(Raleigh)-Cameron McCune, a 16 year old high school student who trains at The Raleigh School of Ballet (RSB) won the Senior Men’s Division (15-19 year olds) at the Youth America Grand Prix 2012 Philadelphia, PA Regional Semi-Finals held Jan 14-16. Mr. McCune competed against 18 other dancers. With this win he is invited to compete in the final round in April in NYC with winners from all over the world.

Mr. McCune has trained at The Raleigh School of Ballet since he was 8 years old. Additionally, he trained two summers at Miami City Ballet.  He was coached for this competition by Gyula Pandi, a former Hungarian National Ballet Dancer and recently retired dance faculty member of UNCSA. Mr Pandi thought Cameron won the competition before he actually performed his variations.  “In the warm-up studio all the dancers, their teachers/coaches were blown away by Cameron’s poise, confidence and technical level. He won the competition right there before stepping on the stage. He stood out like a palm tree in the middle of the desert,” he said.

Mr. McCune is a member of the school’s affiliate performance training company, Raleigh Dance Theatre (RDT) and has been invited by Carolina Ballet Artistic Director, Robert Weiss to perform company roles throughout the 11-12 season.

Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) is the world’s largest student ballet scholarship competition that awards over $250,000 annually in scholarships to leading dance schools worldwide. The competition is held annually around the world and in New York City, and is open to dance students of all nationalities 9-19 years old. For more information please visit: yagp.org.

The Raleigh School of Ballet celebrates 30 years as one of the triangles premiere professional ballet training schools.  RSB alumnae are currently dancing with professional ballet companies include Ashley Hathaway (Raleigh), Sarah Newton (Durham) Lindsay Purrington (Raleigh)  with Carolina Ballet; Laura Bowman (Raleigh), with Pennsylvania Ballet; Jessie Truesdale (Raleigh), company member with National  Ballet of Flandars; Chris Weisler (Raleigh) company member with Dutch National Ballet, and Emily Proctor (Raleigh)  company member with Aspen-Santa Fe Ballet.  Please visit the following websites for more information: RSB raleighballet.com or RDT raleighdance.org.

(RALEIGH) – Raleigh Dance Theatre, under the artistic direction of Mary LeGere, will present its popular family-oriented production of Storybook Tales on Saturday, November 5, 2011 at 1:00pm and 6:00pm, and Sunday, November 6, 2011 at 3:00pm.

Artistic Director Mary LeGere’s, Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly adapted from the popular children’s book by Jane O’Connor with illustrations by Robin Preiss Glasser will be featured.  RDT is pleased to have Ms Glasser at all performances to sign books purchased at the event.  Audience members are encouraged to wear their fanciest outfits.  This year, RDT is pleased to partner with The Comfort Project, a local not-for-profit organization that provides books and stuffed animals to children who are hospitalized. The company is encouraging families to purchase an extra Fancy Nancy book for a child in need.  In addition, RDT premieres Megan Marvel’s The Little Mermaid based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. The Fairies from the classic full length Sleeping Beauty and Mary LeGere’s ournonville Divertissements complete the program. Storybook Tales is an enchanting program approximately an hour and a half in length that will be sure to delight even the youngest audience members.

Robin Preiss Glasser has had two successful careers, the first as a ballet dancer and the second as an award-winning children’s book illustrator.  After an 11 year career as a soloist with Pennsylvania Ballet, Robin returned to school at age 30, receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons The New School for Design.  Her first book, Judith Viorst’s Alexander, Who’s Not (Do You Hear Me? I mean It!) Going to Move, was made into a musical produced by The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Robin illustrated two additional books for Ms. Viorst, three books with Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman, including the ALA Notable Book You Can’t Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum, and three acclaimed history books with Lynne Cheney, the vice president’s wife. Robin illustrated beloved radio star Garrison Keillor’s Daddy’s Girl, and the charming A Sock is a Pocket for your Toes by award-winning poet Elizabeth Garton Scanlon, before being paired in 2005 with author Jane O’Connor for the now classic Fancy Nancy Books in the Fancy Nancy series have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List for more than 260 weeks. With over 18 million copies sold around the world, Fancy Nancy has been translated into 17 languages, including Hebrew and Korean.  The brand now includes dolls, accessories, clothing, party paper goods, puzzles, a Nintendo DS game and more.  Besides continued work on the Fancy Nancy series – which to date numbers more than 40 books — Robin illustrated Tea for Ruby by Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York.  Robin lives in Irvine, California, with her husband and two children.

Storybook Tales performances will be held in Fletcher Opera Theater at Raleigh’s Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. General admission tickets for all performances are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Group rates are also available.

For more information about the Raleigh Dance Theatre, Storybook Tales, or our outreach programs, please contact the company offices at (919) 834-1058, or visit its website at www.raleighdance.org.

(RALEIGH) – Raleigh Dance Theatre, under the artistic direction of Mary LeGere, will present its popular family-oriented production of Storybook Tales on Saturday, November 5, 2011 at 1:00pm and 6:00pm, and Sunday, November 6, 2011 at 3:00pm.  RDT is pleased to present the premier of Megan Marvel’s The Little Mermaid based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.  Mary LeGere’s, Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly adapted from the popular children’s book by Jane O’Connor will also be featured along with the Fairies from the classic full length Sleeping Beauty and Mary LeGere’s Bournonville Divertissements.  Storybook Tales is an enchanting program approximately an hour and a half in length that will be sure to delight even the youngest audience members.

Storybook Tales performances will be held in Fletcher Opera Theater at Raleigh’s Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. General admission tickets for all performances are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Group rates are also available.

Raleigh Dance Theatre was founded in 1984 by Ann Vorus to provide pre-professional performance training, while promoting and fostering the art of dance in the community. It is an honor member company of Regional Dance America/Southeastern Regional Ballet Association.  RDT’s training program has a proven record of success, with alumnae who have gone on to professional careers with Carolina Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Washington Ballet II, and New York City Ballet among others.

For more information about the Raleigh Dance Theatre, Storybook Tales, or our outreach programs, please contact the company offices at (919) 834-1058, or visit its website at www.raleighdance.org.