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Show Arinda Guttierez 1521 East 3900 South Suite 100 Salt Lake City, UT 84124 AN E D I T I O N O F P R I D E PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID SPANISH FORK. UTAH PERMIT NO. 2 & The Spanish Fork News VOL. 3 / NO. 7 M 1 O C A L L Y O W N E D A N D OWEDNESDAY, P E R FEBRUARY A T E 13, D 2008 50$ SPANISH FORK, UTAH Namon Bills / Spanish Fork News FLYING LEAP: Ginger Christopher plays Gretel in the ballet "Hansel and Gretel," directed by Jenny Creer-King. The ballet plays on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22-23, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. at the Covey Center in Provo. and Marilyn Nielson STAFF WRITER The Classical Ballet Academy and the Nebo Philharmonic are teaming up this month to present an innovative performance of Hansel and Gretel. The performance is an adaptation of Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Hansel und Gretel, but instead of being told by actors on stage, the story will be told through ballet, with the opera singers and orchestra accompanying from the pit. This new version of Hansel and Gretel was conceived by Jennie Creer-King, the director and founder of the Classical Ballet Academy in Provo. Creer-King, a Spanish, Fork native, danced professionally w'lth Ballet West and the Oregon Ballet Theatre before coming to BYU to direct the Ballet Theatre. While at BYU, Creer-King wanted to find a way to work with children. While she knew of many ballet studios in the area, she felt that she had something a little different to offer, so four years ago, she opened the Classical Ballet Academy. "The goal of the Classical Ballet Academy is to train dancers so that they have options, like auditioning with a company, or continuing their training at a ballet school, when they graduate from high school," said Creer-King. "We place the dancers by level rather than age, and we have about 200 dancers ranging from age 3 to 18." Because her goal is to help her ballet students reach professional skill levels, Creer-King thought that putting on a professional-level performance, rather than Gretel simply a "ballet recital," would be helpful for the students. About two years ago, she had the idea to adapt "Hansel and Gretel," and as she researched the story, she realized that Humperdinck's opera could provide the perfect music to accompany the dancing. Last year, the Classical Ballet Academy put on the ballet using a CD of the symphonic version of the opera, along with some of the folk songs, for accompaniment. But Creer-King approached Benjamin Winkler, conductor of the newly-created Nebo Philharmonic, to discuss a future collaboration. Winkler was excited about the possibilities of such a collaboration, and the two decided on a unique format: the opera singers would actually join the orchestra for the performance, in effect "narrating" the action, while the dancers acted out the story onstage through ballet. The Nebo Philharmonic, comprised of 55 musicians from all over south Utah County, performs about three sets of concerts per year. Spanish Fork house fire This will be their first appearance with a ballet company. "When we started up the orchestra, the amount of talent just astounded me," Winkler said. "We have some very talented musicians in this area, and this performance is going to be a good chance to let them showcase some really great music." As a composer, Humperdinck is less wellknown than his teacher, Richard Wagner, who is most famous for operas such as 'Tristan und Isolde" and the "Ring" cycle. Humperdinck was a copyist for Wagner and wrote out much of his music for him. "This music is every bit as sophisticated and interesting as Wagner's, but it's more accessible," said Winkler. "It's more lyrical, so the audience can leave the theater humming the tunes. And many people will remember learning some of these tunes and folk songs when they were at school. See BALLET • A8 Salem swears in new Fire Chief Mallory Byrnes STAFF WRITER Namon Bills / Spanish Fork News SMOKE SIGNAL: On Thursday, Feb. 7, a house fire occurred at 911 East Sterling Drive in Spanish Fork. The fire began in the basement, and spread from there. Fire Chief Brent Jarvis called the house, "pretty much a total loss." The cause of the fire is as of yet unknown. A neighbor said the fire started around 2 p.m. She said they saw smoke, and almost immediately they could see flames as well. She said the firefighters were "right on it." They remained at the site until after dark, watching for hot spots. No one was hurt in the blaze. Appointed Fire Chief Clyde McKean was sworn in Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008, during Salem City's Council Meeting. "He's already been appointed, but tonight he's being sworn in," said Mayor Lane Henderson. "As we sat down and talked about goals, I was very impressed with what he wanted for the fire department." Reid Nelson, former council member and head of the city emergency committee, proposed an emergency notification system involving recorded messages to be sent to all telephones to replace the city's former system of sirens. "We tried to keep that siren going and it didn't work when we needed it one time," said Henderson. The Voice Shot telephone alert system has been used successfully by Woodland Hills, including use for the recent well emergency. Ur- gent Alert system was also recommended. The cost for Urgent Alert would be $50 a month per 2,500 numbers, and in the case of an emergency, $0.25 per successful call answered by either a person or answering machine. "Depending on the emergency, it's money well spent," said Nelson. A representative from Qwest will soon talk with the council to determine whether they can offer the service and the what the cost would be. Also discussed concerning emergencies were the green, yellow and red flags that have been distributed to citizens by numerous Eagle- Scout projects, but are often forgotten by people. The purpose of the flags is to assess different needs in different areas of the city. To ease the minds of investors and allow more time for construction, the council gave a six month See FIRE CHIEF • A8 |