“We’ve really prepped the kids,” Berger said.
Students performed as the characters from the ballet with the music playing in their classrooms. Each student got a chance to perform as the character of their choice.
They were also taught to recognize the different instruments in the ballet that represented the different characters on stage.
“They’re not experts, but they have some familiarity with it now,” she said.
In the next six weeks, students in three classes will learn the techniques of ballet and the art of dance from Media City Ballet instructors.
Friday’s performance was a primer for the children who will participate in the courses and a solidifying experience for those who had learned about the ballet in the previous week.
As the play unfolded, students in the darkened crowd watched the five performers lengthen their limbs and leap through the air on the small stage.
In full costume, there was a wolf, a duck, a hunter, Peter, his grandfather, a cat and a bright blue bird, played by Tatiana A’Virmond, the mother of a kindergartner at the school.
“I saw there was a lot of texture and a lot of feeling in the performance,” said Adrian Cortes, 10. “They did their movements really slick.”
Adrian and his class had been listening to the ballet and acting out the characters in between their course work for the past week.
He enjoyed the performance even though there was no talking. Aubrey Herbertson, 10, agreed.
“They must have had to practice a lot,” Aubrey said.
Even though all the classes at the school will not take the extra six courses in the next month and a half, students were still exposed to the ballet as part of the grant through Friday’s performance, Berger said.
“Everybody doesn’t always have the experience of seeing the ballet, so it was good to have it at the school,” fourth-grade teacher Jessica Schackne said after the performance in the school’s auditorium.
RACHEL KANE covers education. She may be reached at (818) 637-3205 or by e-mail at rachel.kane@latimes.com.
