Four Seasons, A Colourful Production – Ballare School of Performing Arts – Cultural Hall

If you were in need of any extra spiritual uplifting there was only one place to be at the weekend ... in the audience at the annual Ballare School of Performing Arts dancing extravaganza.
Add a few vocals and a little violin playing into the mix and you have a magical journey through the seasons displayed in quick-fire fashion with heart, energy and emotion.

Numerous genres of dance were on display of various levels of achievement but the sense of vitality was evident throughout with plenty of ‘ooohs’ and ‘ahhhhs’ for good measure as tiny tots concentrated on their routines and occasionally sneaked a wave to family and friends in the audience.
The school has this show down to a fine art and I can forgive a late start because of the number and ages of performers involved. However, once the curtain was drawn the show was as slick as ever, keeping eyes captivated to the action on stage.
The sound system at the Cultural Hall is second to none, delivering every note clearly and crisply and this year someone had the sense to lessen the effect of the air-conditioning so the journey through spring, summer, autumn and winter was not accompanied by an Arctic chill as in previous years.
A mid-afternoon palace date on Saturday meant that I could only review the first half of spring and summer in the midday show and return for the autumn and winter second half during the evening entertainment. I was so enthralled by the performances that I didn’t mind giving up an English FA Cup semi-final date with the TV to return to the action.
It’s almost cruel to highlight just a few of my favourites but space dictates and the photographs deserve a show.
My heart melted watching the Bouncing Bunnies – Sophia Morales, Amira Hafsah, Maya Androos, Mia El Kareh, Sarah Grace, Deren Akhun, Shaikha Nader, Chloe French, Charlotte Kettunen and Haya Itani – who attend the Twinkle Toes Saturday Class, and Falling Leaves by the contemporary advanced Sunday Class featuring Susanne Timmers, Keilan Kabalaoui and Olivia Maddison was a mature performance.
The street dance, modern jazz, contemporary, musical theatre and hip-hop groups all excelled and The Company’s Storm featuring Channah Kuhn, Keilan Kabalaoui, Kelsey Kincaid, Mariam Jalali, Michaela Sandy, Mina Thomure, Natasha Rosemann, Natasha Lawrence, Veronica Gataric, Virginia Nault and dance teachers Shannon Kennedy and her colleague, a mesmerising recent recruit from New Zealand, Danie Booth, certainly blew the cobwebs away.
I’m particularly fond of tap, which seems to have disappeared off the screen as an art form in today’s world of entertainment, and it’s alive and well in Bahrain as displayed by the Moon Dance (Primary Tap Tuesday) with Daisy Dennison, Lucy Muller-Jung, Sara Al Ali, Zainab Dawood and Mariam Fayez … please keep the faith.
Congratulations to director Hala Al Zayani, her teaching team and the company as a whole, for a rich and rewarding show and to repeat the words the cast sang out loud and proud during the encore: “mighty, mighty Ballare’. Mighty indeed.

– Stan Szecowka