, Timothy Lynch, Elaine Bauer, and Eva Stone. She went on to train privately with Deborah Hadley (2007-11) in Bellevue, WA. She spent summers training at Pacific Northwest Ballet (2003-09) and Long Beach Ballet in China (2010), Julliard Summer Intensive (2011) in New York and Grand Rapids Ballet Summer Intensive (2011).

PENNY SAUNDERS Choreographer-in-Residence Originally from West Palm Beach, Florida, Penny graduated from the Harid Conservatory in 1995, and began her professional career with The American Repertory Ballet under the direction of Septime Webre. She went on to dance with Ballet Arizona, MOMIX Dance Theater, Cedar Lake Ensemble, and, in 2004, she joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. /pennyfix

In 2011, Saunders won the International Commissioning Project which launched her choreographic career, creating pieces for Hubbard Streets’ main and second company, Cincinnati Ballet, Whim W’Him, BalletX, Tulsa Ballet 2, SFDanceworks, Neos Dance Theater, Missouri Contemporary Ballet, and Owen Cox Dance Group among others. Saunders is honored to be the Resident Choreographer at Grand Rapids Ballet where she recently completed her first full length work, The Happy Prince and Other Wilde Tales, focusing on the life and fairy tales of Oscar Wilde. Saunders has received support from The New York City Ballet Choreographic Commissions Initiative, participated in The National Choreographers Initiative and was the recipient of the 2016 Princess Grace Cho-reographic Fellowship. In the 2018-2019 season, she is excited to be collaborating with The Royal New Zealand Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Ballet Idaho, Seattle Dance Collective, Grand Rapids Ballet, and SALT Contemporary Dance in residency at University of Utah.


YUKA OBA Company since 2011

/yukaobaofficial

Yuka was born in Japan where she received her training from Hitomi Takeuchi Ballet School. In 2006, she attended English National Ballet School in the UK where she also danced many soloist roles. Upon graduating, Mario Radacovsky invited Yuka to join the Slovak National Ballet where she danced a variety of roles. She was then invited to join Grand Rapids Ballet in 2011 where she has since danced principal roles in ballets by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Olivier Wevers, and Penny Saunders.

NIGEL TAU Company since 2016

/nigellissimo

Nigel began dancing at age 10 with The Academy of Dance in his home town of Savannah, Georgia. In 2013, he became a trainee with Next Generation Ballet, and performed in the school’s own productions as well as with Opera Tampa and the Florida Orchestra. He went on to train with BalletMet on a full scholarship, where he performed and rehearsed alongside the company in shows such as The Great Gatsby and The Nutcracker.

Let’s see more of each other socially.

/grballet

/grapidsballet

/grapidsballet


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P REPARE TO BE MOVED Written by Connie Flachs | Photos by Jade Butler

I

watch the choreographer move in the front of the room. His long limbs intertwine in a double-jointed manner I have never seen elbows achieve before. Movement for his body connects like one long sentence strung together in a lyrical harmony. I have always thought of dance as words uttered with crisp and clear diction. I shake my head in confusion and refocus. How can I get my brain to speak his movement language? The process of creating new work can be equally frustrating and fulfilling. Vulnerability is required from dancers and choreographer. Because dance is created using people, rather than the paintbrushes and musical instruments of other art forms, emotions and relationships must be navigated. This is no simple task, especially for colleagues. Isaac Aoki, Yuka Oba, Nigel Tau, Cassidy Isaacson, and Nicholas Gray all chose to step outside their comfort zone for this season’s MOVEMEDIA: Handmade by creating on their colleagues. Isaac was inspired to try by the opportunity to make something short and sweet. Nigel had experimented for fun, but never for the stage. Cassidy creates large bodies of work on the students she teaches, but their technical level and nascent confidence limits what can be made. Nicholas spent two semesters at college choreographing before joining Grand Rapids Ballet. Yuka is the outlier: She has choreographed before for MOVEMEDIA, but is challenging herself to focus on a storyline this time around. Most came into the studio with a story or specific inspiration to draw on.


“I started with a clear idea in mind,” Isaac shares. “Being a person of color in a white world.” Nigel agrees: “I came in with a clear concept from the beginning.” His outline originated from many hours spent experimenting in the studio while recovering from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for the first half of the season. “What can I do with one arm?” He asked, and created from there. “The fact that I was able to move at all was good for me.” Yuka knew her piece would explore the complex battle between love, career, and selfrealization inspired by her sister’s struggles pursuing a career as a geisha. Communicating all this Artistic Director James Sofranko is a challenge: “It’s easier for me to just choreograph dancing,” she confesses. “I get caught up too much in the story and can’t really go forward.” To help communicate her message, Yuka includes a fox mask, kitsune, which traditionally plays a large role in Japanese religion and folklore. Foxes are known to be either malevolent or benevolent depending on their specific situation - a parallel of the different identities Yuka’s sister assumes while searching for her purpose. Amidst all this symbolism I wonder Josue Justiz, Micaelina Ritschl, Steven Houser in Eriha, if the choreographers expect choreography by Yuka Oba the viewers to follow their storylines precisely. Most explain they are not concerned with exact interpretation: They find it more important the audience feels what the piece is about than intellectually understand the specific ideas behind its creation. Dance, as a wordless art form, speaks in sensations. What feelings come up for me? You can ask as you watch. What mood am I picking up? As I sit and watch Cassidy rehearse her piece I can feel the tension between the two men battling to ascend the imposing wooden staircase that takes up residence stage left. My body holds the anxiety of this dueling couple and I notice my heart rate increase. I know her inspiration: The staircase


represents the challenges in life that one faces while trying to reach their full potential. My mood tells me that these challenges can be stressful and tense at times. “It makes you realize, from the choreography side of the room, that when you are doing a step over and over again and it feels really tedious, there’s a reason,” says Cassidy. “Either the story isn’t working or the plot doesn’t come across.” I nod in agreement with this statement, thinking of the rehearsal earlier today when we repeated the same eight counts for an entire hour. As a dancer, the monotony of this work can feel incredibly tedious. It helps to understand the other side. This understanding of both the “front of the room” viewpoint and the dancer’s experience was mentioned by each choreographer. Managing dancing one hour to running rehearsal the next is no easy task. Furthermore, as colleagues, each choreographer understands exactly how exhausted each of their dancers are and attempts to take this into account while rehearsing. This personal connection influences the creative process in many ways: David Senti in Divine Light, choreography by Nicholas Gray “I came at this piece from the angle of showcasing their humanity,” Nicholas says of his dancers. His piece, Divine Light, features each dancer, many of whom are younger or newer members of the company with fewer opportunities to stand out. “I wanted each of them to feel showcased.” To build the confidence of his cast Isaac requested rehearsals exclusively on stage, sans mirror. “The mirror is a double-edge sword,” he explains. “While it’s a useful tool for self-correction it can also be a dancer’s Achilles heel and the self-doubt can be crippling when you go on stage without the mirror and have to sell the choreography.” As dancers, we are intimately acquainted with our insecurities and constantly asked to confront them as we strive to portray the full range of human experiences in front of an audience. Luckily, most choreographers have been dancers and understand the vulnerability involved in this process. “Professional dancers say ‘sorry’ a lot and I don’t think it’s necessary,” Cassidy shares. “Everything we’re doing is an experiment. I want them to


feel listened to, understood, and respected. Ultimately, if you can have a good time creating the piece than you’ve accomplished something.” A choreographer who enables the dancers they work with to open up enough to try on new ways of moving, processing information, and accessing emotion helps create a safe and fertile studio environment. “There’s no tension working with Nicholas. That’s my friend, but I also have so much respect for him. It’s a low pressure environment,” explains dancer Claire Ashcraft. “I’m excited to see what he will create.” This is a beautiful function of dance: The projection of one’s internal landscape onto the bodies of others. “Choreography is empathy,” Nigel muses. So, too, is dancing. You put aside your own judgments of how you look and feel as a dancer, trusting the figure in the front of the room to control the overall effect. You commit, you give yourself over, you focus on their movement, their ideas, and their motivations. You attempt to crawl inside their body and overlay what you discover onto your own form. Then you embellish with your own interpretations. To do this with colleagues you trust and other dancers you’ve shared the stage with is a special opportunity given by MOVEMEDIA: Handmade. To overlay their inner visions onto your own body is an intimate work experience “normal jobs” don’t present. It’s one more verbally enigmatic element of dance that makes this art form so unique and emotionally impactful. Connie Flachs has been a Grand Rapids Ballet company dancer since 2011.

Alexandra Meister-Upleger & Nathan Young in The Rise; choreography by Cassidy Isaacson


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Doug Coulter and Pamela Hoppe Ghayas and Joy Uddin Henry Matthews and Timothy Chester Janice R.F. Snyder Melissa Massara Scott and Rebekah Wierenga Nancy Bailey Abby Dilley Bari Johnson Michael and Nancy Dodge Ann Houser and Nancy Field Arthur and Gail Besteman Barbara O. Fisk Christine and Peter Albertini Clarice Geels Douglas and Patricia Klein Douglas and Rachel VanStrien Frank Kwiatek and Karen Maczuga Glen and Betsy Borre Susan Wold Thomas and Alexis Boyden Heather Monroe Thomas A. Wysocki Roy Brown Catherine Southwick Greg Carnevale and Diane Mahon Harvey and Phyllis Gendler James and Mary Kay Wemple Jean Enright Jennifer McManus and Matt Borgula Joan Wilson JoAnn Abraham Joe and Linda Kirpes John R. Martino Julie Otterbein Karl & Joanna Van Harn Laura Kozminski Linda Campbell Thompson Mark Chancey and Thomas Owens Nancy Yagiela and Peter Spring Revs. Maurice and Sara Fetty Robert Heidenreich Twink Frey Chris Musil & Elizabeth McCarthy Musil Kathleen S Ponitz Adam McKeague Kevin J. Patterson

Ben Tobar Jordan Hill IN MEMORIAM Rebecca Woods (Frank Woods) Cyndi Ruffer (Nancy and Carter Huffman & Camilla and Maggie Martin) Joseph Aaron Wojczynski (Jim and Sandra Wojczynski) Clare D. Snyder (Janice R. F. Snyder)

$250

Introduces dance to an entire class at a Grand Rapids Public School through our Dance Immersion Program

$500

Provides an opportunity for one boy to attend Free Boys’ Ballet Class for one year

$1,000

Funds a scholarship for one Grand Rapids Public School student to attend Grand Rapids Ballet’s Young Dancer Summer Program

JOIN US TODAY

$2,500

MAKE AN IMPORTANT INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE OF DANCE

Trains an aspiring professional dancer in our Junior Company for one semester

$25

$5,000

Gives one Grand Rapids Public School student the opportunity to experience the enchantment of The Nutcracker

$50

Improves mobility and balance of an adult with Parkinson’s Disease in our Moving with Parkinson’s Program (two classes)

$100

Educates a child with Down syndrome in our Explorer Dance Program where they learn concepts of rhythm, coordination, balance, and spatial awareness (one semester)

Underwrites an entire Grand Rapids Ballet School Junior Company production

$10,000+

Funds six practicing artists in the field of dance to participate as guest teachers in our Summer Intensive Program.

To make a gift by phone or email, please contact Development Director Elizabeth McCarthy Musil at 616.454.4771 ext. 11 or elizabethm@grballet.com. Thank you!


For tickets to Extremely Close and Alice in Wonderland, visit grballet.com today!

COMING 2.15.19 grballet.com/1920season



by Joshua Harmon Who is holy and who is just holier-than-thou? A dark comedy that tackles the divide between cultural identity and orthodoxy.

Feb 28 - March 10, 2019

James Sofranko, Artistic Director

by Jason Odell Williams If you’re a Republican running for re-election in Virginia, the Bible and the 2nd Amendment are sacrosanct. Or not.

June 13 - 23, 2019 Jewish Theatre Grand Rapids productions are at Spectrum Theater, 160 Fountain St. NE on the campus of Grand Rapids Community College. Shows are on Thursdays & Saturdays at 8 p.m. & Sundays at 3 p.m. (no h t i w s n o i t c u rod al. performances Fridays) heatrical p quality t t are universal in appe g n i t n prese h themes tha Jewis You don’t have to be Jewish to love Jewish Theatre

EnPointe BE A PART OF OUR ART.

Volunteer for Michigan’s only professional ballet company today and enjoy great benefits. To learn more, visit grballet.com/volunteer


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Every day in We s t M i c h i g a n , more than 3,300 young people experience homelessness. Source: Michigan’s Center of Educational Performance and Information

Yo u c a n h e l p t h e m g a i n s t a b i l i t y . Arbor Circle’s Host Home Program is designed to address the needs of youth experiencing homelessness by connecting them with caring adults who can provide safe housing and support. This community-based approach is available to youth ages 18-20 and is made possible by caring adult volunteers like you. To learn more, please visit our website: www.arborcircle.org/host-homes or contact Andrea Martin, Arbor Circle’s Housing Coordinator, at (616) 451-3001 or amartin@arborcircle.org. 1115 BALL AVE SE • GRAND RAPIDS, MI • ARBORCIRCLE.ORG • 616.456.6571


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Learn about our legal services and our commitment to the performing arts at wnj.com.


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