All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.
News
Richmond Ballet Shares the Beauty and Athleticism of Dance
When the artistic director of the Richmond Ballet introduced the dance performance boys were about to see as part the Woodberry Forest Artist Series on October 12, 2018, she acknowledged that they might be skeptical. But Stoner Winslett, who founded Virginia’s state ballet thirty-five years ago, assured her audience that she had come to know Woodberry well when her son, Alex Irwin ’08, attended.
“I know that Woodberry values athletics, theater, and music,” she said, and went on to explain how the art of ballet encompasses all three. She asked boys to open their minds and view the dancers they were about to see as some of the world’s best-trained professional athletes who also act and use their bodies as musical instruments. And she encouraged them to applaud when they saw something they liked onstage, just as they would for an athletic contest.
Selections performed on Purrington Stage in the Bowman Gray Auditorium ranged from the classic Balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet to a pair of contemporary pieces choreographed on Richmond Ballet dancers. The final piece was the exuberant Who Cares, choreographed by George Balanchine to a medley of musical numbers by George Gershwin.
The Richmond Ballet is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and continuing evolution of the art form of ballet. The company tours internationally, trains future dancers at its school of ballet, and enriches the education of thousands of schoolchildren through its outreach programs.
The Woodberry Forest Artist Series, with support from the Thomas S. Kenan III '55 Guest Artists Fund, brings performing arts to the Woodberry community. Later in the school year, students will enjoy Time for Three, a string trio that draws on musical inspiration ranging from Bach to bluegrass. Past performers include the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Taj Mahal, Maynard Ferguson, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Kronos Quartet.
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
Explore & Resources
Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.