| | Posted by Anne Marie

So, I wanted to talk about another aspect of the performance I saw presented by the Ballet Conservatory of South Texas. As I mentioned before, Orlando brought Ballet Austin II under the direction of Michelle Martin as guest artists to present some of their work down in San Antonio.

Ballet Austin II was created in 1999, and ranges in number of dancers. This year we had 7 women and 4 men. They take company class as well as some of the trainee classes. They perform with the main company in some of our larger productions as well as their own performance and touring schedules.

I want to talk more about Ballet Austin II in another post and collect some photos I’ve taken of them in the past couple of years, but in this one what I really want to talk about is Reginald Harris.

Reggie is a fellow dancer at Ballet Austin, and during the past few seasons he has created works on Ballet Austin II and the trainees. For the Ballet Conservatory of South Texas’ performance last weekend he created “Ella” which was absolutely endearing, definitely challenging and really joyful to watch. For the same performance he also created “Apres Nous”, for a few BA II dancers and two trainees that will be apprentices next season. This ballet floored me…. I knew Reggie was talented, passionate and inspired…. but this time he really inspired me. His understanding of movement and structure of a work and how it has grown in these past few years is truly amazing. I know all six of these dancers that he used, and the way he used them, showcased them, what he pulled out of them and how he drew on each dancers abilities and even quirks that we find so beautiful and amazing was simply incredible.

You know when you suddenly look at one of your friends and realize what they’re going to do? That’s the way I felt about Reggie last week and that’s why I wanted to share it.

Here’s some highlights from “Apres Nous”

Vincent Lopez and Amy Ruggiero:

Christopher Butler and Mary LaCroix (see my post “Injuries” for more about Mary):

And Edward Carr and Sara Tull:

And as usual, you can check out more photos at my Bloodygood Pictures galleries