Canceled Arts on the Allegheny Event Returns this Weekend

by Jonathan Weaver

An Arts on the Allegheny summer musical event cancelled in July is moving indoors this weekend.

The Ohio ballet company, Verb Ballet, was originally to perform will dance to four numbers on-stage at the John P. Murtha Amphitheater in Kittanning July 19, but was cancelled due to weather.

At the Kittanning Borough Council meeting last month, Councilwoman and Parks, Recreation and Arts Committee Chair Joie Pryde announced the show was rescheduled for this Sunday night – March 14 – in the 10th Street Station in Ford City.

Verb Ballet Director Dr. Margaret Carlson has been associated with the company since 2002. A former Principal dancer with the Cleveland Ballet, her nine dancers – including one summer intern –traveled to 16 locations in the Ohio/Pennsylvania region during their 10-month season. The season began again at the end of January in Cleveland, Ohio at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

“We just had a big turnover – of the eight dancers we had in `13-14, four of them retired so half the company is brand new,” Carlson said. “A dancer’s career is not that long – it’s like that of a gymnast or a football player’s career. It’s a high-intensity physical activity that tends to have the same injuries you would see in football (to produce) a lot of wear-and-tear on the body. The average age of retirement is between age 28 and 32.

“A lot of these dancers started when they were three years old, so they’ve been dancing their entire lives.”

More than 100 dancers from across the globe auditioned at this time last year - in March and April - for the four openings.

Stephaen Hood, a native of Baltimore, Md., is one of those new dancers.

Hood graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2013 and spent another year studying before auditioning last Spring.

“It was beautiful – I couldn’t have been happier,” Hood said. “I called my mom right away and the first thing she told me was, ‘This is exactly what you wanted.’ It didn’t even become real to me until my mom said it.”

Hood – a track and football athlete and charter high school coach - didn’t start taking dance lessons until his senior year of high school after auditions for a school musical.

Before the outdoor show, Hood – along with other dancers – was to be teaching a 30-minute class Saturday afternoon to Kittanning Senior High basketball players full of gymnastics training and upper body work to get the most out of jumps.

Arts on the Allegheny Executive Director Mary Ann Valasek is next-door neighbors with Head Coach Bill Henry and thought the class, along with a master class at the same time at Rivercliff Terrace Annex in Kittanning, was a great idea to get-in-touch with the community.

“The mission of Arts on the Allegheny is to enrich the cultural life of Western Pennsylvania by presenting high-quality entertainment at the Murtha Amphitheatre – we can’t always have rock or country bands or a contemporary offering. This group is just as important to our mission,” Valasek said.

Performers have a show next week as well at NEOSonicFest – a new four-day music fest at Baldwin-Wallace University in Berea, Ohio through the Cleveland Chamber Symphony.

Free tickets are available at three locations in Downtown Kittanning (Sprankle’s Market, Armstrong Community Foundation, and the Tourist Bureau) and at Nellie’s on Ford in Ford City.