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Show y 121C The Sail Lake Tribune Sunday, March I, ' i yp ii -- Tp",yrJyrJ y J'i a't 4? . 1984 . t Burch Manns American Folk Ballet plans S.L. debut lift V Continued From Pagu F-- l plier in that style. Ja.z dance was another favorite and Mann visited Harlem whenever she could loved the way the Ncfr-- danced and I still do. At the time many thought it was vulgar and ugly, but never did because it sprang so naturally from the heart." Her most influential ballet teacher was Michael Fokine, the great 1 1 Russian choreographer credited with freeing and reforming ballet. "When I started to choreograph," says Mann. "1 kept looking for a torm that was really more characteristic of America because at that tune classical ballet was totally European - there was no new movement in it at all. And I remembered what Fokine had impressed upon me He kept saying. Be careful not to get caught in dead forms, because that's eventually what's going to happen in America. Someday a lot of money wil be put into ballet. It's going to become the thing and the elitism will take over. Don't get caught in it; seek new ways of expression. "So," says Mann, "I began looking for a new form of dance that 50 years ago really didn't exist and that is the exuberance and vitality that we re now enjoying today in America. When I first started choreographing they said my style was so masculine, so powerful. But really, it reminds me of what the Russian men have brought to America in dance today. Fokine brought it to ballet a century ago, but for a long time we lost that masculine force." Prior to settling in California, Mann was a choreographer for New York's Latin Quarter and for other nightclubs having their heydey in the '30s. "It was tremendous money and a new experience; still, it was not artistically satisfying it can get old very fast." Thus, when Burch's husband. Joy Holtzman, whom she had met in high school in Oklahoma, had a business opportunity on the West Coast (he eventually became of B. Hayman Farm Implements), the family, which by then included daughter, San. moved to Pasadena Determined to have her own company reflective of both her rural heritage and her classical ballet training, Mann opened a school in Alhambra, a suburb of Los Angeles. "I realized," she says, "that if you're going to have a company with a distinct style, you're going to have to have a school to develop that technique. I gave it 10 years to develop." She rented the Elks Lodge in Alhambra as a studio, but was unaware that the children who were to become her students came from families. "I selected the Lodge for a studio because it was large, had beautiful hardwood floors, good ventilation and was not in the center of Hollywood. But she soon discovered that dance was to become her students greatest cutlet. "To make good dancers, you really have to have vour students for hours and hours. When I opened the school it was summer, and these kids would be there first thing in the morning and often stay past midnight. I didn't realized how unstable their family lives were, and that my studio was the only place they had to go. They didn't have wealthy grandparents who took them to Europe or Nantucket for the summer. This first group of pupils became the nucleus of American Folk Ballet, which as Mann predicted, debuted 10 years after the studio opened. A dance contest led to a booking at Los Angeles old El Capitan Theatre to a film with Lome Green and to a h tour of the United States. Today the company of 25 dancers, singers and instrumentalists, continues to perform world-wide- , offering works which depict Manns lofty vision of frontier America. These works, which cover the years from include "The Prairie, Moon of the Falling Leaves, "Sons of Scotia, to "Sunday Morning at Deep Creek, Ragtime Jazz Suite, four-mont- 1750-190- "Rosebud Blues, Everybody Loves My Baby and "Rampart Street Parade, all of which will be presented at the company's Capitol Theatre concerts. While Mann maintains artistic control of American Folk Ballet, she travels with the troupe less frequently in order to fulfill her responsibilities at SUSC as Distinguished Artist in Residence. Dance has flourished at the college since her arrival and Mann hopes to see the program, in which her daughter, San Christopher, is also a teacher, grow even more. I reminded Dr. Sherratt-didnt come here to start a little horse and buggy dance studio. Though Mann, widowed for 14 years, insists she'd like to "just relax and do some things I've always wanted to do." she stays in the "business because of her commitment to art. low-inco- Dance Cc American Folk Ballet, Friday. 8 pm.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Capitol Theatre. 50 W. 2nd South. Jazz Tap Ensemble, Friday. 8 p.m.. Harris Fine Arts Center. BYU. Provo; Saturday. 8 p.m., SUSC Auditorium. Cedar City; March 26. 8 p.m.. Dixie College, St. George; March 28. 8 p.m., Capitol Theatre. nys concerts Friday and Saturday at the Capitol Theatre. performances are a benefit for the Special Olympics. American Folk Ballet dances in Burch Manns Moon of the Falling Leaves, which will be presented at compa The March 19-3- 1 t For two weeks, well give you more good reasons to buy anewRolex. Interest-Fre- e vide free Jasp engraving, free inspection and free repair estimates. 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