Dear Friends,
I am excited to invite you to our 8th annual End of Year Performances! This marks the end of an incredibly successful year at Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education. We branched out in the competition arena attending the Youth America Grand Prix in New York and definitely put TBCDE on the map with a top 12 finish! Our Pre-Professional Ensemble had a fabulous year which resulted in two members being promoted into our main Company. And our summer workshop, Pointe to the Future, is shaping up to be a record breaking year. We have much to celebrate: our accomplishments, our wonderful faculty, and especially our talented students.
Students in our school are truly exceptional; they have a level of dedication and ability that allows them to thrive in the studio. Their desire to learn coupled with our extraordinary artistic faculty from all over the world is a definite road to success. I know their hours of hard work will be evident on the stage.
The purpose of our performances is quite simple: to showcase the training and technique of our students. Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education is a training facility for students who love the art of dance, from beginning ballet students to those pursuing professional careers. We want to ensure all levels of dancers receive the same quality instruction whether they attend one day per week or six days per week.
I hope you will join us as we showcase our dancers and I thank you for your continued support of Tulsa Ballet. I am extremely proud of our students, as I know you will be!
~Stacey Jenkins
Director of Education and Outreach
Pre-Professional Division Performances
Tulsa Ballet ~ Studio K
Friday, May 20th 7pm
Saturday, May 21st 7pm
Sunday, May 22nd 2pm
Tickets are available at the Tulsa Ballet reception desk Monday through Friday from 4-8pm; tickets are $10 and seating is general admission.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Marcello Angelini honors retiring principal dancer Ashley Blade-Martin
Ashley Blade-Martin in Sleeping Beauty. Photo by Sharen Bradford.
When I came to Tulsa 16 years ago, the thought of
a dancer spending most of his or her career and
retiring with my company was not something I ever
would have imagined happening. But at the end of
this season, this will become a reality when we see
one of Tulsa Ballet’s most dedicated dancers take
her last bow.
After 12 seasons with our company, Ashley Blade-
Martín, or just “Blade” as I like to call her, has decided
to hang up her pointe shoes. While it is heartbreaking
for all of us to think that we will no longer experience
Ashley’s beautiful artistry, it is important that we take
time during her last performances to celebrate her
career and many contributions to the company.
We are all going to miss Ashley. She is part of Tulsa
Ballet’s backbone, one of those handful of dancers
who made the company into what it is today. With
her husband Alfonso Martín, she has survived
many iterations of the company and inspired many
generations of dancers, patrons and audience
members. Her respect for the art form, commitment
to the company, willingness to set the standards for
the rest of the company not only on stage but every
minute of every day, in the studio or in the theater,
is the “stuff” that makes a dancer lead a company
of artists from all over the world into a cohesive,
polished and attractive troupe. The differences
people like Ashley make distinguish the ordinary
from the extraordinary.
Ashley will pursue a career in nursing, a calling she
identified early in her life. We all wish her a brilliant
career in the medical field and an equal amount
of success and personal accomplishment as she
achieved in dance. Ashley, you will be missed!
Marcello Angelini,
Artistic Director
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