The Marblehead School of Ballet is commemorating its 51st anniversary with a special upcoming show.
The Summer Dance Intensive Performance will be an hour-long act on Saturday, July 29 at 1:30 p.m. at MSB’s studio on 115 Pleasant St.
The school was founded in 1971 by Paula K. Shiff, who soon expanded it by also founding the North Shore Civic Ballet Company three years later. NSCB functions as a nonprofit fundraising branch for MSB. It also provides concert performances and a variety of educational programs for schools that are suitable for different age groups and levels of development.
Shiff is still heavily involved entering year 51. She is the artistic director and will be choreographing portions of the upcoming event.
The Summer Dance Intensive is a three-week program that culminates in the performance. Students practice and prepare a range of repertory, including ballet, modern, and Spanish Pasodoble.
They will be performing works created by NSCB choreographer Ivan Korn, New York City’s BALAM Dance Theatre Director Carlos Fittante, MSB Instructor Nancy Murphy, and the late ballet dancer and choreographer Marius Pepita.
Shiff explained what the program experience is like for students and how their work will pay off when the curtains open.
“The performance culminates the 2023 Summer Dance Intensive program and various technique classes,” Shiff said in a press release. “During the first two weeks of the Intensive, the dancers focus on their ballet and modern technique. They also enrich their knowledge with related disciplines, such as other dance genres, acting for dancers, Pilates, anatomy, and more. The Summer Dance Intensive concludes with the dancers learning, rehearsing and bringing many works of choreography to life in a studio performance open to the public to see and enjoy.”
The Summer Dance Intensive is sponsored by the Ruth N. Shiff Memorial Fund. The fund also supports merit-based scholarships for aspiring dancers to attend the summer intensive.