Ballet will take center stage

Dancers in the Columbia County Ballet aim to thrill audiences this weekend with their production of Peter and the Wolf and three accompanying works.

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"In the program, Peter and the Wolf is our story ballet, but it's a mini-classic," said Ron Jones, the ballet's artistic director. "We have repertoire pieces that we bring in as well, and it rounds out the program."

The ballet will take place at 7 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday at Jabez Sanford Hardin Performing Arts Center in the Columbia County Library.

The performance will start with Fun Pool , a light piece with music by Dizzy Gillespie. The younger dancers will then perform a Disney-inspired piece titled Life's a Dance , followed by Ashes , a more intense work with Philip Glass music, which Jones described as the "meat of the program."

He said 55 dancers from the Martinez ballet school's performing company will participate in the production, which he expects will last about an hour and a half.

"You have such a wide range of pieces," he said. "It's like night and day."

After a brief intermission, dancers will return to the stage to perform in Peter and the Wolf .

"It's a fun tale," Jones said. "It's colorful. One of the things about Peter and the Wolf that I love, for at least the children in the audience, is that each character is represented by a certain instrument."

Instruments include the violin to accompany Peter, played by Matthew Conway; the French horn to accompany the Wolf, played by George Doss; the bassoon to accompany Grandfather, played by Jonathan St. Martin; the flute to accompany the Bird, played by Elizabeth Kenyon; the oboe to accompany the Duck, played by Melissa Angelo; and the clarinet to accompany the Cat, played by Rebecca Moffatt.

"They can expect a wide arrangement of emotions from light to intense," Jones said. "Their emotions kind of go over the gamut."

Jones said each segment of the ballet should provide entertainment for all ages.

"Our programs are historically done with the family in mind, so we always do something that addresses everybody in the family," he said.

Tickets cost $20 for adults and $15 for students and senior citizens.

For information or to purchase tickets, call the ballet school at (706) 860-1852 or visit www.columbiacounty ballet.com.