En Pointe

Keeping you on pointe with Mill Ballet & Roxey Ballet

A Look Ahead...

- September 30th: Peace Fair
- October 7th: Dancing on the Green
- October 8th: Travis Manion Heroes Run
- October 28th: Not Too Scary Spooktacular Dance Party

A Full House at Nutcracker Auditions

Congratulations to all the students who auditioned for Roxey Ballet's Nutcracker last weekend. We had a wonderful turnout and are excited to begin rehearsals this Saturday. Tickets are available now at roxeyballet.org/nutcracker.

Hispanic Heritage Month

Did you know September 15-October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month? Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated annually to recognize the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States. This week we are sharing the origin story of Roxey Ballet's Founder and Artistic Director, Mark Roxey. 

As a Latino living in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn during his youth, Mark used breakdancing as a means of expression and education against racism and social inequality. Breakdancing evolved into concert dance as a means of communication and exploration of ideas for understanding, and to create transformational ways of thinking about Roxey Ballet’s core principles. Mark is continually looking for a people-centered approach; how to best exchange ideas or make a significant difference in the community and express equity and inclusion through the art of dance. For 30 years, Mark Roxey has been transforming communities through interactive programs that communicate human, civil, and disability rights, women's health initiatives, bullying, and the cultural condition.

Mark’s professional career began at a young age as a b-bop, hip-hop dancer in movies and commercials with a group called Fresh Kids from Coney Island. He then received a full scholarship to Joffrey Ballet, beginning his career at the Joffrey Ballet Company II under the direction of Gage Bush and Richard England, and later at The Joffrey Ballet under the direction of the late Robert Joffrey. From there he joined American Repertory Ballet and Dayton Ballet as a principal dancer under the direction of Dermot Burke and Marjorie Mussman.

During his professional dance career, Mark performed in works by legendary choreographers George Balanchine, Gerald Arpino, Robert Joffrey, Paul Taylor, Jose Limon, Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe, John Cranko, John Butler, Maurice Petipa, and August Bournonville, appearing in companies around the world as a principal artist with his partner and wife, Melissa Roxey. 

With 28 years of tenure at Roxey Ballet Company and Mill Ballet School, Mark has taught thousands of dancers and created hundreds of works of choreography. He teaches with skill, creativity, and heart, motivating students of all levels and encouraging them to reach their fullest potential. Mark has directed annual performances of Nutcracker and a Children’s Classic Stories series, Dracula, C-Word: Stories of Triumph Over Breast Cancer, Journey Back to the 80s, Carmen, Frida, and many more. He has also directed sensory-friendly adaptations of the most popular works. 

As Roxey Ballet’s Founder and Artistic Director, Mark Roxey has created a humanistic organization where accessibility, equity, diversity, and inclusion are the core principles. His company mission is to include people of all abilities with differing viewpoints, experiences, and resources in training, exhibition, staffing, artists, and the board of directors.

Tap Class with Ella Hyatt

lasses to your weekly routine, tap instructor Ella Hyatt has some words of advice and explains the benefit of tap classes as part of a dancer's training. "I started tap dancing around the age of 10. As I got older, I wanted to include other styles in my training and not just ballet. I love tap dance because it challenges me to explore different rhythm patterns. Many people think that ballet and tap could not be more different from each other, while that is somewhat true in the way they are performed, these two are the perfect pairing you didn’t know you needed! Tap dance specifically focuses on matching the beat into your feet, and concentrating on rhythmical steps and patterns. When integrating tap dance into your dance repertoire, you will notice a change in the way you feel the rhythm, helping you in other styles of dance! Tap dance can be started at any age and every experience level."

Students are invited for a free trial tap class through the end of September. Please email Melissa Roxey at [email protected] to sign up.

Dance to Learn Residencies

As we continue moving through the back-to-school season, Roxey Ballet teaching artists have loved every minute of their Dance to Learn Residencies that started up this fall. Dance to Learn is a 16-week dance curriculum in partnership with DanceNJ that brings dance education to schools in our communities. Learn more about Dance to Learn here.

Dancing on the Green

The Roxey Ballet will present the first Dancing on the Green event on Saturday, October 7th (with a rain date of October 14th) at Old York Cellars Winery, 80 Old York Road, Ringoes, NJ. Roxey Ballet will present several works performed to classical music that complement the beautiful environment of the winery, framed like a painting by the natural splendor of the fall foliage landscape. Visitors are welcome to spend the day enjoying the seasonal festivities the winery offers. The event is free and open to the public with performances occurring throughout the day, however space is limited and table or cabana reservations are strongly recommended. The wine team at Old York Cellars will be pairing wines with each dance number and offering free samples at the start of each number.

Dancing on the Green is a community initiative that creates a unique opportunity for the Roxey Ballet Company to perform in rural areas and offer arts enhancements for green areas and farm-based businesses throughout Hunterdon County, NJ over the next several years. This unconventional partnership resulted from collaborative efforts by the Hunterdon County Cultural Heritage Commission, the Hunterdon County Office of Economic Development and Tourism, Roxey Ballet Executive Director Mark Roxey, and Old York Cellars. Dancing on the Green connects the rural cultural identity of Hunterdon County with the professional artists of Roxey Ballet and guest visual artists to share the art of dance via unpredictable public spaces throughout the community. Roxey Ballet’s mission to make the arts accessible to everyone is supported through this initiative by presenting dance in Hunterdon County’s treasured rural settings, reaching new and diverse audiences, and sharing in the experience.

For more information, click here.

Travis Manion Heroes Run

On the heels of 9/11, we invite our community to support the upcoming Travis Manion Heroes Run and the Mill Ballet School Trainees by attending the event on Sunday, October 8.

The Travis Manion Heroes Foundation honors the service and sacrifice of first responders and veterans on 9/11 and the wars since. There are many ways to show your support, including attending the event and enjoying the performance by the MBS Trainees at the opening ceremony, registering for a fun run or the full 5K run, or making a donation to this worthy cause. Information and registration can be found here and the full race schedule can be found here. The deadline for registration is Sunday, October 3 at 12:30 p.m. Use code SUSAN15 for 15% off the registration fee for the 5K run.

Travis Manion, 1stLt, USMC, lost his life in 2007 in an ambush along with his fellow marines during the Iraq War. Travis was the cousin of Mill Ballet School graduate Emma Manion and believed in living a life of service. The Travis Manion Foundation was established in his honor and their mission is to empower veterans and families of fallen heroes to develop character in future generations. The annual Heroes Run is just one of the ways the foundation serves communities. Learn more here.

Mill Ballet School and Roxey Ballet at the Peace Fair

Stop by the Mill Ballet School/Roxey Ballet booth at the Peace Fair at Buckingham Friends Meeting to make a craft, say hello, and find out about upcoming events on September 30 from 10:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. There will be a children's dance class taught by Melissa Roxey at 12:30 p.m. located behind the lower school building next to the playground. More information can be found here.

Get Your Mill Ballet School Gear Shop our school store!

Click Here for more information