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My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams: Lee Monument Ballerina Publishes Book

Zoe Hall | July 20, 2020

Topics: amanda lynch, art, ava holloway, ballet, black lives matter, black lives matter richmond va, BLM, blm richmond va, blm rva, bonnie lemaire, books, confederate statue removal richmond, confederate statues richmond va, kennedy george, Lee Monument, lee monument ballerinas, my ancestors wildest dreams, richmond protest

With My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams, Ava Holloway, who quickly attained fame with her ballet poses at the Lee Monument, illustrates her “summer of activism” as she works for justice during the pandemic. 

What happens when the world forces you to become an activist at age 14? This has been the story for countless American kids in recent years, and so it is for Richmond’s Ava Holloway, the ballerina behind the Lee Monument photos that captivated the nation.

Images of Holloway have been shared across the world, and even made its way into the headers of national media. On Zoom, Holloway’s mother, Amanda Lynch, sat in front of a map of the world covered with dot stickers, each marking a place where her daughter’s photos had been shared online. There were dots everywhere — Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America, too. 

Since Holloway’s ballet photo shoot in front of the Lee Monument went viral, the 14 year old straight-A student has taken on a new role: activist. Over the past month, she’s had an onslaught of interviews, created a scholarship with Brown Girls Do Ballet, and worked with her mom to publish a children’s book called My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams. It seems like things are happening fast — and they are — but as Holloway and Lynch have proven, anything is possible.

PHOTO: My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams by Amanda Lynch & Ava Holloway

It all started with the photos. Ballet photo shoots are a hobby of Holloway’s, even at highly populated events like Pride. As the Lee Monument continues to become a space of reclamation and celebration, artists have taken to its surface as a new canvas; to Holloway, it seemed like a natural location for a shoot.

In addition to local photographer Marcus Ingram, who had arranged to take pictures of Holloway and her friend Kennedy George, at least ten other photographers surrounded the girls on the first day they brought their tutus to the Lee Monument. By the end of their nearly four hours of posing, the photos had already gone viral. Reese Witherspoon and Misty Copeland retweeted it. The interview requests came flooding in. 

“When we were first having the interviews, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, is this ever going to stop?’” Holloway said. “Now I’m used to them! After the first interview, Kennedy and I worked on our answers. We learned to not say everything we think.”

Photo via Ava Holloway

Being interviewed by journalists is no easy task at 14 years old. But blessed with extroversion, Holloway doesn’t seem to mind. “I’ll talk to anyone,” she said. 

This comes in handy, because she’s also been recruited to help out with her school’s weekly racism discussions on Zoom. Lynch is proud. “If last month had not happened, I don’t know that these conversations would have taken off in the way they have. I’m proud to see that Ava and Kennedy have been the faces at the forefront of this conversation in terms of youth activism,” she said.

Meanwhile, in the midst of interviews, Holloway and Lynch got to work on a children’s book inspired by the event. 

My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams was a long time in the making. Lynch — a mindfulness educator and author of several books on the subject, including The Mindfulness Room — wanted to collaborate with Holloway on her next book. 

PHOTO: Ava Holloway by Marcus Ingram

“[My mom] kept telling me we were going to write a book, and I was thinking… I don’t write,” said Holloway. “She’s a scientist!” Lynch added.

Despite her aversion to writing, Holloway agreed to participate in a brainstorming activity. The two began collecting positive affirmations like “You are a good friend” and “You are safe” — comforting words to any child; but they hadn’t found the right format to publish them.

Then the photo shoot happened. Everything started to make sense. The book’s title came from the caption Holloway added to one of her Instagram posts of the photos: “I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams.” 

Lynch sent the manuscript to her long-time collaborator, illustrator Bonnie Lemaire, on June 22. Lemaire, who usually completes books in one to three months, had three weeks for this one. The 32 pages of hand-sketched, digitally-painted illustrations took just over a week to finish. 

“I’ve only done that twice, as far as a really quick turnaround,” said Lemaire, who has illustrated hundreds of children’s books. 

Lemaire lives about an hour north of Toronto, Ontario, far away from most of what’s happening in the States. “I’m actually sitting out on the deck [right now], and there’s a little chicken laying beside me,” she said, laughing at the rural-ness of it all.

PHOTO: Via Ava Holloway

“[Lemaire’s] experiences are just different,” Lynch said. “She’s been able to engage in conversations with people about what’s going on here. During Canada Day, she had a long conversation about what was happening. That’s not something I imagined that we would ever talk about.” 

“It took some research on her part to get it right, to be what our vision was,” Lynch continued. “With the first character that she drew, I said, ‘I need her hair to be a little more like this, I need her skin tone to be a little more like this…’ but she knocked it out of the park. She asked for pictures, so I sent her some pictures of Holloway and downtown. She just went from there. She knows that representation is really important to me.” 

“It’s such a positive message,” Lemaire said. “Even in Canada, we need to hear that, right?” 

Lemaire was happy to make revisions. “I don’t do a lot of realistic illustrations, so I listened closely to what [Lynch] wanted.”

Lynch pointed out that very few children’s books feature kids of color. “There are more bears in children’s books, and talking animals, than there are Black faces, so it’s really important for me for my kids — and I don’t just mean my children, but also my students — to see themselves in all of the characters,” Lynch said. “Ava sees Black ballerinas all the time. My son is a dancer, Kennedy’s older sister is a dancer. It’s never been foreign for them to see Black dancers, but that’s a very unique experience. I think for most people, it’s not that way.”

PHOTO: Ava Holloway by Marcus Ingram

To illustrators worried about how to properly represent a range of skin tones, Lemaire says, “It’s not that you tread lightly, you just want to make sure it’s the right imagery. There are no rules if you’re doing what the author wants, if you’re feeling good about it.” 

Her illustrations, which sweep across the page in luminous pastels, feel immensely loving. “I really wanted the character to look cute, and I wanted little girls to really resonate with that character,” said Lemaire. 

Lynch has already sold more than 400 copies of My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams through pre-orders on her website. The profits will go to a number of different charities, including Holloway’s scholarship, which provides dancers aged 6-16 with dance classes, pointe shoes, and leotards. 

“One thing that was important to us was offering scholarships for other students, because dance is extremely expensive,” said Lynch. “It’s been a real sacrifice for us as a family.”

If young dancers can get past the financial hurdle, Holloway’s experience teaches us that it’s worth it to follow your passions — even when the odds are stacked against you.

PHOTO: Via Ava Holloway

Despite being one of few non-white dancers at the Central Virginia Dance Company, Holloway said, “I’ve been going there for 11 years, so everyone knows everyone. If you don’t see someone that looks like you, you still have a support system behind you at all times. Our biggest thing is definitely respect.”

She can’t wait to return to dance class — and, for that matter, school. “I hope we can go back to school at least one day of the week. I’ll take that over online,” said Holloway. 

As for Lynch, mindfulness comes in many forms these days. 

“When we first started, I had a schedule that I wrote every day for Ava,” she said. “Every single day!” Holloway echoed.

“Now it’s like a free-for-all. Let’s just order GrubHub,” Lynch continued. “But that’s being mindful, too — it’s giving yourself grace where you are.”

After the overwhelming response to their photos, a fundraiser has been organized to support the academic and artistic pursuits of Holloway and Kennedy George. If you’re interested in purchasing My Ancestor’s Wildest Dreams, pre-orders are available here.

Top Photo by Julia Rendleman

Dancing to Self-Love and Teamwork

Paige Holloman | February 19, 2020

Topics: after school programs, art, ballet, ballet company, ballet programs, dance, dance team, Jordan Glunt, local art, minds in motion, new york city ballet, richmond, Richmond Ballet, Richmond schools, richmond va, RVA, school activities, Stoner Winslett, Theatre, things to do richmond va

Richmond Ballet’s Minds in Motion program gives city school students a different type of extra-curricular activity credit: ballet. 

While thousands of Virginia students walked across stages to collect their diplomas last year, several hundred marked the end of the school year in a different way — with the grand finale of Minds in Motion, a program by the Richmond Ballet that sends dance teachers into the public schools. Virginia requires fourth graders to study math, language arts, science, and history, but about two dozen districts have added another subject to the curriculum. Once a week they gather to study ballet.

Stoner Winslett, the organization’s artistic director, always had a passion to give back to the Richmond community. Minds in Motion was directly inspired by a National Dance Institute program, founded by former New York City Ballet principal dancer Jacques d’Amboise. 

“The goal was to allow the children of inner city schools to experience what it’s like to be an artist — to seek excellence in an art form,” said d’Amboise. “It’s not to make them dancers, painters or musicians. Using the finest professionals, we introduce them to an activity that demands excellence in themselves. There’s no winner or loser, as in sports. It’s a motivational program for children that works.”

PHOTO: Richmond Ballet, Minds in Motion

Now in its 25th year, Minds In Motion has successfully expanded from two to 27 schools, serving students in Richmond, Chesterfield, Henrico, Hopewell, Charlottesville, Chesapeake, and Woodbridge. In addition, the program has an international component working with Israeli and Arab children in the Middle East. Acclaimed by teachers, parents and students, Minds In Motion has grown to become a major focus of Richmond Ballet’s education and outreach mission.

“It allows us to introduce movement when we first enter the classroom,” said Jordan Glunt, acting director of Minds In Motion. “Everyone has to participate.”

Language is instrumental to their approach in supporting learning. The use of language, integrated with the movements students are taught, helps each dancer learn their steps. Working together as a group, emphasizing teamwork rather than competition, also helps make the students comfortable enough to learn well.

“Students will pick up choreography, the connection of steps, easier and faster if we give them words to say,” Glunt explained. “As they progress, they’re building on steps, linking on steps which leads to greater choreography — and they’re dancing before they realize they are truly dancing.” 

Students also gain important life skills: not only the discipline necessary to master the routines, but the permission to be creative and follow their muse in a less rigid fashion.

PHOTO: Richmond Ballet, Minds in Motion

“It does take discipline, and it is hard work, but it also can be very freeing,” Glunt said. “We really support creativity. They get this sense of play, in a way. We can have fun, but there is a structure to it that is getting them to learn and move, and they really start to work together as a class.” 

Even the boys who initially shun ballet, thinking of the dance form as intrinsically feminine, often find it has its merits. 

“Professional football players are taking ballet classes to help with being more agile and quick on their feet, and able to move quickly,” said Glunt. “Virginia students understand that because they’re dancing, they’re working really hard; they break a sweat. And by the end of the Minds in Motion class, they’ll think, ‘Oh!’ Some of my favorite experiences are boys saying, ‘I’m not doing ballet!’ And by the end of the year, they’re the ones in the front row saying, “Yes!”’

Both teachers and students report that ballet has boosted their self-confidence, offering another way to succeed at school away from the rigid segmentation of letter grades. Glunt says it’s an experience that stays with them long after the curtain comes down. Minds In Motion even has an after-school scholarship class, designed for students with an aptitude for dance, called Team Excel.

“Those kids invited to audition get that ‘audition experience,’ and then they find out if they made it into Team Excel or not,” says Glunt. 

Team Excel, now in its second year, takes place on the ground level of Richmond Ballet. About 40 children have the experience of touring and dancing in the actual company. They also get to experience other forms of dance besides ballet, like tap, jazz, musical theatre, and modern dance. They’re viewing classes along with their families, who find joy in watching their children dance.

PHOTO: Richmond Ballet, Minds in Motion

All this practice culminates in their spring performance at the Dominion Energy Theatre, where all the fourth grade classes and schools come together for a professional production. 

“It is truly done by the fourth graders. All of us teaching artists and musicians get to step away and sit in the audience and cry tears of joy in watching the students put on this amazing performance,” says Glunt, who grew teary-eyed with happiness. 

“I’ve run into students I taught 10 years ago in the grocery store, and they’ll say, ‘I remember my finale dance,’” says Glunt. “They’ll dance in the grocery store aisle, the entire finale.” 

To learn more about Minds In Motion and their programs, check out their website here and catch up with them through the Richmond Ballet on social media. 

“Simply Beautiful Ballet:” Stavna Ballet Awes and Delights at Dogtown Dance Theatre

Christopher McDaniel | April 26, 2019

Topics: ballet, choreography, Director's Choice, Dogtown Dance Theatre, Rachel Seeholzer, Sleeping Beauty, Stavna Ballet, Vanessa Owen

Earlier this month, Richmond’s Stavna Ballet brought top-quality ballet at an affordable price to Dogtown Dance Theatre.

Stavna Ballet hosted the second production of their performance season, Director’s Choice, on April 12 and 13 at Dogtown Dance Theatre, and it was a treat to see. Stavna Ballet is a nonprofit dance company founded in Richmond that aspires to give local artists an outlet for artistic expression by giving dancers a chance to perform, and bringing top-quality ballet to the Richmond area.

Photo by Robert E. Lindholm

Shannon McConville, founder of Stavna, translates the word “Stavna” to loosely mean “simply” or “simply beautiful” ballet. The juxtaposition between the words “simply” and “beautiful” was thought-provoking, yet easily explainable after watching the opening night of Director’s Choice.

During the first of two acts, Stavna began with extended excerpts of a production still in-works: Sleeping Beauty. Each of the company’s five members all played a different role in the plot of the beloved classic. This act contained three pieces, totaling twenty or so minutes, and it was full of brightly colored classic tutus on the Dogtown stage — a stage which does not usually find itself hosting ballet.

Photo by Robert E. Lindholm

The typical Dogtown audience was in attendance, and many found themselves stunned at this high-art performance brought down to a reasonable price. It’s great to see a ballet company besides the Richmond Ballet drawing an audience in Richmond.

The second act featured contemporary works of ballet, and it was in this act that I found love. Simply, the ballerinas of Stavna showed the dance community that breathtaking choreography can happen, and indeed is happening locally, on a grassroots level. Homegrown and passionate, I saw unheralded emotion as the dancers performed full company pieces, duets, or solos.

Notable performances came from guest choreographer and dancer Vanessa Owen, on her solo “A Misunderstanding.” Owen, a world-renowned dancer currently based in Old Fort, NC, also co-choreographed the group finale piece, “To Know You,” with her partner Gavin Stewart. Another impressive and passionate performance came from the duet “Proclivitas,” performed by Madison Case and Eric Robinson.

Photo by Robert E. Lindholm

My favorite work of the night, however, was a solo performance entitled “Douleur.” The soloist, Rachel Seeholzer, captivated the feeling that founder McConville spoke on: simply beautiful. The raw emotion seen from her performance was the highlight of my night. Her costume was simple, yet her movements spoke louder decibels than the theatre speakers. An image, one of Seeholzer staring into the side stage as bright lights bathed her and on her tip-toes, is still as clear to me as the hands in front of my face. I saw confidence and self-awareness. Simply beautiful ballet.

Stavna Ballet has not announced their next performance, but you can keep an eye out for it on Facebook, or their website. Doing so is highly recommended. 

Top photo by Bella Ella Photography

Fredericksburg’s Company 360 Wants To Give You All The Feels

Ginny Bixby | April 10, 2019

Topics: art, bailey anne vincent, ballet, company 360, cystic fibrosis, dance, empowerment, inclusive, womens empowerment

Involving dancers of all body types and embracing inclusivity and diversity, Company 360 works to make dance empowering and accessible for all.

Bailey Anne Vincent might make you cry when you see her dance company on stage.

“We do tend to go for as much emotion as possible. We tend to make people cry,” Vincent laughed.

According to their website, Fredericksburg’s Company 360 hopes to push boundaries and bend stereotypes about the world of professional dance. They’ve paid no mind to body types, and opened their doors to dancers of all abilities, limitations or not.

“Dance should not be an age, size or number,” the group says, “and Company 360 hopes to be an inclusive, no-shame environment for those passionate enough.” Their next performance, Bridges, a tribute to Paul Simon, will be performed April 26-27 at the Fredericksburg Academy.

Vincent said the company’s upcoming show will provoke a lot of emotion from the audience, and that the dancers have even cried in rehearsals after connecting to the material.

“This show follows three generations of women all having to make different choices and having to overcome being a woman, basically,” she said. “It’s not just a tribute to [Simon’s] music; it’s characters he’s hidden inside of his lyrics, or the different themes he’s stuck [in a song].”

“This show is very grounded in reality, with folklore and Americana.” In contrast, Vincent said that Company 360’s fall show, a tribute to the Dave Matthews Band, will be “pure fantasy and magic.”

PHOTO: AMT Photography

Vincent aims for her shows to have one cohesive, original plot and storyline across all the pieces, even though there are very different styles being performed throughout each show. She comes up with the story and chooses the soundtrack a year in advance. While ballet is featured heavily in the shows, Company 360 primarily focuses on contemporary pieces, and also performs pointe, tap, and jazz.

“We are not a ballet company,” said Vincent. “It really is a 360 of styles.”

Vincent started out dancing for various dance companies in Washington, D.C., even working as an assistant artistic director for some. For a while, she worked as a choreographer for Fredericksburg’s Christian Youth Theater. But she knew she wanted more.

“The whole time I was kind of quietly creating my whole list of, ‘If I had a company, this is what I would do to eradicate drama, or negative body image, etc’,” she said. Vincent had a vision for a company that was more inclusive, and would have none of the negative aspects of working in the dance world that seem to be all too prevalent.

She said she was especially concerned with how in some dance companies, women were being pitted against each other. She wanted to start a company that was different, that focused on the joy of dance and the way it can be empowering.

After a stem cell transplant, Vincent decided to finally try to bring her plans to fruition. Vincent, who has Cystic Fibrosis and is also deaf, had been on oxygen, and was constantly in and out of the hospital until the transplant. While she still spends a fair amount of time in the hospital, she says the transplant gave her a “resurgence of health.”

“That was what led me to take the leap with Company 360 because it felt like, well it’s now or never,” she said. “What do I have to lose? I’ve almost died like twenty times.”

PHOTO: AMT Photography

Vincent worked with her husband, who is now the executive director of the company, to figure out the logistics of starting this venture.

“I feel like, especially for women, we have more of a ceiling to get through when following our pursuits and passions,” Vincent said. “We often feel like we have to have a checklist of certain things we have to do before we take on something.”

But Vincent challenges that approach.

“My favorite metaphor for business is the bumblebee,” she said. “The bumblebee is aerodynamically too big to be able to fly, but the bumblebee flies, because the bumblebee believes in something and just does it.”

In a similar way, Vincent believes in all of her dancers, even if they violate the archetype of what a dancer is “supposed” to look like. One of her original goals with Company 360 was to empower dancers of all body types to perform, and she does not consider body size or type as a factor in casting.

“[The dancers] are measured by their talent, not by their measurements,” she said. “My goal is making the audience feel something, and I think that has absolutely nothing to do with the skeleton you were born with.”

“You can make someone feel something just as much if you look like Isabella Boylston or Misty Copeland, or if you have boobs,” she said. “It makes literally no difference. And to me that’s what we’re losing in the dance world. People don’t think that dancers of all sizes can move as beautifully, and they can.”

PHOTO: AMT Photography

Vincent said that while she is looking for dancers to have strong technique and training, she considers the dancer’s ability to emote and tell a story paramount when casting.

“You can tell when someone has to dance, when it’s their passion,” she said. “Not when they need to dance or feel that they must dance, but that they’ll do anything to dance.” To Vincent, it’s this quality that’s most important in a dancer. Ability alone is not enough.

“The world is full of good dancers. You watch So You Think You Can Dance and you’re like, ‘They can do eight pirouettes! How do all these people exist in the world?’” Vincent doesn’t see physical achievements like these as the best barometer of dance talent.

You go to dance competitions and everyone’s kicking themselves in the face with their leg. To me, that’s all been done.

“We’ve seen the most flexible people in the world, and we’ve seen the most proficient turners,” said Vincent. “The world is full of talented dancers, but it is not full of talented performers. And that makes an audience feel something.”

Vincent also runs a youth company for older children and a training company for teenagers. Every dancer in the training company is paired up with an adult company dancer, whom they shadow and understudy for the season to give them a taste of a professional dancer’s life. Vincent said she really wants understudying to be a positive experience for her young dancers.

“Growing up, it was always a negative thing to be cast as the understudy. But it’s an honor, it’s exciting, it’s a privilege,” she said.

In addition to her company, Vincent has attracted a large following as a health advocate and writer. She has over eleven thousand followers on her Instagram account, where she documents her life as a dancer with chronic illness. Vincent said that because of her advocacy, people around the world who are chronically ill have connected with the company. She is currently fundraising for two women from Nashville and Texas, whom she has endearingly nicknamed the “Bucket List Babes,” to fly out to see a Company 360 show.

“They were really motivated by seeing all sorts of women represented in the company,” Vincent said.

Vincent would like to be able to continue this practice for other fans of the company, and hopes to work with local organizations to raise funds for it. She also tries to collaborate with a different nonprofit for every show. Her international following has motivated her to livestream some of Company 360’s performances, and she is sensitive to the fact that it can be expensive to be a patron of the arts.

“I want dance to be accessible,” she said.

Vincent has also worked on dance films to bring awareness to certain issues, including collaborating with rapper Everlast on a dance film called “Love With Cystic Fibrosis.” Everlast, whose daughter has Cystic Fibrosis, found Vincent through her online advocacy.

Vincent’s main goal throughout her work is to make her corner of the dance world an inclusive and positive one. She hopes this can spread to the larger dance community, and encourage dancers who have been alienated from pursuing careers in dance and achieving success.

“I’d like to think that if you’re a dancer who comes to see our show, you’re not going to feel hateful about your body when you leave, or discouraged,” she said. “Or think, ‘Why try? I’m going to give up dance,’ because sometimes that happens when I go see dance shows.”  

“Hopefully, as more people come to see Company 360 shows and get lost in the story, they’ll leave and then never again have this stereotype of what they think a beautiful dancer should look like,” Vincent said. “All of our dancers are beautiful, and all bodies are beautiful.”

Company 360 will perform Bridges, their tribute to the work of Paul Simon, at Fredericksburg Academy on Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27. In addition to evening performances at 7 PM both days, there will be a 2 PM matinee performance on Saturday. For tickets and additional info, visit Company 360’s website.

Top Photo by AMT Photography

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