The Ballet School of Vermont in the Press
Seven Days Calendar Spotlight June 9, 2011: The Northern Vermont Ballet Company and The Ballet Scho
ol of Vermont present this classic tale of enchantment.
"Charm School" by Carolyn Fox of Seven Days
Fueled by a Tchaikovsky score, a princely kiss, and the enchantments of fairies good and evil, Sleeping Beauty deserves its reputation as one of the 19th century’s most sumptuous and complex ballets. But for all the magic that takes place onstage, it’s really the dancing that determines whether the audience falls under the spell. This weekend, the Ballet School of Vermont and its Northern Vermont Ballet Company for advanced dancers will lay on the charm in a full-length theater production featuring professional dancer Phillip Skaggs (pictured) from Virginia’s Richmond Ballet. Noted by Dance Magazine for his “full-out, fearless energy,” Skaggs will join 119 students — ranging from beginners to en pointe dancers — in a work of elaborate staging by artistic director Maryellen Vickery.
BSVT thanks the St. Albans Messenger for permission to reprint the following article from their Oct. 10, 2008 edition. The Summer of 2010, The Ballet School and Dance Arts changed it's name to "The Ballet School of Vermont."
Ballet’s toehold in St. Albans; Maryellen Vickery nourishes an ‘act of love’
By JESSICA PURVIS FROST, Messenger Correspondent
ST. ALBANS — As soon as the chatty pre-teen girls enter the studio at The Ballet School of Vermont (BSVT), they transform into attentive young women.
Their teacher, Maryellen Vickery, quickly shows the first combination at the barre and they near flawlessly perform it with precision, strength and artistry. These girls are not your typical pre-teens. As the mother of a student, Penny Hayes, says, “Maryellen expects the best from her students and because she has earned their respect, they give her their best.”
BSVT is earning a reputation throughout Franklin County and beyond as the crème de la crème of ballet schools.
Vicky Shaw, a parent and trained dancer, says, “I can say confidently that
the training and ballet theater experience my daughter is receiving from BSVT is tremendous. I had to wait until college and go out of state to take classes from instructors the caliber of BSVT's faculty and to have the stage experience BSVT provides.”
The woman behind all of the fervor is Maryellen Vickery, who established BSVT in 2001 and has seen both her students and the school grow ever since.
Vickery started dancing as a child, under her mother, Ruth Vickery’s direction. She excelled and continued her training with renowned schools throughout high school. She continues to study at the Burklyn Ballet Theater to maintain her skills and keep current with the dance world.
Tammy Johnson, who lives in Fairfield and is parent of a ballet student
says, “Maryellen is a wonderful instructor with so much training and experience.
We are incredibly lucky to live in such a small, rural community and still have access to such a fantastic resource for dance instruction.”
Vickery landed in St. Albans somewhat by chance. She had been teaching in
Essex and Stowe, while living in the Milton/Georgia area, when she had her son.
She decided that she no longer wanted to commute to Stowe and was looking for an
area that could support a ballet school. This prompted a drive northward and
landed her in St. Albans, where her studio was established in 2001 and, as of
last July, so was her home.
As a testament to the training that occurs at BSVT, students travel from
as far as Burlington, Underhill and Newport to study under Vickery, her staff
and the abundance of guest teachers that she has visit her school.
Guest teachers visit BSVT several times a year and they all come with
impressive resumes.
Recently, Chérie Noble visited the school to offer intensive training. Noble is from Philadelphia, Pa. and is nationally recognized for her knowledge
and skills as a teacher, professional dancer and choreographer.
Vickery explains, “My students always have classes with me, so it is good
for someone with a big resume to come in and say the same things that I am
saying to reinforce to the students that they are getting the proper training.
It is also good for the students to have a teacher that may be out of their
comfort zone or that they may connect with differently than me.”
Aside from the guest teachers, her regular teaching staff offers a caliber
of experience that is usually not seen in a local ballet school.
Chatch Pregger, of Fair Haven, has traveled the country as a professional
member of ballet companies, such as the Houston Ballet, Washington Ballet and
the Boston Ballet. He has since moved back to Vermont and is teaching at BSVT.
Vickery would love to eventually see him have a ballet class of all boys at the
school.
BSVT offers a range of classes starting with 3½-year-old tiny ballerinas
up to adult classes. The most advanced group is the En Pointe class.
Vickery explains, “It takes 10 years to grow an advanced dancer. The
training starts around six years old, so by 16 they are advanced.”
The En Pointe group trains at BSVT three times a week, which includes two,
two-hour classes during the week and a three-hour class on Saturday. There is
also the option to take a fourth ballet class during the week.
The training does incorporate modern dance and jazz, but the foundation is
ballet. Vickery emphasizes that ballet is the basis for all other forms of
dance. Once a student is effectively trained in ballet, she or he can excel in
any other format.
Although she anticipates that some of her students will go on to have a
career in dance, Vickery sees benefits of ballet training for all children.
“Ballet training gives children discipline, presence and posture. It
creates a very effective memory and coordinates the body very well. Ballet has
been studied and compared to other sports and it is one of the hardest physical
activities. Not only is it a complete discipline, mentally engaging and
physically challenging; it is also artistic because of the music and the lines
created by the body.”
The current En Pointe class also has the added benefit of accompaniment by a live pianist, Joseph Pepper. Pepper played for the Kansas City Ballet and is now a part of UVM’s faculty and plays every Monday night at BSVT. Vickery hopes to expand his
playing time in the future.
Each spring BSVT concludes the school year with the production of a
storyline ballet, such as The Nutcracker, Snow White and Pinocchio. The show is
held in June at the Dibden Theater at Johnson State College, where the Burklyn
Ballet Theater has a two-week summer program.
Speaking of the June show, Vickery says, “It is wonderful. A crew of
college students who are majoring in theater arts help to run the show. In
Pinocchio they helped create eight to 10 backdrops.
“We also had a multi-media show with images projected on a backdrop, which can not be accomplished in a high school theater.”
The parents are also huge fans of the June show. Kirsten Belrose, a
mother of two students says, “Maryellen's creativity will amaze you when you see
how she has been able to adapt different fairy tales, or traditional ballet
stories to fit the developmental levels of all her dancers, providing everyone a
role in telling the story.”
In short, Maryellen Vickery has a deep love of dancing and looks at her
school as an “act of love.” She wants her students to thrive.
Belrose sums it up when she says, “The professional experience, training
and expertise of Maryellen and The Ballet School, combined with the nurturing
guidance students receive as individuals, has allowed my daughters and other
students to develop poise, grace, and skills as dancers, along with the
confidence we want all young girls to have.”
