Malenkee Dancers Make Some New Fans At The Homesteads

By Shannon Hicks

The Malenkee Ballet Repertoire Company presented its first performance last weekend under its new director, and the young dancers once again charmed their audience.

The 20 girls who make up the company visited The Homesteads at Newtown on September 22 to perform The Magic Key and Etudes. The one-hour performance drew a small but appreciative crowd at the town’s newest assisted-living facility.

“I’m so proud of them,” company director Jennifer Johnston said this week.

The Malenkee company was formed in 1980 by Marsha Ismailoff Mark, its founding director. Mrs Mark was, at the time, the artistic director of Marsha Ismailoff Mark School of Ballet, a dance school located on Mt Pleasant Road in Newtown. When she retired earlier this year, Mrs Mark decided to pass the baton of the Malenkee company’s directorship to a former student and her assistant and coordinator of the company, Miss Johnston.

Miss Johnston has continued not only the Malenkee company but also opened a studio of her own, Newtown Centre of Classical Ballet. The Malenkee company is now the official ballet company of the studio, on Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center.

The performances selected for last Saturday afternoon were originally choreographed by Mrs Mark. Her choreography was always meant to be appealing to audiences of all ages.

In addition to performances, Malenkee Company programs can also have members present demonstrations at the barre of the different positions of ballet and techniques from which all ballet movement originates. The dancers have also been known to encourage audience participation, either through questions from those in attendance or even with audience members participating in dance movement with the ballet company members.

Etudes, the first of Saturday’s offerings, is a charming ballet that offers its audience a look at a typical ballet class, complete with giggling young dancers and a strict teacher, all of whom adore each other. A dancer performing the role of Ballet Mistress takes the stage and watches as her students perform excerpts from the Bolshoi repertoire — “Pointe Show Trivia,” “Variation I,” “Variation II,” “Nayada é Rebok,” and “Coppélia — before the entire cast of dancers joins for a finalé.

The Magic Key also includes a number of dancers portraying students. The students in this number are focused on bringing to life a number of life-size dolls, including Raggedy Ann, a Chinese doll, Coppélia, Tarantella, a Russian doll, a toy soldier, and a bluebird, all through the magic of a gold key. The finalé of this story also includes its full cast.

Both of these dance numbers were performed last year during the Newtown Holiday Festival, and both of the presentations received thundering applause. Last Saturday, the girls brought acclaim to themselves from an entirely new group of dance enthusiasts.

“They didn’t seem at all nervous, in fact they were pretty confident. They were great,” Miss Johnston enthused. The dancers began preparations for the Homesteads performance just two weeks ago, “but this was a ballet they had already known and performed before, so they were able to get right back into step,” continued Miss Johnston.

The audience of between two and three dozen people allowed the dancers to get very close to those in attendance.

“They were able to perform right next to the audience,” Miss Johnston said. “They were great little actors, and I think that they connected.

“With something like this,” she continued, “it’s just a lot of fun.”

For those who missed Saturday’s performance, it will be nearly three months before the public has another opportunity to enjoy a Malenkee Ballet Repertoire Company performance. The dancers are scheduled to perform scenes from The Nutcracker Ballet during the 16th Annual Newtown Holiday Festival on Sunday, December 2.