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Dear Friend:

The Hartfel Ballet uniquely redefines the art of ballet, declaring it a truly American art form celebrating human potential. The choreography is highly innovative, unpredictable, and moves with seamless abandon. As an audience, you are dancing with them, embracing the heart and soul of their experience…a dance of today and tomorrow.

COMPANY AUDITIONS: We are always looking for new talent. Call or email to schedule a private audition, or send your video. Mail your video to: The Hartfel Ballet, 16458 Bolsa Chica Street, Box 162, Huntington Beach, CA 92649

We are looking for 25 female advanced ballet dancers ages 16 (no age limit) for open company and apprentice positions. Please contact us for more information and check the MYSPACE calendar for upcoming performances and auditions! Pay is currently per performance, and we are raising funds for 42 week contracts for all current dancers for 2009-2010 season. (714) 925-9806 or audition@hartfel.org

FROM THE DIRECTOR
Dance isn’t a matter of bending knees or torsos, but of bending minds and spirits. This art delves into dimensional thinking that other disciplines don’t dare attempt.

Imagine an absolutely perfect world. Everything has its perfect place. Every word is absolutely correct. There is no way to communicate, except perfectly. Imagine how miserable and suffocating that world would be, without the possibility of variation: With no place for the mercurial or capricious. This world would painfully lack Nature and all the glory of its spontaneous embodiment.

Hartfel places complete trust in the inspired breath that spontaneity can bring. For those who are willing to surrender their need for perfectionism, this approach facilitates a ubiquitous understanding of the meaning and power of potential that resides in the self.

Each member of Hartfel does not work to be perfect, or absolutely upright, but instead cultivates an understanding of their frail and alterable natures. Our goal is to make the hidden nuances within the individual clearer and more influential. Hartfel strives to discover “the freedom of commitment.” Spontaneity and invention empower those who desire liberation from the confining closet of perfectionism.

I like to dwell on what I call the “one-degree syndrome.” Imagine two lines that are separated by one degree. At first glance, they seem to be very close together. But then imagine these two lines trailing off into an infinite distance. Now the distance between the two lines has the potential of becoming infinite as well. Now that one degree has become a rather significant distance. However, simply by shifting one of the lines by a single degree, the lines experiences a profound and significant change as it moves closer to “connecting” with the other line.

The same principle applies to a person’s self-concept and creative capacities. Sometimes a person’s perception of their creative capacity is a mere “one degree” separate from reality. Simply changing that person’s awareness, even slightly, can have the same significant impact as moving one of the lines closer to the other. As self-concept and creative capacity move closer together, the dancer experiences profound change. Its range of influence extends into the whole of a person’s life and increasingly broadens their creativity as an artist. He or she begins to move more fluidly, with more strength of soul. The dance becomes an organic experience that, in turn, brings the audience one degree closer to the art.

This is one process that I use to broaden the scope of each dancer’s understanding of their own strengths and inner velocity. One significant degree at a time.

At your service,

John Welch Artistic Director, Hartfel Ballet