Feature: Phoenix Youth Ballet Theatre's GISELLE Dancers Offer Exclusive Girl Scout Experience

Phoenix Youth Ballet Theatre, a pre-professional non-profit program sponsored by Arizona Dance Artistry, is scheduled to premier their spring production, GISELLE, this May. And although the dancers and teachers are engrossed in choreography, costumes and other production-related tasks, they're also working to share their passion with the local community and young girls who may have an interest in dance and storytelling through movement with a new program aimed towards Girl Scouts.

At their performances on Friday May 19th (6:30pm) and Saturday, May 20th (5:00pm), any interested Girl Scouts will have the opportunity to attend an exclusive backstage tour of the performing arts center at Cactus High School in Glendale. After the tour, attendees will also have the opportunity to meet the lead dancer of the ballet, where they'll hear the backstage stories about putting together a ballet production. Girl Scouts who wish to attend the backstage tour and dancer meet-and-greet can purchase tickets to the production here. This custom package, which includes a seat to the Giselle production, costs $15 per Girl Scout.

About GISELLE, choreographer George Balanchine is quoted as stating, "Like Hamlet, Giselle is a classic: it is not only important historically, it also happens to be good...People go to see Giselle and to see ballerinas dance it for the same reason we go to see new interpretations of Hamlet: the work is such a good one that we always discover something in it we hadn't seen before." The ballet covers themes of love, betrayal, and forgiveness, centered on the promise and tragedy of young love. Phoenix Youth Ballet Theatre's production will be abridged from the initial staging, and brought to life by Samantha Gobeille, Melissa Satyavelu, Elizabeth Fadell, Hailey Apligian, Shannon Dooling-Cain and Susie Kennedy.

Paityn Lauzon stars as Giselle, with guest artist Jose Soto dancing the role of Albracht. The company includes dancers Madeline Bleich (as Myrtha), Megan Bleecker, Allie Dawson, Brooklyn Egli, Julian Rodriguez, Kayla Rhodelander, Sofia Pettee, Britton Molino, Brynn Summers, Carys Gloeckler, Christian Flippo, Katelyn Fisher, Natasha Simonian, Reese Duston, Emily Vance, Isabella Maiden, Kendall Sokal, Maya Ysabella Bustos, Miranda Nevarez, Nora Kyle, Talia Simonian, Taylor Thompson, Carolina Leon, Giovanna Pascale, Jenna Scott, Kenlee Halonen, Londyn Maiden, Lydia Luehrs, Nickolas Brooks, Savannah Ripley, Sofia Zapoticzny, Alyssa Buckner, Ashlynn Spieles, Audrina Boyerman, Ella Lawrence, Hannah Hager, Kaylie Sokal, Keilyn Sparkman, Logan Sutton, Addison Thompson, Calum Jackson, Clare Zarda, Grace Yule, Olivia Zapoticzny, Sophia Swanson, and Zoë Lombard.

Phoenix Youth Ballet Theatre and Arizona Dance Artistry also extend free trial class offers to any local dance enthusiast, regardless of training and experience. In addition to their annual spring ballet, the studio performs a full-scale production of The Nutcracker every winter, a yearly recital, plus countless community performances at Glendale Glitters, Desert Ridge Marketplace and others. The studio is also home to their own trademarked youth dance program, Princess Pirouette ™, for girls and boys ages 2 and up. For more information, visit www.ArizonaDanceArtistry.com.

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