Classical. Jazz. Hip-hop. An eclectic mix of music sets the tone for an upcoming dance recital in Santa Ynez, with songs including compositions by Alexander Glazunov, pop hits from Madonna, and Broadway showtunes.
Christine Fossemalle, artistic director of the Santa Ynez Valley Performing Arts Company, and her longtime assistant, Sonia Ibarra Corona, co-choreographed the showcase, titled An Invitation to Dance. The show has been an annual tradition for the company for more than three decades, but the pandemic prevented the studio from hosting the event in 2020 and 2021.
Fossemalle was able to continue teaching her dance students, who range from ages 7 to 18, outdoors in the parking lot of her studio during the COVID-19 crisis. But the 2022 showcase marks the first time since 2019 that the company will be able to perform on an indoor stage in front of an in-person audience.
“When you are confined, like we’ve been, you have time to think more, and the older I get, the more I appreciate how I’m passionate about my work and how it keeps me going,” said Fossemalle, who feels overjoyed about bringing the recital back after its two-year hiatus.
The theme of this year’s recital—described as an evening of “escape and enjoyment”—is “art feeds the soul,” which Fossemalle and Corona chose while setting out to explore how “other forms of art [besides dance] can inspire choreography,” Fossemalle explained.
“My assistant and I have been working on what inspires us, whether it’s painting, whether it’s sculpture,” Fossemalle said, adding that the dances in the recital were designed to capture ways in which different art forms can inspire one another.
One ballet segment in the show, for example, is a tribute to the art of French impressionist Edgar Degas.
“You cannot find anybody better [than Degas] to inspire you,” when it comes to ballet, Fossemalle said. “To my surprise, and I know I’m dealing with youngsters, but a lot of them do not even know who Degas was.”
Fossemalle said she hopes that the Degas dance and other art-inspired segments of the recital will have “long-term repercussions” on her students and will inspire them to continue learning about painters, sculptors, and other artists.
The Santa Ynez Valley Performing Arts Company will acknowledge four students who are graduating from the studio: Avanell Bratt, Claire Helton, Camryn Kemp, and Zefa Tullis-Thompson will each be honored before the end of the ceremony.
Tullis-Thompson’s graduation marks a historic moment for Fossemalle, as she also taught Tullis-Thompson’s mother how to dance when she was a child. This makes Tullis-Thompson the studio’s first second-generation graduate.
Fossemalle, who has been teaching dance for 37 years, said she feels incredibly lucky to have taught so many dedicated students over the years and feels grateful to continue teaching, especially after adjusting to the challenges of running the studio during the pandemic.
“We were lucky to have a big parking lot, so we built two outdoor studios with two tents,” Fossemalle said, recalling the first outdoor classes she taught in 2020—in a parking lot shared between her studio and a handful of neighbors.
The dance instructor expressed gratitude to her landlord and neighbors for their support, “because I really totally monopolized the whole parking lot,” she said.
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood’s favorite spot in Monopoly is “Free Parking.” Send comments to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 2-9, 2022.
