Henry Daily Herald

By Johnny Jackson

jjackson@henryherald.com

Executives with the Atlanta Festival Ballet hope to garner support from the local community for their upcoming production of "The Jungle Book."

According to Judi Peterson, executive director of Atlanta Festival Ballet, the Stockbridge-based ballet company is in the midst of planning its spring performances of "The Jungle Book," a family-friendly ballet adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling tale.

"I think that this is a delightful production," Peterson said. "I think that everybody is excited about spring and people will enjoy this production, especially children."

Peterson is hopeful that area residents will turn out, the weekend of April 17 and 18, to see company dancers perform "The Jungle Book." The company last performed the ballet in March 2006, and will showcase it this month as the last performance of its 20th season.

The performance -- originally choreographed by the company's Founding Artistic Director Gregory Aaron -- was recently modified by Nicolas Pacana, who is also an artistic director for Atlanta Festival Ballet.

Peterson said the ballet will feature Julius Lagare as the main character, Mowgli. Lagare, now in his second season with the company, is of Boholano-Tagakaolo descent and is a native of General Santos City in the Philippines. Thirteen other professional dancers with the Atlanta Festival Ballet have been rehearsing since February to put on "The Jungle Book."

The production also features about 70 area children. Thirty of them, between the ages of 6 and 18, are members of the student company, Peterson continued. About 40 of the cast members are children who attended open auditions in January. There are a dozen adults taking part in the production as well.

"One of our main goals is to provide arts education," Peterson said. "We hope that, when people come out to see one of our productions, it leaves the audience with an appreciation of this art. We also hope that it will encourage people to bring their children to our classes."

Peterson noted there are nine male students from William M. McGarrah Elementary School in Morrow, who are scholarship students with the ballet company. She said they doubly reap the benefits of performing in productions like "The Jungle Book," because they get to experience ballet in front of audiences who, by purchasing tickets to the productions, help indirectly pay the cost of scholarships.

Peterson said she has been campaigning to have more adults join ballet classes with the Atlanta Festival Ballet, too.

"It's never too late to learn," she said. "I love it when we have adults come out and take ballet classes. I had my first ballet class at 48. It is, I think, a good workout and I enjoy being involved in these productions as a character dancer."

The ballet company will hold its "Jungle Book" performances in the Henry County Performing Arts Center, located at 37 Lemon Street in McDonough. Performances kick off at 7 p.m., on April 17, and at 2:30 p.m., on April 18.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for senior citizens and students, and $6 for children 5 years and younger. They are available at all Moye's Pharmacy locations in Henry County, at the Henry County Chamber of Commerce, and at the door on the day of the performance.

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On the net:

Atlanta Festival Ballet: www.atlantafestivalballet.com