Young ballet dancers will have a chance to shine in Bloom, a Cape Junior Ballet production, to be staged in Bergvliet next month.

Forty-eight dancers from the Rondebosch ballet company, along with three guest dancers from Cape Town City Ballet and 10 of Athlone’s Dance for All dancers will perform in the production, which, according to Cape Junior Ballet director Kim Day, will include pieces from classical ballets such as Waltz of the Flowers, from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky as well as new classical, fusion and contemporary work such as a Desert Rose, a commissioned piece by choreographer Michelle Reid.

Bloom will also include tap dancers performing to Tulips from Amsterdam.

Cape Junior Ballet has dancers from Sea Point, Table Bay, Durbanville, Bellville, Paarl, Stellenbosch, Mitchell’s Plain, Observatory, Constantia, Claremont, Rondebosch, Wynberg, Fish Hoek and Noordhoek. And they have been rehearsing since the middle of January.

“The Bloom show will be really special as it will showcase different dance styles as well as pieces from other dance schools,” says Casey Auret, 15, of Observatory, who has been doing ballet since she was 3 and has previously appeared in A Christmas Carol, at Artscape, and Cape Junior Ballet’s Symphony of Dance. Both productions were staged last year.

“We have all been working hard, and it's always so rewarding to perform in front of an audience,” adds Kathryn George, 17, of Wynberg, who was also in last year’s Symphony of Dance and has just returned from a week-long international summer camp at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London.

Ms Day says Bloom’s theme of growth and nurturing fits perfectly with the start of spring. “I am so excited for this production as it is fresh and new and the students are working so hard.”

The show is dedicated to Cape Junior Ballet’s founder, Dianne Cheesman, who died last month at the age of 74.

“Her vision was to take young talented dancers, to water and feed them and see them flourish and bloom,” says Ms Day.

Bloom will be staged at the Bergvliet High School hall, from Thursday September 19 to Saturday September 21, at 7pm, with a 2pm matinee on the Saturday. Tickets can be bought through Quicket for R180. Email Ms Day at kimday@mweb.co.za for details.

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