Internationally known Cuban master ballet teacher Laura Alonso leads intensive in-house classes at Ballet Magnificat! in Jackson this week, a company first that leaders hope will up technical standards and inspire young dancers.

"We were talking about bringing someone in to work with students and staff, looked at a couple of people and thought, why not go for the best?" founder/artistic director Kathy Thibodeaux said.

Alonso trained 1990 USA International Ballet Competition Grand Prix winner Jose Manuel Carreno, and was awarded Best Coach at that year's competition. She also coached Ramon Moreno, junior bronze winner, and Alexander Pereda, Robert Joffrey Memorial Award winner, both in 1994. Alonso served on the USA IBC's International Jury in 1994 (jury policies preserve fairness), and was on the International Dance Faculty in 1998 and 2002.

Alonso said she had no specific philosophy of teaching dance. "You dance from the heart, and it has to be there. You have to feel your heart."

"I think we all share a love of dance, and that doesn't need a language. ... That's the good part about dancing.

"It's just there inside of you. Hopefully," she added with a light chuckle.

Alonso will train the company, students in its professional trainee program and teachers as well as lead partnering classes, executive director Keith Thibodeaux said.

Ballet Magnificat! dancer and staff member John Vandervelde was instrumental in bringing her here. Alonso took him under her wing in Alberta, Canada, when he got a late start in ballet — at age 29 in the the mid-1980s. "It was really a sort of act of faith on her part, and a big boost in the arm for me at the beginning of my training. ... She's been a real blessing in my life.

"She has a tremendous balance between a great toughness and an almost, on the surface, kind of ruthlessness to her as a teacher. On the other hand, she's got a heart bigger than Texas," Vandervelde said. "Those two things in combination, I think, are an ideal persona for bringing out the best of a dancer.

"That's what Laura did in my life, and I assume many others as well."

""Best bet"
     Los Angeles Times

"Best bet"
     TheStraitsTimes
     Singapore

"...sublime beauty...height of professionalism"
     Dallas Morning News

"...truly one of the most outstanding tributes to our Lord Jesus Christ that I've ever seen!"
     Dr. Ed Young
     Senior Pastor
     Second Baptist Church
     Houston, TX

"I've loved having the opportunity to work with Ballet Magnificat! They are extremely talented and gracious people who understand why they do what they do and truly offer their gifts to the Lord and to the body of Christ in ministry."
     Twila Paris
     singer/songwriter

"Every now and then a dramatic presentation comes along that pursues the Gospel with an unusual freshness and creativity that is deserving of the broadest possible exposure. Ballet Magnificat! is just that."
     Dr. David Berg, Pastor
     Calvery Chapel
     Brea, CA

"We have had nothing but positive feedback, both from the Christian community, and from the local ballet folks. Your dancing was not your only means of witness. Your whole team's loving, kind, patient attitude was a grand witness to those in our church who worked with you. One of the reasons your ministry has credibility is that you minister both off the dance floor and on."
     Keith Hill, Pastor
     Fain Presbyterian Church
     Wichita Falls, TX

"...our viewers were blessed to see the Lord glorified through this art of dancing"
     Pat Robertson
     The 700 Club

"The risks of putting dance to Christian music are legion. The choreography, for example, might become nothing more than melodramatic. Turning too far the other direction might lead to the sort of artistic abstraction that garbles the text and music in the eye of the beholder. Ballet Magnificat! walks that path with stunning success. She doubtless would say her choreography is inspired by God. So be it."
     Corpus Christi
     Caller-Times

"America's premier Christian ballet company"
     Charisma Magazine

"One of the nation's oldest companies, incorporating Christian themes into dance."
     Indianapolis Star