What I'm Grateful For

What I am incredibly grateful for is the increasing awareness among our donors of how vitally important it is to support true artistic excellence in our city. Looking back on 25 years, I see that the foundations, many businesses, the city government under Mayor Wharton, and the leadership of the Chamber of Commerce and Arts Memphis are energetically embracing the creative spirit as a way of expressing what we can be as a city and as a community. They also understand how necessary it is to embrace the drive toward dreams—dreams that can inspire and express the community’s soul.

I also am grateful for the leadership of a number of arts organizations in this city, their goodwill, commitment to excellence, and collaborative and companionable spirit, particularly with us. Stax, Hattiloo, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Brooks Museum of Art, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Playhouse on the Square, the National Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis College of Art, Collage dance Collective, Theatre Memphis, Tennessee Shakespeare Company, Opera Memphis—such good leadership and I am lucky to count them as friends.

This means that we are increasingly working together to make sure our art forms take a place in civic dialogue and civic progress, and include a wide embrace, so all people get a share at the feast.

I am so grateful that I, the lone Southerner, have been given the amazing opportunity to study with 100 of the finest arts leaders across the world in the NAS Executive Fellowship program. My first round at University of Michigan was exciting beyond words. And it is always affirming to see what high esteem Ballet Memphis is held in, both nationally and in some cases, globally. As we wrestle with questions no one has the answers for, in the middle of such rapid convergence, change, boundaries blurring, economies rising and falling, disparate media, it is my great fortune, and the fortune for Memphians who recognize that cultural upheaval provides great opportunities for innovation and creativity, to be part of this amazing group of thinkers.

I am thrilled that our collaboration with Collage dance Collective was so rewarding for all of us and that Nutcracker was the best ever. It was marvelous to have the Symphony back in the pit. Watching our professional dancers grow in partnerships, like Hideko and Kendall, or Ginny and Brandon, while Crystal and Rafael continue to have so much fun dancing together, is just a triple treat! Our trainees are so good this season and also so very willing to make a difference and be an inspiration, including going into the community centers with our childhood obesity program.

Reflecting also means ways we can see to grow:

There is still not enough understanding or appreciation for different leadership viewpoints and in artistic decision making, particularly the kind that asks for a less patriarchal, top-down approach, and involves expression of community and nest-building, for lack of a better word. That is something I look forward to addressing more, on a national front as well. And as the middle class shrinks and poverty increases across the United States, I hope the arts become a more vital voice in counteracting the fear, divisiveness, anger and finger-pointing, that can become so strident.

The opportunity to find instant information is breathtaking, but it also means that the opportunity for lies to spread to maintain power bases increases. Ultimately, arts groups that insist we be the best we can be, the most concerned, compassionate and committed to aspiring toward high standards, will give the most to all of us in the world.

-- Dorothy Gunther Pugh

Reaching and Teaching

Before I moved here I knew that Ballet Memphis made a solid effort to connect with the community, but I could never imagine the reward it would give me once I joined the effort. I took something away from each of the 10 Connections:Kids performances we put on, but I think our first outreach had the great affect on me. I remember the performance vividly. We were putting on a production for about 30 kids in the effort to educate them on the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Having never danced at a community center for such a young audience, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, once the bright-eyed elementary students walked in, their positive energy was contagious.

As the opening commercial played, I peeked around the screen to see the children's faces as Evan was dancing a kung-fu solo with a Pepsi commercial streaming behind him. I saw all their heads turning from the commercial back to the dancing, yelling with excitement whenever Evan jumped close to them. These kids were giving us all of their attention, so when the time came for me to perform to a Michael Jackson commercial with Elizabeth, (a fellow company member) I was ready to give all of that energy right back.

I didn't have to hold back around these kids, they were laughing and clapping as we wiggled our knees to the beat. At the end of the commercial, Karl Condon, Ballet Memphis' artistic director, told us to bring some of the kids onstage to dance with us. After we got a few kids up there, more were reaching out their hands for us to pull them on stage. I was so overwhelmed, I wanted to bring them all onstage. Two little girls then grabbed my hands and pulled me around while they hopped to the music. I couldn't help but smile.

The attention and interest the kids gave me was the most rewarding aspect of our outreach performances. That's what kept things exciting: a new type of audience and a new kind of reaction awaited us at each new community center. After almost every outreach, we would teach our audience a small dance to perform in front of their peers. The commitment the children had to picking up the choreography we presented gave me the ultimate satisfaction. I'm excited to see their reactions to contemporary ballet when we return to return to these community centers to perform in the spring. But most of all, I'm hoping some of the children feel inspired enough to perform for us so we can sit in the audience and cheer them on.

-- Carly Wheaton

Holidays Away From Home

Being away from home during the holiday season is something that has taken me a long time to get used to. My whole family lives in Scotland, and I have not been home for the holidays since 2002. Fortunately, though, I have my Memphis family to help get me into the holiday spirit.

Every year, the dancers who stay in town get together for a big potluck Thanksgiving dinner. Kendall takes care of making the turkey and his famous mac and cheese. (He is quite a master chef.) Julie makes potatoes and a delicious pie.

We usually give the turkey a name; last year I think we called her Birdadette. I am completely useless at cooking, but I am a great assistant and highly skilled with a sponge and some soapy water. Thanksgiving is a fun American holiday, and I really enjoy it before we start our run of the Nutcracker.

For Christmas, I spend the day with Rachel and her family in Olive Branch, Miss. Rachel’s grandmother is from England, and she always makes sure to bake me traditional mince meat pies. She also insists that I use her telephone to make as many long distance phone calls to Scotland as I want. I am so fortunate to have such a kind and generous family to invite me to share their holiday with them. I love them dearly.

I fondly remember a few holiday traditions from my childhood in Scotland. My birthday is December 13, and that was the day my Mum would let me put up the Christmas tree. Christmas day was spent at home or with my uncle and his family.

Scottish people love New Year’s Eve. We call it Hogmanay, and it is really just another excuse for our families to get together and party again. On New Year’s Eve we would get up early and eat breakfast, then my grandmother would come over. She is quite superstitious and believed that the whole house had to be cleaned and organized from top to bottom. She would say, “Ye canny go in tae the New Year wae yir hoose lookin’ a mess!” (I dare you to try and decipher that, ha!)

So we would spend the day cleaning, and then around 4 or 5 p.m. we would take a bath and my mum would put us to bed for a nap. She would wake us up around 10 p.m., and we would get ready for the big dinner she had made while we were asleep. We would eat stew or a steak pie (definitely not Haggis!), and my grandfather would eat mushy peas drowned in vinegar, which always grossed me out.

When the New Year arrived or "The Bells," as we called it, we would wait for friends or family to come over, and we would play and party until the wee hours of the morning. I am so thankful that I still have these memories after so long.

I would like to wish you a very happy holiday season. I hope that it is filled with love and happiness. If all your family can't be together, then please be sure to tell them that you love them and that no matter how far away they might be, that you will always be together at heart.

Happy Holidays.

-- Steven McMahon