Center for Artistic Development

Elena Frolova.

In 2008 we were asked to perform a Viennese Waltz for the opening ceremony of our annual community traditional event "Your Honor, Grandmother", which we've supported for 5 years. It was the season of cold and flu, and only 7 kids (2 boys & 5 girls) showed up on Monday to rehearse for the performance scheduled for Friday. Being a big George Balanchine fan, I watched his magnificent ballet “Serenade" (1935) at City Center just a few months before and was stunned to learn that it was one of his first creations in America. Balanchine never knew how many dancers he’d end up with - first day he worked with 16 dancers, second day it was 8, and on the third day only 5 showed up - but it didn’t stop the ballet genius from creating his masterpiece! Inspired by this story, I choreographed the “Viennese Waltz with Scarves” by using traditions of the 19th century social dance style, my other favorite. In those days competitive ballroom dance form wasn’t built yet, and people danced on Balls with a goal to just have a good time and demonstrate high style, elegance, grace & respect to each other." - Elena Frolova.