Fan-Tastic Pre-Mother’s Day “Pink” Tea And Ballet At Ventfort Hall10:41AM / Thursday, February 26, 2009
LENOX, Mass. - Children are invited to bring their mothers and grandmothers to a special day-before- Mother’s Day celebration at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum on Saturday, May 9, from 3 to 5 pm. The Fan-Tastic Pre-Mother’s Day “Pink” Tea and Ballet will include: performances by members of the Albany Berkshire Ballet Junior Company and the Academies of the Cantarella School of Dance, a traditional Victorian “Pink” Tea, a display of exquisite Victorian Fans, and a viewing of Les Petites Dames de Mode.
The performers, ages 12-18, will dance excepts from the ballet “Cinderella” with music by Sergei Prokofiev and choreographed by Nancy Ropelewski King and Madeline Cantarella Culpo, and from the ballet “Children’s Games” with music by Georges Bizet and choreographed by Deidre Duffin Swindlehurst and King.
The Albany Berkshire Ballet’s professional company has been serving the Berkshires and the Northeast for over 50 years, and is the area’s only professional ballet company. The junior dancers often perform at festivals, area schools and nursing homes, bringing dance to audiences that would not normally have the opportunity to experience a live performance.
The exhibit of Les Petites Dames de Mode (The Little Ladies of Fashion), usually only available for viewing during tour hours, will be open for this special event. Each is a work of art and fast becoming a cultural fixture of the Berkshires. In addition, Ventfort Hall’s small, but stunning collection of Victorian fans, on loan from Julie Agar and Meg Williamson, harkens back to a time when the “language of fans” played an important role in Gilded Age society and provides a perfect addition to the afternoon’s “Fan”-tastic theme.
Tickets are priced at $15 for non-members, $12 for members and $7 for children under 12. For reservations call Ventfort Hall at 413-637-3206. The historic house is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.
An Official Project of Save America’s Treasures, Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum offers tours of the historic mansion, as well as lectures, concerts, teas, theater and other programs. This elegant Elizabethan-Revival Berkshire “cottage,” listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is open to the public year-around and is available for private rental. Built in 1893 for George and Sarah Morgan (sister of the financier, J. P. Morgan), Ventfort Hall has undergone substantial restoration, which continues. |
