Change afoot at Terminus, Ballethnic students honored, (MC)2 fest set for June

Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre’s upcoming performances of Long Ago and Only Once are noteworthy for two reasons: They mark the first time Ana Maria Lucaciu’s ballet will be presented live (Terminus made a mid-pandemic film of it in October 2020, now streaming on Marquee TV) and the last time that dancers Jackie Nash and Laura Morton La Russa will perform with the ensemble.

Nash is moving to Orlando, Florida, where her husband Heath Gill, a founding member of Terminus, is now part of Orlando Ballet’s artistic team. Nash joined Terminus in 2021 after a long career with Atlanta Ballet. Morton La Russa came on board as a protégé in 2018 and was promoted to company member in 2019. Long Ago and Only Once will be presented at the Kennesaw State University Dance Theater in Marietta on May 6 and 7.

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Staibdance will present the second (MC)2, Moving Culture, Moving Community, May 30 through June 3 at the Windmill Arts Center in East Point. Performances will be June 2 and 3. The inaugural (MC)2 took place in June 2021 and was Atlanta’s first multicultural dance festival.

Nine performing and teaching organizations have already been signed up for this year’s event: Academy of Kuchipudi Dance (classical Indian dance), Alma Mexicana, Atlanta Chinese Dance Company, Berdolé Flamenco, Flamenco Underground, Lyrik London, ViaUni (Xavier Lewis’ contemporary dance company) and, new this year, the Tap Rebels. In addition to the performances, (MC)2 will offer classes, panel discussions and community conversations.

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Four students from Atlanta’s Ballethnic Academy of Dance will participate and perform in Assemblée Internationale 2023, a weeklong ballet festival for pre-professional dancers and company artistic directors in Toronto, Canada, April 30 through May 6. Canada’s National Ballet School has hosted this festival approximately every four years since 2009. This year, the topic is anti-Black racism in ballet.

Ballethnic is one of 13 United States ballet schools participating. Others include the academies of American Ballet Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and San Francisco Ballet. Schools in Canada, Europe, Cuba, Australia and New Zealand are also participating, including those of Paris Opera Ballet and The Royal Ballet.

The Ballethnic students chosen to attend the all-expenses-paid intensive are Grier Rome, 15; Jaiyanna Frankson, 14; Justice Jones, 13; and Medina Williams, 12. They will be part of discussions focusing on youth empowerment and collaboration, to help effect systemic change in the world of ballet. They will also perform in works created by Canadian and international guest choreographers.

Ballethnic Dance Company co-founders and co-artistic directors Nena Gilreath and Waverly T. Lucas III will also attend and engage in discussions about advancing equity in the field.

The festival website articulates that “to strengthen the language of ballet and make it more relevant and powerful, the delivery and the creative process of ballet must resonate with and reflect the full diversity of our society.”