Ballet Magnificat! comes to Yuma

Ballet Magnificat! Omega, a professional faith ministry from Jackson, Miss., will bring "The Hiding Place," an inspirational dance to Yuma.

The performance is scheduled Saturday at Snider Auditorium, 5th Street and 6th Avenue.

Curtain time is 7 p.m. for the ballet based on a true story set in Germany during World War II.

Several ballerinas in Yuma have studied and performed with Ballet Magnificat! Omega.

For this show, Deidre Craig, now an apprentice with the group, will be dancing. She took her early ballet and jazz training with Cindy Turrentine of Dancemakers.

"In fact," said Cindy Craig, Deidre's mother, "her teacher introduced her to Ballet Magnificat!"

"Deidre also trained at Joffrey Ballet School and was in the trainee program for Ballet Magnificat! in 2006 and promoted to apprentice just this year."

Danielle, another daughter of Cindy and Todd Craig and a former student with Turrentine, is now in training with Ballet Magnificat!

Erika Farrar Romanyuk, now owner of Yuma Ballet Theatre, was also a dancer with the visiting entourage during her professional years after basic lessons with her aunt, Linda Farrar, in Yuma.

Tammy White, new dance instructor at Yuma High School and formerly a teacher at Kofa High, was also with Ballet Magnificat!

The stage-adapted story tells of two sisters of the Christian faith, Corrie and Betsie ten Boom, their Hebrew neighbors and friends, plus Fraulein "the Snake" and three soldiers.

Fraulein is promoted in the German army and sets out to persecute the Jews - all depicted in dance.

Corrie and Betsie join in prayer and build a small shelter of protection in their home in the first act, which concludes with a dance to celebrate the safety of the Jews.

The drama continues with dancers entering the ten Booms' home seeking shelter, while some are taken prisoners and Betsie is killed.

After the war ends, in the production, victory is celebrated in dramatic dance.

Tickets are $10 each at the Ark bookstore in the Southgate Mall, phone 726-0088. Tickets are also available by calling Hannah, 783-7574, or Cindy, 920-0950.

Ballet Magnificat has performed in Yuma several times, the last one being "The Hiding Place" in 2006 at Kofa High School. Previously it performed "The Prodigal Son."

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Pam M. Smith can be reached at psmith@yumasun.com or 539-6856.