Bows of Gratitude

Thank you for making 2022 a year to remember. I’m grateful for your support and extremely proud of the achievements we have made together this year.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

As the curtain closed on our final production for 2022, I reflect with pride on all that we achieved this year. We set forth to provide service to our community, performing at various events at the City of Mountain View and partnering with local organizations, non-profits, and charities to find ways to create accessibility to the art of ballet, as many members of our community are struggling to recover from the challenges of the past three years due to COVID.

One of our most significant community service projects occurred last weekend. One of our Snow Queen performances at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts was complimentary, produced by Bayer Ballet Company (501c3). We were honored to perform for these organizations and their clients:

• Athena Academy

• Bill Wilson Center

• Campbell Unified School District

• Child Advocates of Silicon Valley

• Columbia Neighborhood Center

• East Side Union High School District

• Gamble Garden

• Girl Scouts of Northern California

• Health Trust

• Holy Family School

• Independence High School

• Kara - Grief Support

• Make-A-Wish® Greater Bay Area

• Mountain View Chamber of Commerce

• Mountain View Whisman School District

• MOVE Mountain View

• Pacific Clinics

• City of Union City Parkinson's Exercise Program

• Scouts of America

• STAND4 Inc

• Sunnyvale School District

• The Gronowski Center - Palo Alto University

• The Parent Venture

2022/23 PERFORMANCE SEASON

Bayer Ballet’s performance season is robust, from full-length ballets choreographed by world-renowned choreographers to competitions and community outreach performances.

Through these diverse performance outlets, the dancers learn adaptability, improvisation, teamwork, and interpersonal skills, which will benefit them in their academic and professional careers. I firmly believe that professionally-produced ballet performances are an integral component of ballet education; therefore, we invest heavily into providing the highest quality experience for these young dancers.

Bayer Ballet’s 2022/23 Season:

• The Rose & the Butterfly ~ a Love Story

• Springtime Fairy Tale

• Esmeralda ~ a One Act Suite & Classical Masterpieces (hosted displaced Ukrainian dancers)

• Snow Queen

• and more to be announced soon.

COMPETITION AWARDS & HONORS

We are very pleased to announce the receipt of top awards, scholarships and acceptances to prestigious programs. Competitions highlights include:

Youth America Grand Prix

• Outstanding School (2018-2022)

• Youth Grand Prix (2020, 2022, 2023)

• Best Choreographer

• Natalia Makarova Award for Artistry

• First Place Ensembles

• Multiple First Places

ADC | IBC

• First Place Ensemble

• First Place Duet/Trio

• First Place Juniors Division (Contemporary & Classical)

California Dance Classics

• Highest Scoring Ensemble (out of 61 ensembles)

• Gold Ensembles Classical - multiple awards

• Gold Ensembles Open

• Multiple Gold Awards

See full list of awards

COLLABORATIONS WITH INDUSTRY LEADERS

Every year we identify opportunities to elevate the arts in our community by creating opportunities for our dancers to engage industry leaders:

• Choreography Collaborations: We commissioned choreography by Vasily Medvedev, Stanislav Feco, Kira Fargas

• Professional Dancers: We hired dancers from the following companies - Slovak National Theater Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Ballet Theatre of Sibiu, Columbia City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Nashville Ballet II, Milwaukee Ballet II, UNCSA, University of California Irvine, University of Oklahoma

• Master Classes: Stanislav Feco, Olga Voloboueva, Alexei Moskalenko, MIsha Tchoupakov, Aram Manukyan, Marianna Rozanova, Adji Cissoko

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

This year we expanded our associations to include the following (noted with asterisk):

• Bayer Ballet is the only OFFICIAL PARTNER SCHOOL in California to the world-renowned Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg

• Nikolay Partner School*

• Member of the International Dance Council CID - UNESCO*

CONGRATULATIONS

…to all of our wonderful dancers, following a weekend of amazing performances of the Snow Queen. This year we had three different casts, which required dancers to learn multiple tracks. Thank you for your professionalism, diligent and smart work ethic, and for being so supportive of your peers. Making art requires trust and we are grateful to you for entrusting us on this journey. We are completely dedicated to giving you our best and it was reciprocated. We made art!

Thank you, artistic staff, for sharing your expertise with our dancers, working alongside me to successfully prepare them: Tatiana Ulitina, Giana Jigarhan, Miss Oxana, Erin Armstrong Micek, Arsen Serobian. I would also like to recognize the wonderful work of our Pre-Ballet Division staff, who all successfully passed the Bolshoi Ballet Academy’s Teacher Certification Program: Christina Kongaika, Dawn Sue, Sydney Strong, Juliet Sostena, and Maya Ma. The younger dancers were very well prepared for entry into the Upper Division Program and their Snow Queen debut. We are thankful to have such caring and supportive master instructors on faculty to guide our dancers and bring my vision to life.

Thank you, costume, sewing and props team, led by wardrobe mistresses, Megan Shore & Trina Whiteley, who worked countless hours to ensure every detail was perfect, sewing, altering and embellishing more than 200 costumes in the production.

Our production team (lighting design, projection design, sound, backstage and deck crew) introduced many new special effects, which were a beautiful contribution to the performance, led by Cassie Barnes and DESIRED EFFECTS.

“The glue,” our administration team, Heather Perez (marketing), Jackie Capozzi, Lisa So and Rimma Bobkova, led by Executive Director, Christine Wood, which holds the studio and productions together.

The patrons, who filled every seat of the MVCPA; it was our greatest pleasure to share our love for this artform with you. We had three SOLD OUT performances.

Thank you to our community and the City of Mountain View for keeping the arts alive in our beautiful city. We enjoyed performing at various community events, including the Multi-Cultural Festival, Holiday Bazaar, and Tree LIghting Celebration. It has been inspiring to see the community come together. It was a great honor to have Mayor Lucas Ramirez speak at opening night. Thank you for your support.

And the final bow goes to the parents and volunteers, who support the dancers’ dreams. Without you this magic wouldn’t be possible.

We wish we could publicly thank each and every person for their help. From our hearts, thank you!

WHAT’S NEXT

Not much time for "post show blues," as we enter competition season and prepare for Spring performances.

• December 19-January 6: Winter Contemporary & Classical Variations Workshops - REGISTER NOW

• February 5: Summer Intensive Auditions (ages 8-18+) - REGISTER TO AUDITION

• March 25-26: Pre-Ballet’s Springtime Fairytale At MVCPA - TICKETS ON SALE

• May 28-29: Esmeralda Suite & Gala at Palace of Fine Arts

• June 5: 3-Week Junior Summer Intensive (ages 8-10)

• June 5-23: Summer Camps (ages 5-8)

• June 26: 6-Week Summer Intensive (ages 9-18+)

• August 5: Summer Intensive Performance

*Schedule subject to change

Together, and with so much gratitude,

Inna Bayer

Artistic Director

Bayer Ballet - Vaganova Center of Excellence

REGISTER TO AUDITION

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Bayer Ballet (registered 501(c) (3) public charity organization, tax ID 26-3414450). The donations will help us purchase and install new sprung floors in our studios. Thank you for making a difference in our community and dancers' dreams.

DONATE

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ABOUT BAYER BALLET:

Founded in 2005, Bayer Ballet has gained international recognition for artistic excellence, as an educator of the Vaganova Method and producer of world-class performances.

Bayer Ballet Academy is the OFFICIAL PARTNER SCHOOL to the world-renowned Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg and Nikolay Official Partner School. Our award-winning faculty directly hail from the Vaganova Academy and Bolshoi, where they received their training, teaching credentials and advanced graduate degrees in pedagogy. Graduates of the Academy have been accepted into prestigious programs, including those of the Vaganova Ballet Academy, Paris Opera, American Ballet Theatre, Royal Ballet, Princess Grace Academy, and Bolshoi Ballet. Students of Bayer Ballet, have danced in European and American professional dance companies such as: Mariinsky Ballet, Eifman Ballet Saint Petersburg, Atlanta Ballet, Hrvatsko narodno kazalište HNK Split Balet / Croatian National Theater, State Ballet in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria and more. RECENT HONORS: Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) Outstanding School (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), Grand Prix (2020, 2022, 2023), Natalia Makarova Award for Artistry (2022); World Ballet Competition (WBC), Gold Medalist; Prix de Lausanne - 2 participants (2020).

Bayer Ballet Company, the 501(c)3 public charity organization, is dedicated to enhancing the cultural well-being of our community by contributing enriching cultural experiences and equitable accessibility to the art of classical ballet (Vaganova Method), through educational and interactive events and world-class performances.