Rochester City Ballet

There are almost two dozen professional ballet companies in New York State, and most of them are in the New York City area, but we are lucky to have one of these professional companies right here in Rochester.

When you think of the Rochester City Ballet (RCB), what comes to mind? Their annual holiday production of The Nutcracker? Their frequent collaborations with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra? Their kids’ programs, like The Ugly Duckling? The Draper Center for Dance Education? Whatever visual you have, it likely does not include their community outreach programs. Part of the RCB’s mission is to educate our community in the “beauty of the art of dance.” In the introduction of Mary Kerner’s book, Barefoot to Balanchine, the author remarks: “ Dance is accessible to everyone – and that means anyone. People danced long before they could talk. Dance is a means of communication, a means of expression that is universal. You don’t have to take a technique class to be able to feel the exuberance of the leaping dancer or the sensuality of a man and a woman dancing together. Your heart has all the information it needs. So do your muscles: they respond kinesthetically to watching movement.” Just as you don’t need to have played football to enjoy watching football, you needn’t have taken a dance class to enjoy watching dance. But having an understanding of the history and techniques of dance enhances appreciation of the art form, just as having an understanding of the rules and positions of football helps you enjoy watching the game.

To that end, the RCB provides access to thousands of Rochester City School children to dress rehearsals of their performances. They also host free annual pre-Nutcracker readings and demonstrations at Barnes & Noble bookstores, where audiences can become familiar not just with the work itself, but also with some of the dancers. There’s a special joy of meeting a dancer and then recognizing him or her on stage.

The RCB has gone a step further, and is committed to bringing dance to special needs students. During a regular performance, audiences are usually quiet, with occasional involuntary gasps at a perfectly executed leap (or a fall), or laughter at a joke (and yes, dance can have humor). Applause is usually reserved for the ends of movements, or when a dancer performs an unusual step particularly well. Otherwise, most audible reactions are scorned at a traditional performance. The RCB recognizes that special needs individuals cannot always control their responses, and, as one of just a handful of ballet companies across the country, has created a safe space in which they can watch a dance performance, and react naturally. At a recent sensory-friendly performance of The Ugly Duckling at Nazareth College, they deliberately turned the music down and the audience lights up, because some of these children respond differently to stimuli, making it difficult to sit still in the dark, or to maintain calm after hearing a sudden loud noise.

This program also gives families of children with disabilities the opportunity to experience a live performance without feeling self-conscious, or worrying about disrupting other audience members. As Nicole Gantshar, Executive Director, explained in a recent WXXI interview, “we call it the performance where no one says ‘shush.’” Seating along the aisles is kept open, and families are spaced so that the kids have fidget-room. These sensory-friendly performances help fulfill RCB’s mission to make dance accessible to everyone in our community.

And if you haven’t seen the RCB ballet perform since David Palmer joined as the new Artistic Director in 2015, you will want to check them out again, in their upcoming “Summer of Love” performances at the Auditorium Theatre (April 20-23). I had the opportunity to get a preview of some of the movements of this two-act contemporary ballet, set to songs like “Aquarius” and I was captivated, and can’t wait to see the entire program.

For more information on the RCB, visit rochestercityballet.org

To watch a short video about the Sensory Friendly program: https://www.artsinfocus.tv/tag/sensory-friendly