Ballet Vermont is bringing its Bees & Friends ballet to Camp Meade on May 30 to celebrate spring with its ballet depicting bees, bugs and bird and their spring rituals.
The show is set to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and features dancers costumed as caterpillars, fire flies, ladybugs and more. The show illuminates the small creatures that are critical to a healthy Vermont and explores pollination, metamorphosis, bio-luminescence and more.
The Camp Meade shows take place at 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
Katie Decker, executive director of the ballet, said that the 45-minute show that is staged outside on the grass is appropriate for children and adults alike as both an educational opportunity but also an opportunity for kids to dance right along!
“We’re really trying to make this accessible, especially for kids. Kids love to dance. They’re not self-conscious and they don’t get many chances to see dance. At our shows they can dance along and then have pictures taken of themselves with dancers in bee costumes and tutus,” Decker explained.
“The show takes place in a garden setting and each character has a dance that they do which highlights the important roles that these critters play in our ecosystem,” she said.
For example, there is a pas de deux between two fireflies whose varying lights attract each other through their flash patterns.
In addition to the dance performance, Bees & Friends shows generally highlight some aspect of farming in Vermont along with local food. The Camp Meade show will have stations for kids to explore, including a ladybug station and butterfly screen printing for kids. Camp Meade organizers are working with local honeymakers and others on a variety of attractions for the show.
Bees & Friends performances are one of several seasonal focuses for the troupe. They also offer summer Farm to Ballet camps for kids. Bees & Friends is a production of Ballet Vermont which runs rehearsals at Green Mountain Performing Arts in Waterbury and features dancers from all over the state.
The artistic director of Ballet Vermont and Bees & Friends is Chatch Pregger, who returned to Vermont after dancing professionally at multiple companies. He began working with adult ballet dancers in Vermont 15 years ago, developing this company of professional and amateur dancers.
