Jan Collum, Founding Director-
"Miss Jan," as she was called, was born Mary Jane Boles in 1919 in Omaha, Nebraska. She began taking dance classes at age 10 in Seattle, after the family moved there. By age 16, she was regularly performing up to four shows a day at Seattle's Pantages Theatre while attending high school. Her dance training included study at the San Francisco Ballet School, after which she toured North America in musicals.
She married Lester Collum and followed him to his army post in Tokyo, where she became an assistant to dancer/choreographer Michio Ito. She taught and choreographed for the Kamaki Ballet and the Tokyo Ballet, and produced the first Les Sylphides in Tokyo.
After the war, she returned to the Seattle area, where she taught ballet at Cornish College of the Arts and established the Jan Collum School of Classical Ballet in Tacoma. She developed a performing company, eventually known as the Tacoma City Ballet, which attained regional prominence.
Collum received awards from Tacoma Allied Arts, the Tacoma Arts Commission, and the City of Tacoma. A founding member of Regional Dance America, she was known as a tireless, firm, patient, and gentle teacher. Her ballet classes were beautifully constructed, with a special emphasis on petit allegro and life lessons. The school still follows her syllabus.
Erin Ceragioli, Artistic Director-
Erin Ceragioli has mastered the classical ballet syllabi of the English, Italian, Danish, French and Russian schools through numerous years of study with many fine artists and master teachers as both a dancer and an instructor.
After a professional career in dance, she pursued academics, graduating with three degrees, but returned to her first love, the ballet.
Aside from teaching, she has forged a reputation for innovative choreography and has had seven original ballets chosen for performance at Regional Dance America/Pacific Festivals. In 1995, Jan Collum School of Classical Ballet became Tacoma City Ballet where she resides as Master Teacher and Artistic Director.
Faculty:
Erin Ceragioli
Kabby Mitchell III
Danielle Vesey
Melissa Lovejoy
Crystal Smith
Travis Goldman
Secretary: Karlina Greetham
All of our innate and essential impulses are expressed through movement. From birth, we communicate with our bodies establishing physical movement as a medium of expression. Childhood is a time of optimal growth when structured movement enables us to develop confidence and joy as we experience our world. From childhood to young adulthood, the technique of classical ballet shapes the body into a sophisticated instrument. Whether you choose to pursue a professional career in dance, or desire only to sculpt body and soul, the art of classical ballet will transcend your being for the rest of your life. It is our privilege to share in the growth of those who come to Tacoma City Ballet.
Tacoma City Ballet endeavors to provide high quality, comprehensive classical ballet training for dancers in the Puget Sound area. Miss Jan Collum originally founded the school in 1955 as The Jan Collum School of Classical Ballet. The methods of Danish, English, French, Italian and Russian schools are taught in a carefully graded syllabus. Contemporary techniques are also imparted to strengthen the body, encourage flexibility and correct anatomical problems. Performance skills are taught from a young age through creative class exercises and participation in a bi-annual school performance. Young dancers are also given the opportunity to audition for childrens roles in the ballets performed by Tacoma City Ballet Company.
As dancers advance technically and artistically, they may audition to become members of the performing company. Tacoma City Ballet Company members are presented with many professional performance opportunities. Each season Tacoma City Ballet presents a full-length Nutcracker. The company also produces many full-length classical and original works. And the school presents a bi-annual recital.
This season, Artistic Director Erin Ceragioli and Tacoma City Ballet present a sundry of visually profound and original ballets in collaboration with visual artists and accompanied by live orchestra under the direction of Christophe Chagnard.
Tacoma City Ballet celebrates its 53rd season of performances in Tacoma.
The Haunted Theatre:
Backstage Tour and Eerie Dances
The Merlino Art Center
in
Tacoma City Ballet
October 23, 24 & 30 at 5:30 and 7:00pm
October 31 at 2:30, 4:00 and 5:30pm
$5 Admission
Delight us with your costume!
For tickets call 253.272.4219
Ya know, you and your page are what MySpace is all about.
You ROCK!
"The Season" is nearly upon us. When you're in the mood to blast some techno Sugar Plum Fairy, or chill out to Arabian Dance, you know where to find it!
So, I just wanted to let all you TCBers know that I'm coming back for Nutcracker this year! This will probably be my last year to come back! :( But I can't wait to see you all again! I miss you!
