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Richmond Ballet and Stoner Winslett receive 2008 Governor's Award for the Arts

8/6/2008

Richmond Ballet and Stoner Winslett receive 2008 Governor's Award for the Arts

RICHMOND – Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine announced yesterday that Richmond Ballet and its Artistic Director, Stoner Winslett, will share one of the ten 2008 Governor’s Awards for the Arts. The recipients were selected from 345 nominations and included individual artists, arts organizations and patrons of the arts.  The award winners will be honored at a reception at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond on September 17.

In response to the announcement of the awards, Winslett said, “I feel privileged to have been at a place and time where I know Richmond Ballet has made a real difference.  This award is shared by many…and is a tribute to all the fine people who work so hard to bring the gift of dance and beauty of ballet to citizens throughout the Commonwealth.”  

Winslett, who began her tenure with Richmond Ballet in 1980 when it was a well-established civic ballet company, is now in her 29^th year as the company’s Artistic Director.  A summa cum laude graduate of Smith College, Winslett received her ballet training at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the American Ballet Theatre School.   She is one of only four women in the country who hold the sole artistic leadership position of a major professional ballet company. 

Under Winslett’s direction, with the blessing of the company’s board of trustees and the support of the community, Richmond Ballet made the transition from civic ballet to professional company in 1984. In 1990, then Governor Douglas Wilder bestowed the title of State Ballet of Virginia on the company.

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Currently celebrating its 25^th Anniversary season, Richmond Ballet has steadily grown into a respected and versatile repertory ballet company, well-grounded in the classics, but stretching to include contemporary works by today’s choreographers. The company’s repertory also includes twentieth-century classics by George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Agnes de Mille, Kurt Jooss, Frederick Ashton and John Butler.

Richmond Ballet also continues to expand its service to the City of Richmond and the Commonwealth of Virginia through its Education and Outreach programs.  The Minds In Motion program, now in its 14^th year, introduces dance to nearly 1500 elementary school students in Richmond area schools each year and has grown in recent years to include schools in Charlottesville, Martinsville and Roanoke. The School of Richmond Ballet offers professional training in ballet throughout the school year, and students from all over the country attend the school’s summer intensive course.

Speaking on behalf of Richmond Ballet, Managing Director Keith Martin said, “Richmond Ballet is honored to be in the company of such distinguished award recipients.  The breadth and diversity of the honorees demonstrate that outstanding artists and cultural organizations exist in every corner of the Commonwealth. Virginia is truly blessed by their presence and the lives of its citizens made richer through their artistry.” 

The other nine 2008 recipients include world-renowned banjo player Ralph Stanley, The American Shakespeare Center in Staunton and the Hampton University Museum.

*** High-Resolution Photos are Available upon Request ***

 The other winners include:

• The Richmond Jazz Society.
• Theatre IV, and Bruce Miller and Phil Whiteway.
• Ralph Stanley of Clintwood.
• Bob Brown Puppets of Arlington County.
• The William King Regional Arts Center in Abingdon.
• The Hampton University Museum.
• Ralph Cohen and Jim Warren of Staunton.
• Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee University Review.
• David and Susan Goode of Norfolk.

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Richmond Ballet, The State Ballet of Virginia, is dedicated to the education, promotion, preservation and continuing evolution of the art form of ballet.  Richmond Ballet strives to keep meaningful works of dance alive and to produce and foster new works that remain true to these values.  Now in its 25th professional season, Richmond Ballet's mission is to “awaken and uplift the human spirit, both for audiences and artists.”  

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For further press information contact:
Aaron Sutten, Director of Marketing and Communications
EMAIL: asutten@richmondballet.com; CALL: (804) 344-0906 x244