en pointe

a visit with BRANDYWINE BALLET

by Kate Chadwick

Ballet originated in Italy in the 1500s. When Italian Catherine de’ Medici became Queen of France by marrying Henry II, she introduced it into court life, and it became popular in Paris. King Louis XIV founded the Academie Royal de Danse in 1661, which is still in existence and is now known as the Paris Opera Ballet. It arrived in the U.S.—as many aspects of life in North America do—via immigrants, and the first official ballet performance took place here in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1791.

Donna Muzio Morley brought it to West Chester in 1974, founding the nonprofit Brandywine Ballet.

“I can’t imagine what I would have done that wouldn’t involve dance in some way,” she says. Her mother was a hairdresser in West Chester for 40 years, so she supposes she might have pursued that avenue, “but it was certainly not a consideration when I was 20.”

I knew at a young age that I wanted to have a professional classical ballet school and company in the suburbs.

-Donna Muzio

As a young teen, Donna student-taught dance all through school, along with taking ballet classes daily. Starting with tap and jazz, she eventually moved to classical ballet, and danced with various regional and pre-professional ballet companies. During her development as a dancer, though, she always found herself to be more interested in who was working behind the scenes—making everything happen—than in the actual performing.

“I loved watching professional dancers and always gravitated toward who taught them, how they were trained, what pointe shoes they were wearing, why they were wearing them,” Donna recalls. “I knew at a young age that I wanted to have a professional classical ballet school and company in the suburbs.” She traveled to Philadelphia and New York for all her formal ballet training, both teacher-training and technique training, with the goal of bringing that level of professionalism to the suburbs.

Donna founded The Dance Center in 1974, and it presently serves as the official school for the Brandywine Ballet. While the school’s main objective is to provide training for dancers who plan to pursue a career in the field, equal attention is given to those who simply enjoy it and/or do it for exercise. The school’s training method is consistent from Levels 1 through 6, according to their website, which prepares dancers for the pre-professional division of the school at age 12. And while it’s largely about ballet here, that’s not the only game in town; dancers can take part in their Contemporary Dance program, which includes classes in Modern, Lyrical, Jazz, and Hip-Hop.

After five years owning her own school, she founded the Brandywine Ballet Company in 1979. “I wanted to have a non-profit ballet company associated with my school, so the company

FAST FACTS: A Ballet Primer

Ballet may look beautiful and elegant—even frou-frou—but there are bodies and nerves of steel behind all that tulle. Here are some things about ballet you may not know...

• Ballet existed for almost a century before women were permitted to perform in 1681.

• It takes between 60 and 90 hours and up to $2000 to make a professional tutu, and up to 100 yards of tulle.

• A single professional ballet performance can run up to four hours. In that time, dancers use the energy equivalent to playing two soccer games or running 18 miles.

could be self-sufficient and attract other dancers from the tri-state area, not just students of The Dance Center,” Donna says. Starting with nine dancers, they have today grown to 65 dancers in the Ballet Company and the Contemporary Company. Donna has built a team around her, including but not limited to Nancy Page, Resident Choreographer, Ballet; Tim Early, Resident Choreographer, Contemporary; and Thomas Gant, Jr., Principal Dancer. All of them also teach at Brandywine, passing their knowledge, experience, and skills set on to future dancers.

Donna is not only the Founder, but the Artistic Director for the company. “I decide the repertoire of our three-series productions each year; auditioning new students; seeking professional choreographers and master teachers; hiring professional dancers; organizing our Summer Intensive Program; and constructing a teaching curriculum that is organized and consistent, so all students are taught in the same manner. That aspect is key to training dancers to a professional level,” she said.

• Ballerinas typically go through pointe shoes at a rate of three a week. Sometimes, a pair won’t even last a night for a principal dancer in a production such as Swan Lake. The Ballet Theatre in Pittsburgh once revealed that it spends $100,000 each year on just shoes for its dancers.

• When a ballerina is en pointe, or wearing “toe shoes,” their toes take on three times their body weight.

• Romanian police officers have been known to take ballet classes so that they can manage traffic with more grace and ease.

• Ballet dancers don’t say “good luck” or “break a leg” before a performance. They say “merde,” a French swear word. If you don’t know the definition, here’s a hint: one theory is that in its early years, many horse-drawn carriages outside a performance hall meant a successful show—which meant stepping around a lot of merde in the street.

Resident Choreographer, Ballet Nancy Page has been dancing since childhood. “Ballet has been a part of my life since I was five,” she told us. “When I was in high school, I knew I wanted to dance. I auditioned and I got a job. I was very fortunate to have exceptional training with Donna along with several of the faculty members here at the time. It was truly the foundation needed to take me everywhere I chose to go.”

Among the places she chose to go for training were the Milwaukee Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Joffrey Ballet, eventually accepting a position with the Sarasota Ballet in Florida. “I absolutely loved being a principal dancer with Sarasota Ballet and living in Sarasota,” Nancy said. It was a unique and very fulfilling ballet company in the heart of a beautiful city. But as much as I loved Sarasota, in my heart I knew I wanted to come back to West Chester to start my family and move on in my career. I grew up here. My family, friends, and Donna drove me back here. All BIG supporters of mine all through my dancing years.”

Our Winter Series is always The Nutcracker —a true favorite of our audiences. For the past two years we have completely sold out our performances.

-Donna Muzio

Another title Nancy has is Ballet Mistress. “This position truly covers all areas concerning the dancers, primarily teaching, rehearsing, and coaching,” she said. “And all thoroughly enjoyable. I teach six days a week and several classes a night.”

Nancy explains that choreography could be anything from a 10-minute piece up to a full-length ballet. Brandywine’s next production, and last for this season, is Beauty & the Beast. “I typically decide on what story line I’m using,” she says. “Next, I start listening to music— it takes me longer than any other part of the process. I want happy music, sad music, dramatic music, etcetera—but every piece of music I pick has to go with the feeling of that part of the ballet. My goal is for the audience to experience all moods within my ballet. Next the ballet gets cast, and then the choreography begins, along with the costumes and scenery. It is quite a process, very demanding but so fulfilling.”

Despite the demands, Nancy has a backup team. “I have a family that supports everything I do. My favorite pastime is being with them. It doesn’t matter where we are, or what we are doing, as long as we are together.”

Thomas Gant, Jr. started with Brandywine back in 2009 and continued until 2011. A licensed electrician by trade, he seems to spend every spare minute either dancing or teaching. “I started dancing at six,” Tommy said. “I’ve always known that dance, performance—the arts in general—was what I wanted to do.” His career has taken him as far as Taiwan, where he has developed an international relationship teaching and choreographing for Tainan City Ballet as well as Chung Hwa Arts High School.

He lives in Philadelphia and travels to West Chester to teach and dance, having returned to Brandywine as Principal Dancer in 2019. “I love it here, and I hope to remain involved with Brandywine in some capacity or other for the rest of my career.” Tommy teaches elementary lessons through the more advanced young dancers, as well as private lessons for dancers, both at Brandywine and on a freelance basis. “I’ve taught several older dancers as well, both people with a background who are taking it back up, or with no background at all. Ballet is great at any age.” And he means that, sharing with us that he turns 40 this year.

Tim Early, a pivotal member of Brandywine, is celebrating his 29th consecutive season with Brandywine Ballet as a Principal Dancer. In addition to performing, Tim has choreographed for the Company and been on the faculty at The Dance Center. Tim also took the posi-

The Dance Center provides professional training to serious students pursuing a career in dance, with instruction in everything from ballet to hip hop. photo courtesy Brandywine Ballet tion of Production Manager with the ballet company in 2018 and works to coordinate all of its performance efforts. Some of the highlights of his tenure with Brandywine include his performances in Nancy Page’s Dracula, Ronen Koresh’s Beyond the Steps, Balanchine’s Serenade, and Eddy Touissant’s Souvenance Together with Donna, he co-founded Brandywine Contemporary, the modern-based arm of Brandywine Ballet.

Are you tired just from reading this?

There’s more: Tim is co-director of the Philadelphia-based modern company Opus I Contemporary, and has choreographed for Lafayette College, Moravian College, and West Chester University. In addition, he has headed the dance department at Wyoming Seminary Summer Arts Program in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania for the past 20 years.

SIDEBAR DEUX: Performances

While you’ve missed the first two performances of this season, Brandywine Ballet offers productions annually, one each in the fall, winter, and spring.

“Our Resident Choreographer, Nancy Page, choreographs all of our full-length ballets,” said Artistic Director Donna Muzio Morley. “The company performs three series each season. Every other year our Fall Series is Dracula.On the off year, we do a Repertoire Performance, which includes new pieces from other professional choreographers. We’ve done a few [George] Balanchine ballets, Meredith Rainey’s ballets, David Kloss’ ballets, to name a few.”

As for the winter production, well—there’s only one, just as there is for ballet companies around the globe: Tchaikovsky’s iconic holiday classic, TheNutcracker . “Our Winter Series is always TheNutcracker—a true favorite of our audiences,” Donna said. “For the past two years we have completely sold out our performances. TheNutcrackerhas staying power because it is a beloved holiday classic. There are no other words to describe it.” This isn’t just an audience preference, either. “My dancers LOVE TheNutcracker , and even though we give them various opportunities to perform other ballets, The Nutcracker is always their favorite.

The upcoming performance is the Beauty&theBeast , a new version of the classic fairy tale based on the book by Garbrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. There will be two performances on Saturday May 20, at noon and 4pm, and Sunday May 21 at 2pm. All performances are held in the idyllic Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall on West Chester University’s campus. “Our Spring Series is always a children’s ballet, which we alternate each year with BeautyandBeast,Cinderella,SleepingBeauty , or Wizard ofOz . My wish is within the next few years to add another full-length ballet to our repertoire.”

Some people know at a very young age what they want to be when they grow up, be it a veterinarian or a chef or an astronaut. There is no stronger certainty, though, than there seems to be about a career in dance, and there is also a tremendous will to face the rigors that come with the pursuit of this art form— even as a hobby, much less a career.

I want happy music, sad music, dramatic music, etcetera—but every piece of music I pick has to go with the feeling of that part of the ballet. My goal is for the audience to experience all moods within my ballet.

-Nancy Page

The National Institute of Health defines, in part, the demands of ballet as follows: “Classical ballet is characterized as a high-intensity, intermittent form of exercise, demanding muscle power reserves for explosive jumps, muscular endurance to maintain high levels of power output, and cardiorespiratory endurance to execute low-intensity exercise.” There are 34 physical attributes required to dance ballet, among them “hypermobility,” “flexibility,” “overall and core strength,” “spinal strength,” and “range of movement.” Dancers are a unique combination of athlete and artist, and we can see professionals right here in West Chester in full productions, three times annually, via Brandywine Ballet.

As Tommy Gant put it so eloquently to us: “I’ll dance as long as my body allows.”

There are many ways to support Brandywine Ballet—via seasonal sponsorships, donations to specific funds, or attending one of their fundraiser events. Our suggestion is you start with buying a ticket or two to one of their fantastic productions, and experience worldclass performances, right here in the borough.

Don’t miss the upcoming performance of Beauty and the Beast May 20 & 21 and the Emilie K Asplundh Concert Hall. Tickets are available on their website, and showings are limited. photo courtesy Brandywine Ballet

Porchfest is coming back! Spot the five differences hidden within this photo from last year by Kevin Schramm (thegracious.com), then email your answers to contests@thewcpress.com, and you’ve got a chance to win a Saloon 151 Gift Card.