Feature
by Carolyn Stent
"[I]t's an intertwining of the gospel and ballet," Bay said.
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Ballet shows race of life
-Carolyn Stent, photo
Demons crept on stage and surrounded a single runner as she limped toward the finish line. Then angels twirled on stage and fought back the demons. Several tiny angels surrounded the collapsed runner as she pulled herself up and continued her race.
On May 5, The Joy of Praise dance studio performed "Running the Race," a ballet based on Hebrews 12:1-3. Leeann Bay, a junior, and Heidi Long, a sophomore, joined ballet students and teachers on stage.
The ballet presented the struggles of various runners as they attempted to finish the race of life. Each runner's name portrayed a characteristic, such as vanity, that hindered her from finishing the race. Through dance, demons and angels distracted or encouraged the runners.
"We don't do any choreographed ballet steps as runners," Bay, 19, said. "We are more of a string that ties together the other ballet steps."
Besides dancing in the ballet, Bay choreographed two dances, sewed the costumes and designed posters. She teaches three classes a week at The Joy of Praise studio: two with 7 to 10 year olds, and one with high school students.
"I'm excited about [this performance] because it's an intertwining of the gospel and ballet," Bay said. A narrator read scripture at different points throughout the ballet.
"Our primary goal has been and always will be to glorify God," Janis Waddle, director and owner of The Joy of Praise studio, said. The studio opened in 1997 as an extension of The Joy of Dance studio in Vancouver, Wash.
Waddle took over ownership in June, 1999. She changed the name to The Joy of Praise because she would like to offer other art forms in the future.
Although the studio holds spring recitals every year, this is the first production that presents a story line. Waddle chose the theme after she heard several songs based on Hebrews 12.
For next year, Waddle and a teacher are preparing an adaptation of "Hinds Feet on High Places," an allegory of the Christian life written by Hannah Hurnard.
"The arts need to be taken back for the Lord," Waddle said.
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