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Ballet School Turns to Legislature for Help
Students dance in the Maryland Youth Ballet's Silver Spring facility. Two recent moves have left the academy financially strapped.
(Courtesy Of Maryland Youth Ballet)
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Michelle Lees, who has taught at the school for three decades, said: "Maryland Youth Ballet finally has a facility that matches its reputation."
But the move came with a hefty price tag: $280,000 just to outfit the space. For a school that spends most of the money it raises on scholarships for needy dancers, it was too much.
"We've robbed Peter to pay Paul, so it's a little bit scary for us," said Alyce Jenkins, the school's executive director.
One Saturday last month, Barnett went to Annapolis to testify on the school's bond bill before a panel of lawmakers. Sitting with him in a room full of bureaucrats and lobbyists were two ballerinas in full costume. The dancers performed on the carpeted floor in front of the lawmakers' desks.
"People know, like, two things about ballet," Barnett said. "They know pirouette, and they know the name Baryshnikov. It's our own universe, and I feel like it's better to show people. It's a performance art. You have to see it."
One senator asked the ballerinas whether they could perform a pirouette.
"They just off and did a double pirouette -- not even on a dance floor -- and they landed on a dime and did a little bow," Barnett said. "People were just dumbstruck."
"It was certainly the most memorable hearing of the day," said Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery).
