Wrapped Up in Joy: Months of Preparation Lead to Ballet Stories on Stage
At Rejoice School of Ballet, the winter months were filled with creativity, growth, and collaboration as students participated in the annual Variation Workshop, a special program that culminated in the March 7 performance of Ballet Stories.
Held on Saturdays throughout January and February, the workshop gave dancers the opportunity to study and perform classical ballet variations. These iconic excerpts from story ballets blend technique, musicality, and character work. Despite unexpected challenges along the way, the process wrapped the entire community in something unmistakable: joy.
Learning the Language of Classical Ballet
For the dancers involved, the workshop offered a chance to transform the technical building blocks they practice in class into fully realized performances.
Executive Director Sharyn Mahoney described seeing that connection happen as one of her favorite parts of the program.
“The Variation Workshop visits I make are one of the best parts of my job,” she said. “I love having the opportunity to work with the dancers one on one and watch them get excited about how all the work from their classes becomes a variation.”
Working on classical variations allows dancers to see how technique, artistry, and storytelling come together on stage. Former professional dancer Elizabeth Greer, who worked with the dancers during the workshop, added that these pieces form a shared tradition within the art form.
“The variations are composed of classical ballet steps and technique, which require the dancers to bring the steps they have learned in their classes into the context of telling a story while phrasing their movement to express the tone of each character,” Elizabeth said. “The classical variations are the oral tradition of the art of ballet. They are a universal language that transcends generations, countries and continents.”
For many dancers, the experience becomes a foundation they will revisit throughout their dancing lives.
Growth Through Rehearsal
Over the course of the workshop, instructors saw clear growth in the students’ confidence, effort, and artistic expression.
Lead Children’s Ballet Teacher Josie Baughman, who teaches many of the dancers in their regular classes and took on the co-artistic director role for this production, noticed a significant shift.
“I saw a massive uptick in overall effort and investment as well as a strengthened ability to pick up and retain new material,” she said.
Elizabeth also observed how the dancers progressed from focusing on the mechanics of choreography to embodying the story behind the steps.
“They progressed from learning the structure of the choreography, into developing their characters while working as an ensemble, and finally to projecting their love of dance out to the audience,” she said. “The discipline of learning to review the choreography after rehearsal and reproduce it from one week to the next serves them in all areas of life. The experience of creating a character and of changing the nuances of the styles of two different classical ballets on the same program is fundamental to understanding and joining in the tradition of classical ballet.”
Along the way, students discovered how technical training, character work, and stagecraft all merge in performance, often leading to what Sharyn calls “a-ha moments” for newer dancers seeing those elements come together for the first time.
Overcoming an Unexpected Setback
The workshop schedule faced a major obstacle in January when a devastating ice storm swept through Nashville, causing days-long power outages and forcing the cancellation of two full weekends of rehearsals.
Despite the lost time, the dancers stayed determined.
“Most of the students involved in this project had never done a performance of this scope and scale before, but they were extremely motivated to do well and didn't let the missed rehearsals impact their performance,” Josie said. “We all charged ahead with positive attitudes and did the best we could with the time available.”
The compressed rehearsal schedule only strengthened the group’s focus and commitment as the performance date approached.
A Community That Dances Together
One of the defining qualities of this year’s workshop was the strong sense of community among the dancers.
“They stayed engaged, asked thoughtful questions, owned their mistakes and tackled them with problem-solving attitudes. They worked together to tackle challenges and supported and uplifted one another,” Josie said. “They really just embraced the full experience and soaked up everything they could like sponges.”
Sharyn also noted the welcoming spirit the dancers showed, particularly toward students joining from other programs.
“One of the most beautiful things about this performance and the community at Rejoice is the way they support each other,” she said. We invite dancers from other schools to join us in this experience and the Rejoice dancers are always supportive, welcoming and friendly. They cheer each other on and make everyone part of one team.
Elizabeth agreed that the kindness among the dancers stood out just as much as their technical progress.
“In the midst of doing good work and enjoying their dancing, they are very kind to each other.”
The Joy of Performance
All of that work culminated on March 7 in Ballet Stories, when the dancers finally brought their variations to the stage.
For the instructors and staff, watching the students succeed under the lights was deeply rewarding.
“Seeing them perform so well despite the challenges we faced was simply awesome,” Josie said. “It was definitely a ‘we did it!’ moment.”
Elizabeth found particular joy in watching dancers overcome challenges they had faced during rehearsals.
“The moments when a dancer conquers a movement passage in performance that was particularly difficult for her in rehearsal are especially rewarding to see,” she said.
“When young dancers work so hard to accomplish technique in their classes, performing gives them the chance to accomplish something and to prove to themselves they can achieve an end goal,” Sharyn added. “When they give their joy to the audience and receive the audience’s joy back, it is a wonderful feeling.”
Wrapped Up in Joy
Throughout the rehearsal process and final performances, joy appeared in countless ways: from dancers mastering difficult passages to families watching proudly from the audience.
Sharyn said those audience moments are especially meaningful.
“One of the best moments of joy that I see is watching the parents and grandparents watch their children at the performances. When they see what their child has accomplished on stage, it is magical to watch their awe and their pride, she said.
For the dancers, the experience leaves something lasting: confidence, deeper friendships, and a renewed love of ballet.
And for the Rejoice community, this year’s Variation Workshop proved that even unexpected obstacles can’t dampen what happens when young artists come together to create something meaningful—wrapped up, unmistakably, in joy.
