Young dancers help soldiers

Usually at the beginning of a dance or symphony performance, patrons are asked to turn off their mobile phones.

However, during the all-children Imagine Ballet Theatre's fall repertoire production, audience members will be asked to keep their phones on and use them during a piece called "Cellular," said artistic director Raymond Van Mason.

"Imagine Ballet is teaming with the program Cell Phones for Soldiers," said Van Mason. "We are asking our audience to donate their used and old cell phones for our troops overseas."

Cell Phones for Soldiers is a program that turns old mobile phones into more than 12 million minutes of prepaid calling cards for U.S. troops stationed overseas, according to www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com. Donated phones are sent to ReCellular, a phone recycling company, that pays Cell Phones for Soldiers money that is used to buy the calling cards.

"I learned about this program and thought it would be great for us to be involved in," said Van Mason. "We have a dancer, Macall Bowden, whose father is serving in Iraq. So I thought it would be a good thing."

Van Mason also choreographed a work, "Cellular," for the Bowdens.

"Macall is the lead, of course, and it's about the lack of personal interaction people have developed due to mobile phones," said Van Mason. "And it also shows how these phones keep us together."

While "Cellular" is one of the spotlighted pieces of the night, Van Mason said the company will also be performing "Tchaikovsky Variations," which features excerpts from "Sleeping Beauty," "Swan Lake" and "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux."

"I feel it is important for the kids to dance and learn the classics," said Van Mason.

He used videos as points of reference, but he doesn't encourage his dancers, ages 9-14, to learn the dances from the videos.

"When I was in Ballet West, (artistic director) John Hart discouraged us from watching videos of performances because he wanted it to be us dancing the role, not us mimicking another dancer dancing the role," said Van Mason. "Still, it is important for these kids to be able to dance these pieces because it is easy to dance in a work that was choreographed and created for you. But to dance another work that was created for someone else and danced by a lot of others is a challenge."

The company will also perform "Pillow Party," "Piazolla Tango," "Waltz All Night" and "Apologize."