Ballet is not for sissies.
“It’s a lot of hard work,” said Natalee Tubaugh, Carthage, Mo., who dances the leading role in the Midwest Regional Ballet production of the classic fairy tale “Cinderella.”
The ballet will be presented at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium. Tickets are $10 for adults and $6 for senior citizens and children.
Two special performances were presented Thursday for local school children. Tubaugh and other dancers answered questions from students following the ballet.
Patrick Chism, Cinderella’s Prince Charming, said he got the role when the previous prince broke his foot.
“My girlfriend is a dancer, and I was an extra in the ballroom scene,” he said. “I was the only man left, and they begged me to be the prince.”
He’s only been dancing a month, but Tubaugh said she started 13 years ago, when she was 3,
Cinderella’s wicked step-sisters are danced by Cynthia Moss and Kaye Lewis, who is artistic director of the Joplin-based Midwest Regional Ballet. Youngsters in the audience asked Lewis why the two sisters were fighting all the time.
“Don’t you fight with your sister?” Lewis asked. Most of the children in the audience yelled, “Yes!” at the top of their lungs.
Lewis also explained to the students that the ballet version of the fairy tale has many differences from the Disney cartoon. “In the cartoon, Cinderella’s father is dead, but in the ballet he’s alive,” she said.
Pittsburg attorney John Mazurek plays the father.
“Kaye called me and said she needed a father,” he said. “You don’t say no to Kaye, and I’ve always wanted to learn to dance.”
His son, Ben Mazurek, plays the dancer hired to teach the wicked stepsisters to dance. Susie Lundy, Pittsburg, has the role of the wicked stepmother.
Other lead dancers include Taylor Mann as fairy godmother, Jenna Garretson as the spring fairy, Jordan Luton as the summer fairy, Allison Black as the autumn fairy and Lyndsay Morgan as the winter fairy.
The dancers wear elaborate costumes, created and/or decorated by Lewis, and Cinderella gets a ride in a pumpkin coach pulled by several dancers dressed as white horses.
“We couldn’t do that part for you today because the horses couldn’t get out of school,” Lewis told the children.
The Pittsburg performances will be the first for “Cinderella,” followed by a benefit to support Children’s Miracle Network at 7 p.m. Nov. 21 in the Joplin Memorial Hall. Prior to this show will be a “Glass Slipper Tea Party” with the cast and CMN members and hospital staff.
Lewis said the show will wrap up the season Dec. 19 and 20 at the historic Coleman Theater, Miami, Okla.
Anyone wishing additional information may call the Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium box office at 231-7827 or visit midwestregionalballet@hotmail.com.
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Ballet is not for sissies.
“It’s a lot of hard work,” said Natalee Tubaugh, Carthage, Mo., who dances the leading role in the Midwest Regional Ballet production of the classic fairy tale “Cinderella.”
The ballet will be presented at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium. Tickets are $10 for adults and $6 for senior citizens and children.
Two special performances were presented Thursday for local school children. Tubaugh and other dancers answered questions from students following the ballet.
Patrick Chism, Cinderella’s Prince Charming, said he got the role when the previous prince broke his foot.
“My girlfriend is a dancer, and I was an extra in the ballroom scene,” he said. “I was the only man left, and they begged me to be the prince.”
He’s only been dancing a month, but Tubaugh said she started 13 years ago, when she was 3,
Cinderella’s wicked step-sisters are danced by Cynthia Moss and Kaye Lewis, who is artistic director of the Joplin-based Midwest Regional Ballet. Youngsters in the audience asked Lewis why the two sisters were fighting all the time.
“Don’t you fight with your sister?” Lewis asked. Most of the children in the audience yelled, “Yes!” at the top of their lungs.
Lewis also explained to the students that the ballet version of the fairy tale has many differences from the Disney cartoon. “In the cartoon, Cinderella’s father is dead, but in the ballet he’s alive,” she said.
Pittsburg attorney John Mazurek plays the father.
“Kaye called me and said she needed a father,” he said. “You don’t say no to Kaye, and I’ve always wanted to learn to dance.”
His son, Ben Mazurek, plays the dancer hired to teach the wicked stepsisters to dance. Susie Lundy, Pittsburg, has the role of the wicked stepmother.
Other lead dancers include Taylor Mann as fairy godmother, Jenna Garretson as the spring fairy, Jordan Luton as the summer fairy, Allison Black as the autumn fairy and Lyndsay Morgan as the winter fairy.
The dancers wear elaborate costumes, created and/or decorated by Lewis, and Cinderella gets a ride in a pumpkin coach pulled by several dancers dressed as white horses.
“We couldn’t do that part for you today because the horses couldn’t get out of school,” Lewis told the children.
The Pittsburg performances will be the first for “Cinderella,” followed by a benefit to support Children’s Miracle Network at 7 p.m. Nov. 21 in the Joplin Memorial Hall. Prior to this show will be a “Glass Slipper Tea Party” with the cast and CMN members and hospital staff.
Lewis said the show will wrap up the season Dec. 19 and 20 at the historic Coleman Theater, Miami, Okla.
Anyone wishing additional information may call the Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium box office at 231-7827 or visit midwestregionalballet@hotmail.com.
