Local Ballet Students to Perform in NYC on Saturday

Local students of the Ballet Theatre Company of West Hartford will be participating in the annual Summer Streets Festival of New York, on Saturday.

The festival promotes exercise and healthy living along the streets of the city from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park, along Park Avenue, and connecting to the nearby streets. The eight Ballet Theatre Company students will be joining the Exit12 Dance Company of Manhattan to perform a contemporary selection at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 16 in Foley Square.

The students are Mollie Petrizzo, Conard High and Lydia Henning, all of West Hartford; Hall High student Olivia Lucas; Bristol Middle School student Susannah Major; Lavinia Kosher of Farmington, and Margot Paul and Megan Leary of Berlin.

BTC Artistic Director and General Manager Roman Baca produced the choreography, and each piece articulates the values of each dance company.

Ballet Theatre Company will perform “Yarjuun,” which originated in Iraq with Marine Baca’s students in 2012. The piece is Kurdish for “hope,” and Baca says he “brought the dance to BTC to bridge cultures and add a contemporary ballet twist to the authentic Middle Eastern piece.” Exit12 will perform “Sometimes, Silence,” a heartwarming performance conveying the feelings a mother experienced when her two sons were deployed to Afghanistan.

Photo: courtesy of Ballet Theatre Company.