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    Ballet Brings Fun to Residency

    Isla Vista Elementary School students practice dancing with help from the Ballet Hispanico.
    Ballet Hispanico ended a week-long stay at UCSB on Feb. 23rd with a performance and reception in Campbell Hall that was free to the students, teachers, organizers, and sponsors who had supported and participated in the Arts & Lectures' residency. They were fresh and energetic despite rehearsals and nearly three-hour performances on the same stage each of the previous two nights.
    "They were amazing, just tireless," said Susan Gwynne, A&L marketing director, who attended.
    This event climaxed a series of 25 public and private activities countywide, ranging from classroom demonstrations in Guadalupe and Santa Maria to salsa lessons in Goleta and Santa Barbara. That does not count the welcoming session and resolution presented to Artistic Director Tina Ramirez, founder of the ballet, and to Chancellor Henry Yang by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors at the beginning of the residency.
    UCSB dance students also benefited from the attention of the company's 12 young dancers, who worked with some of them in intermediate and advance ballet classes as well as an intermediate and an advanced modern dance class.
    While the residency was based on the New York City troupe's arts education outreach effort, called "Primeros Pasos (First Steps)," it fit nicely into A&L's own outreach programs. These currently involve around 11,000 Central Coast residents annually, according to Celesta Billeci, director of A&L.