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The
sisterhood of the classical dance
by Chris Moore
VALLEY
– Russian dancer Nadya Zubkov’s Arizona School of Classical
Ballet, tucked away unassumingly off of Cave Creek Road
and Rose Garden Lane in North Phoenix, is gathering its
sisters together and getting ready to put on quite a show.
“Our performance is the result of a whole year’s work,”
says Zubkov, owner and director of the school whose former
students have gone on to dance professionally with companies
like the Bolshoi Ballet.
“It’s
fun to do the performance,” says 8‑year‑old
Zoe Rosin, one of three sisters who all attend Arizona
School of Classical Ballet. “You feel kind of proud .
. . like you’re a top dancer.”
Zoe’s
sisters, Mia, 6, and Leila, 4, have been attending the
school for a year and their big sister has been a student
there for three years. All the Rosin sisters are looking
forward to the upcoming spring performance at Cactus Shadows
Fine Arts Center May 20 and 21. “The performance is exciting,”
Mia Rosin says. “I like the audience.”
But
the three Rosins are not the only sisters tapping their
toes at this school. The Neri twins, aged 7, Natalie and
Nicole, also attend the school, as do Nicole and Arielle
Dymkov (ages 6 and 8); and Chloe and Desiree Ranshaw (ages
10 and 12), who are also accompanied by their brother,
Andrew (age 13).
“We
started in kindergarten,” says Natalie Neri. “We go to
class twice a week, but the week of the performance, we
go every day.” Nicole adds, “and the performance makes
it more exciting.”
The
Neri sisters’ roles in the upcoming performance include
the part of a Fire Ant for Natalie, which she says is
“fun and funny.” Nicole, who will be playing a Caterpillar,
immediately clarifies, “It’s fun for us and funny for
the audience.”
Arizona
School of Classical Ballet’s spring performance is structured
in two parts, the first, “Don Quixote Suite,” portrays
the woeful knight’s adventures on the search for his princess
Dulcinea. These scenes from Petipa’s choreography feature
classical ballet. Studying the classic form early is important
to Zubkov. “Kids need to study classical ballet as a foundation
to learn how to dance,” says Zubkov. The staging is being
done by Zubkov and Ballet Arizona dancer Nikolai Moroz,
who is a master teacher at the school and will also be
performing in the second part of the program, “The Tale
of the Golden Key,” a retelling of the Pinocchio story
by Russian writer Aleksey Tolstoy to the music of Khachaturian
and Shostakovich.
“Just
for fun,” Moroz says. “It’s to give the kids a character
to play off, so I’m doing Karabas, the master of the circus.”
“Doing
‘The Tale of the Golden Key’ is new this year,” says Zubkov,
who presents another Russian‑flavored dance, “The
Snow Maiden,” regularly for the school’s winter performance.
“I wish
to give my students a quality performance opportunity,” says
Zubkov. “We perform one‑act ballets and allow the students
to explore a variety of characters and dance styles.”
The
“Golden Key” dance does just that by incorporating classical
ballet, modern dance (choreographed by the school’s modern
dance instructor Ethel Dias) for a scene that finds Buratino
(Pinocchio) in a pond encountering a turtle (instead of
a whale) who gives him the Golden Key, and jazz pieces for
dancing cowgirls and circus clowns. In addition to Dias,
choreography for “Golden Key” is also being provided by
Zubkov, Muroz, and Olga Tarasova, Russian‑born dancer
who teaches ballet technique, pointe and variations at the
school and danced with ex‑husband Muroz in Kiev and
at the El Paso Ballet in Texas.
Zubkov’s school is not a competitive environment, like the
professional dance schools she experienced in Russia before
she emigrated to the United States in 1989. “We don’t do
auditions,” she explains “like the Russian schools. We teach
everybody and make them look good on stage. We help them
accomplish their goals.”
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“We
do it together,” Zubkov says. “Every single child at the school
is important. The older take care of the younger and the younger
watch and learn from the older. Like snowballs, they want to
move to next level.”
“It’s
amazing to see the progression from class to class, from semester
to semester,” says Carefree resident Meribeth Reeves’ whose
11‑year‑old daughter Mattaea goes to Zubkov’school.
Mattaea
has been studying dance for nine years, beginning at the School
of Ballet Arizona, where Zubkov was associate director. When
Zubkov opened Arizona School of Classical Ballet three years
ago, the Reeves followed her.
“We
were not interested in a competitive school,” Reeves says, “and
what I love here is the quality Nadya expects, the well‑structured
curriculum and the sense of discipline in class. To me, that’s
the most important thing learned–that sense of discipline. It’s
important that a school has that and is not just fun and games.”
For
Wendy Neri, self‑proclaimed “Dance Mom” of twin daughters,
7‑year‑old Natalie and Nicole, it’s “a lot of driving and doing hair ... but it’s
all worthwhile at the performance. I get chills and cry. I never
get used to it.”
Neri
says that she likes the school because it teaches her daughters
much more than dance steps. In addition to “balance, coordination
and athletic ability, they are also picking up some French language
and a sense of dedication and commitment. They have
give up a lot of other activities to dance, but that’s
what they want.”
Although
after this performance the Neri twins will take some time off.
“In the summer, we want to rest,” says Nicole, in perfect agreement
with her nodding sister Natalie.
“The
Neris came here two years ago and I put them right into the
performance,” Zubkov remembers. “They’re different personalities.
Nicole asks a lot of good questions and Natalie is focused on
technique. Both are amazingly focused for their age.”
Nicole
says classes at Arizona School of Classical Ballet are “not
easy and not hard,” but Natalie says that “some dances are hard
and some are easy and all of them are different,” and adds,
“I like ballet better than jazz,” to which Nicole chimes in,
“ballet is graceful, but they’re about the same, in my opinion.”
“We
just like being together,” Natalie explains. “One time we were
separated and . . .”
“.
. . we did not like it,”
Nicole finishes her twin sister’s thought.
“We
missed each other,” they say in unison.
In
the future, when this sisterhood of the classroom dance comes
to an end and the twins pursue their careers, Nicole thinks
she wants to be “a sculptor and dance as a hobby,” while Natalie
entertains the possibility of becoming a “ballerina...or an
author and illustrator.”
Who
knows, they may well end up on another stage somewhere down
the line, but even if they don’t, the Neri sisters (and the
other students) will certainly take away from their childhood
a bright memory of their fouettés and flourishes under the direction
of Nadya Zubkov at the Arizona School of Classical Ballet.
And
that sounds like a show that’s sure to give not only Wendy Neri,
but everyone in attendance, the chills.
The
Arizona School of Classical Ballet Spring Performance runs May
20, 6:30 p.m. and May 21, 2 p.m. at the Cactus Shadows Fine
Arts Center, 33606 N. 60th St., Cave Creek. Tickets are $15 and $10 for children/seniors. Advance tickets
are available for $13 at the Arizona School of Classical Ballet,
20820 N. 25th Place, Suite 110‑112, (602) 494‑3400.
For information, contact (602) 494‑3400 or www.azclassicalballet.com.
Reach
the reporter at cmoore@thedesertadvocate.com.
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