LIVE. LOVE. DDF was the motto for the 2019 Delaware Dance Festival. Kelly Millar, Artistic Director of DDF, told the dancers on stage that they have to LOVE what they do. We couldn’t agree more and it’s why we do what we do–we LOVE dance and being able to share it with our dancers, audiences and communities. 

Highlights of this year’s festival included watching the Berks Ballet Theatre dancers shine even when out of their comfort zones. They first got to experience this with a contemporary improv class with Bria Walton, the first taste of contemporary or improv for the five company apprentices. Friday ended with a scholarship class in which ten of our company dancers participated in ballet, contemporary and musical theatre. On Saturday their first class of the day was contemporary with Zachary Kapeluck of BalletX — since this was their second contemporary class of the weekend many of the dancers were more comfortable and took to standing in the front of the class even though it might have only been their second contemporary class ever! The day of classes ended with ballet and hip hop.

Though classes were over, the day was not — we had tech/dress rehearsal for Artistic Director, Kelly Barber’s “Summa.” The dancers were then free to enjoy the evening by exploring Wilmington or hanging by the pool! 

Sunday concluded the weekend with a beautiful performance by all. The dancers really gave their all in “Summa.” We had three cash scholarship winners: Emily Brossman, Lorelei Obst and Gretchen Kimmel. Congrats, dancers! 

Bravo to Kelly Millar and her DDF team and to all of the dancers and parents for a wonderful weekend of dance!