A cluster of small deer stood still at the edge of the lawn: Mary Morrison, Hannah Neeb, Micah Loutensock, Ellie Raedy, and Gwen Tait dressed in brown leotards with cotton tails ready for a dress rehearsal for this year's Newtown Centre of Classical Ballet and Voice spring recital.The Four Seasons and the classic ballet Les Sylphides on Sunday, June 11, at noon and 3 pm, at Edmond Town Hall. 'Four Seasons is only 30 minutes, and Ms Gozzi "was happy to couple it with a completely different styled ballet, Les Sylphides," which also runs for half an hour. The second play was originally choreographed by Michel Fokine to the music of Frederic Chopin in 1909.Les Sylphides, who is spending her summer and senior year with the Pittsburg Ballet Theatre school by invitation, Ms Gozzi said.

Students this year will be performing

"Admission is complimentary, as always, for our shows," said NCCB Artistic Director Tory Gozzi. "We put them on for the enjoyment of the whole town."

Four Seasons this year "because I wanted to restage this child-friendly ballet that was choreographed here in town by the studio's original owner, Marsha Ismailoff Mark."

She chose

Ms Mark opened the studio out of her Newtown residence in 1969. "Ballet in the Meadow," staged outdoors in a small field adjacent to Ms Mark's Mt Pleasant Road home, become a Newtown staple for many years, Ms Gozzi said.

The school later passed to protege Jennifer Johnston Cebry, who took over in 2001. It then passed to Ms Cebry's protégé, Ms Gozzi, in 2013.

Ms Cebry staged the ballet every four years to keep the tradition alive, Ms Gozzi said. Now in her fourth year as artistic director, "I decided I wanted to continue the legacy as well," Ms Gozzi said.

The ballet has "so many beautiful aspects, including the picturesque music by Verdi, which really evokes the different scenes," Ms Gozzi said. She described Winter as "crisp and pointed" for lead, senior Riley Smith, and snowflakes - 5- and 6-year-old students - and then "immediately intense and flourishing as the Zephyrs, portraying the chilling winter wind," as they "fly across the stage," Ms Gozzi said.

The music slows into "beautiful violins and flutes to signify the start of spring," she said.

Butterflies and Spring lead, senior Rebecca Spalvieri, then takes the stage. Spring continues with dances from the daisies and roses before culminating in a big finale celebration, she said.

As Summer begins, the water nyads - 9- through 11-year-olds - take the stage and "help to hydrate the summer lead," senior Monique Dubois, who is gathering wheat, Ms Gozzi said.

For Fall, 7- and 8-year-old students will portray baby deer and the "colorful autumn leaves who dance around the stage with the Fall lead, senior Lizzy Delp. Don't forget the squirrels - 3- and 4-year-olds - chasing acorns.

"It's a ballet that is so much fun for all ages and is so educational for both dancers and audience as they hear how the music interplays with the different characters and moods to truly evoke the sensations of each season," Ms Gozzi said.

Giselle," Ms Gozzi said. It is a nonnarrative ballet centered on the visions of a poet, she said.

This ballet "evokes the 'old style' of ballet - completely classic, long elegant lines, similar to the feel of

"The dancers, all part of his imagination and musings, all dressed in white and flowing in beautiful formations," Ms Gozzi said, describing the scenes "that could almost be a painting."

"It has been so much fun to stage these completely contrasting and yet complementary ballets side by side this spring," she said. "It has made each of our dancers really explore out of their comfort zone."

Dancers have worked to "look absolutely effortless and flowing while so incredibly detailed and specific with the eyes, heads, arms, feet," she said.

"The dancers have worked extremely hard to with each of the movement qualities, and I am so proud of their hard work - I know both ballets are going to be absolutely fabulous due to their efforts both individually and as a group," she said. She is pleased to feature the four seniors, alongside junior Vianna Schappach in

She is also "thrilled," she said, to have Ms Cebry working with the performances this spring.

"Her insights, sharing original intentions and staging instructions from Mrs Mark, to help infuse the ballet and the dancers with the original feel and motivations for each piece, has really helped the show take shape."

[mappress mapid="799"]