By Matthew Ball, Sports Editor
Every year, Reynolds features campus-wide events that aim to provide a top-notch level of arts exposure to students and the local community. Last year, the Twin Poets shared the power of spoken-word poetry in the fall and founding member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Mark Wood played with RJR musicians in the “Electrify Your Strings” event in the spring.
This year, the Charlotte Ballet will be showcased as the big fall arts event. On Wednesday (Nov. 12), the ballet will have a 7 o’clock ticketed show in the Reynolds Auditorium for the general public. Thursday, the ballet will present a school-wide performance.
“By graduation, students should have viewed eight high-quality arts-oriented performances or shows,” Arts Magnet Director Karen Morris said. “It’s a big deal (the Charlotte Ballet) is coming.”
The school-wide event will feature concepts including sit-ins, voting rights, environmental activism, rainforest deforestation, kinetic energy, coal mining and recycling. During the school-wide performance, a lecture/demonstration format will include narration and time for questions.
The Charlotte Ballet, founded in 1970, is the oldest professional ballet company in North Carolina. The program is widely thought of as one of Charlotte’s premier arts organizations and is nationally recognized for its excellence. The company’s education and outreach program boasts that students’ reading and writing test scores are linked to art-focused school programs.
Morris hopes students realize how fortunate they are to be able to view the performance for free during the school day. After first period Thursday, students will report to their 2B classes and then sit with those classes in assigned seats in the auditorium.
“Everyone should come to the performance,” she said. “This is truly a special opportunity for the Reynolds students and community.”
That includes Career Center students, who often are confused about how to attend RJR events or simply choose to skip them. For this event, specific instructions have been issued for those at Career Center:
- Early a.m. students will return in time from Career Center
- Mid-morning Career Center students will remain at RJR and sign in on the porch of the auditorium for attendance-reporting purposes to Career Center. Career Cemter students can sit in any open seats in the auditorium. They will not have a separate section.
Senior Dancing Boot Mary Katherine Conaway is thrilled to be working with such a prestigious group and encouraged students to enjoy the performances. Conaway said the dancing staff and students are working hard to prepare to perform alongside the Charlotte Ballet.
“It’s good to be exposed to all art forms as well as support artists at Reynolds,” she said. “Two of the advanced dance classes are developing two separate pieces for the performance. It will be great.”
Several members of the Charlotte Ballet will be spending time in classrooms Wednesday for a variety of lessons. In addition to visual arts and photography students working with the dancers, anatomy and history classes will welcome them in. Introduction to Journalism students will even interview some of the dancers in a press conference format and write stories to be posted at PineWhispers.com.
Wednesday night’s performance, which takes place at 7, will feature Reynolds’ advanced dance students performing with the professional dancers. The contemporary ballet will feature choreography centered on blues music, black history and environmental issues that center around RJR’s magnet theme of social justice and human rights. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online or at the door (Legacy passes are not accepted to this event to help pay for the Charlotte Ballet’s collaboration.)
To buy tickets ahead of time, follow this link: