Latest / Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog / Ballet Pensacola: Bianca Villegas
Transcript
- Rick Outzen: you have been a volunteer, you have been a d on the board. Why step up and be executive director? Bianca Villegas: You know, Rick, as we're entering into our fiftieth anniversary in twenty twenty-eight, it it behooves us, right, to think bigger picture, think of what should come next for the ballet after being around for generations. And having some of that institutional knowledge helps us see things in a way that's realistic and respectful of what came before us, but then can lay the groundwork for something really meaningful moving forward. and so at this time I felt that it it would give me an opportunity to help get us across that bridge and to create a space where we can continue to do wonderful things not just for the community in the region but growth within the organization ourselves. Rick Outzen: You know, you're stepping into a a historic organization. You know, my daughters danced with kaleidoscope in the nineteen eighties, in nineties, and it is approaching two years away from its fiftieth anniversary. How do you how would you like to celebrate that milestone? Bianca Villegas: you know, we actually have decided that instead of celebrating it as a season, we will celebrate it for the calendar year of twenty twenty eight. we do have a lot of plans in the works, some of which is working with other orts organizations like a Pensacola Museum of Art will have a a four month stay a residency there that speaks to our history and what's to come. And The programming that we have is special and it will just be a celebratory year that speaks to kaleidoscope that so many remember fondly and just the trajectory of Ballet Pensacola over the last five decades. Rick Outzen: Yeah, well I could talk a little bit about that because it really it's very different than the kaleidoscope, which all the little girls, you know, g getting up and and taking their dance lessons from Dorothy and and all that has changed. but but what are those changes? Our some of our viewers may not realize. Bianca Villegas: Yeah, so in actually in 2022 is when Kaleidoscope changed over to Ballet Pensacola. And we had been already invited in nineteen ninety-two to join PLT at the Cultural Center. And so that's been our home for many, many years. And since then, in fact next year twenty twenty seven is twenty years that we've had a professional company that started in two thousand and seven. And since then we have a professional company that's 19 plus and and counting professional members and then we have an academy and a pre-professional program that's attached to that which is not unique but it is certainly something special that the rest of our area within a minimum of three hour radius does not have the opportunity to experience where our students are growing up in a space where they get to work with the professionals on main stage productions. That they audition regularly throughout the season and are able to grow. and other programming that's arised from that with Regional Dance America. And then with our professional company, we have an amazing artistic team that has vision for the future and in many ways operates not unlike a larger company where we are offering opportunities to our professionals and to our students where they get to work with. nationally and internationally acclaimed guest choreographers and work under the g you know the artistic vision of of many instead of one or two and that is unique to larger companies. Rick Outzen: It is and and it's it's part of the fabric of the community so much. you have an advantage because you've been a part of Ballet Pensacola in a lot of different roles and we talked about it earlier, but as you settle in, what's what do you see as your first priority? Bianca Villegas: I think that it's always important to make sure that th that the well-oiled machine continues to be well oiled and it is functioning and that the the community partnerships that we've established over time continue strong and that there's new ways to collaborate within the community. so for me it's about getting out there and making more people aware of what we have going on, inspiring sponsors that have been, you know, the length with us and show them how we are actually very much in the twenty first century that we are very much providing programming and opportunities that are typically for large companies. You know, when you understand that to keep a dancer dancing for the season, the costs that that entails, that larger companies, the monies that they spend, when you show those comparisons of what it takes to be something great, I think that it offers people a better perspective of not just the art form and the rigor that it takes to show up every day for our professionals, but the vision it takes to really continue to grow. And evolve in a way that's meaningful and beneficial not just to the community but the region at large. Rick Outzen: Well we ate up our time. We did we went right through Yeah, we did we do we would. We're both talkers. So we well but thank you. You're in the cultural center downtown ballet Pensacola, easy to Google and find all the information about it. Bia Bianca, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. Thank And I will c I can't wait to see the performances under your leadership. So it'll be great. All right, we're gonna go take a break. We'll pay a few bills. thank you for watching us. We'll be right back.