City Youth Ballet - Johnson City, TN

Clara and all her friends from the Nutcracker’s Land of Sweets invite you to spend an afternoon at Clara’s Tea. You’ll enjoy refreshments, watch excerpts from the CYB’s December 12 production of “The Nutcracker” and even dance with Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy.

The afternoon is set for Saturday, November 14, 2-4 p.m., at The Charles, 301 E. Main Street across from Hands On! Museum in downtown Johnson City. Tickets are $7 a person and can be purchased at the door.

Colorful cupcakes, cookies, and punch will be served at tables adorned in pink linens and set with festive Nutcracker dolls. After refreshments, members of the senior and junior companies of the City Youth Ballet will perform some of the ballet pieces from the Nutcracker production. Then, tea party-goers can take the stage with Clara and learn a few dances themselves.

All proceeds from the afternoon will help offset production costs for “The Nutcracker,” set for December 12 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at the Veterans Administration Memorial Theater. Tickets will be available at Clara’s Tea and at the door.

Free parking for this event is available behind Nelson’s Art Gallery at State of Franklin Road and Colonial Way. The parking has been donated by URA Associates.

For more information call (423)434-2195

The City Youth Ballet will join with the East Tennessee Regional Symphony on October 21 to present the children’s tale “Peter and the Wolf.” The story will be told with orchestra music and in ballet with company members of the City Youth Ballet.

A school performance will be held at 10 a.m. on the campus of Milligan College. More information to come.

The City Youth Ballet will host classes Sept 10-12 and Sept 24-26 with Janet Hana Park, a former member of the Sun Hee Jang’s Ballet Company with the Korean National Theater. Classes are open to dancers ages 10 and up.

Classes will be held at the City Youth Ballet’s studios, 3501 W. Market Street, September 10 at 3:30 and 5 p.m.; September 11 at 3:30; and September 12 at 11 a.m. She returns September 24-26 for another set of classes. Classes are $20 each for non-CYB members. For more information, call the City Youth Ballet at 423-434-2195.

Ms. Park was born in Ashland, Ohio and after age 6 was raised in the Republic of Korea. She started her dance training at age 9, and later graduated from Kae-Won High School of Art. In 2009, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Dancing (classical ballet) from Sae-Jong University, Seoul, Korea, one of the finest schools of performing arts in Korea.

She received a Certificate of Qualification of Ballet Teaching from the Korea Association of Dance Leaders in 2008. She was a instructor of Yi-Reh Dance Academy in 2007-‘08, and became a leading instructor teaching at Bun-Dang International School in 2008. Ms. Park was a member of Professor Sun Hee Jang’s Ballet Company at the Korean National Theater in Seoul and appeared in performances of FAUST and CARMEN, and also performed in PRAYER and COUNTRY MARKET OF KOREA at Khabarovsk, Russia in 2000.

Ms. Park has earned numerous awards including the Special Gold prize in Ballet by the Korea Association of Dance Leaders. Ms. Park moved to Buffalo, New York, in January, 2009, and joined the Buffalo City Ballet. Ms. Park will be working with the City Youth Ballet and its training school, the Johnson City Ballet Academy, this year in association with Marvin Askew of Buffalo City Ballet and through the generosity of Stanley and Christy Dunbar.