Ballet classic ushers in new era at CARE Ballet
The local nonprofit ballet company is celebrating 25 years with a production of Cinderella, and former CARE student Heather Liskiewitz taking over the reigns from co-founder and artistic director Judy Genson-Wadsworth.
For the past quarter century, Grand Rapids’ Creative Arts Repertoire Ensemble (CARE), a nonprofit ballet company, has been led by co-founder and artistic director Judy Genson-Wadsworth. Moving into this year and CARE’s next 25, the 67-year-old leader felt it was time to take a step back. She has handed over CARE’s reins to former student Heather Liskiewitz, who has recently served as CCB’s ballet mistress and costume seamstress.
While Genson-Wadsworth will no longer be leading CARE, she will stay on as a part-time teacher, administrator, and consultant to Liskiewitz. Husband and co-founder Trent Wadsworth will stay on as CARE’s technical director and the company’s other co-founder and stage manager Robin Kobel has retired.
Liskiewitz, a 34-year-old Grand Rapids native, grew up in the Walker area and says she got into dance after her mother, a classical flutist, saw her dancing around the house on her tip toes and decided she needed proper dance training. She began dance lessons at age two at Ken Tepper Dance Studio, moved to Grand Rapids Ballet School at age 10, and then trained with CARE Ballet through high school. She received a BFA in dance from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio before dancing professionally with Ballet San Antonio, Continental Ballet, Minnesota Ballet, and Illinois Ballet.
Liskiewitz says throughout college and her professional dance career, she had maintained in contact with friend and mentor Genson-Wadsworth, so when injuries had her body telling her it was time to hang up her pointe shoes as a full-time dancer, Genson-Wadsworth was there to offer her a teaching position at CARE to begin the next chapter in her dance career.
“CARE was always my second family so it was a natural decision to come back,” says Liskiewitz. Now five years later she is taking over as the second artistic director in the organization’s history.
“I was actually a little bit surprised because I thought of her as someone who would never retire,” admits Liskiewitz about being named Genson-Wadsworth’s successor.
Having come up through the organization, Liskiewitz aligns well with CARE’s core values of encouraging its artists to look beyond their own self-interests and toward the aiding and enriching of the lives of others and mentoring younger dancers. Genson-Wadsworth’s belief in keeping up with current teaching trends and cross-training methods to help CARE’s students to become better dancers have been instilled in her and will provide continuity for the organization and its students.
For her part, Liskiewitz, as Genson-Wadsworth did, will wear a number of hats at CARE—from director, teacher, and rehearsal director, to costumer and administrator.
With the remainder of this season and next season’s programming already set, Liskiewitz says her skills as a choreographer — having created works for Wright State University, Gem City Ballet, and Young People’s Ballet Theatre — will have to wait.
Liskiewitz’s vision for CARE is to build on what Genson-Wadsworth has put into place. She’s taking a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to the general operation of CARE. She says in the future however, she would like to utilize an in-studio performance space more by bringing in seating and lighting to expand CARE’s performance season.
“I’d like to give our older dancers the opportunity to do ballets like “Carmen” that are more adult and not necessarily kid-orientated like our other productions,” says Liskiewitz.
With the connections she’s built in the dance world, she would like to bring in more guest teachers throughout the year to work with the students. As for classes, Liskiewitz says she and the staff are always looking to enhance CARE’s approximately 165 students’ learning experience.
Now over a month into the job, Liskiewitz’s main focus is getting a reprise of Genson-Wadsworth’s production of “Cinderella” ready for the stage. CARE Ballet will present three public performances of the ballet February 3 and 4 at East Grand Rapids High School Performing Arts Center.
It’s a production Liskiewitz is familiar with, having performed the role of the Fairy Godmother in 1997.
The production, says Liskiewitz, is a traditional retelling of Charles Perrault universally familiar 1697 tale, “Cinderella,” or “The Little Glass Slipper.” Set to Sergei Prokofiev’s music for the ballet, “Cinderella” tells the rags to riches story of a young maiden who, after losing her mother and father, is forced to live with her cruel stepmother and stepsisters as their servant. A fortuitous twist of fate with the help of her Fairy Godmother then has Cinderella attending a royal ball and falling in love with a handsome prince. By ballet’s end the two marry and as they say, live happily ever after.
“It’s very much classical [in style] but also theatrical,” says Liskiewitz.
Compared to full “Cinderella” ballet productions, CARE’s version is condensed to an hour to make it more family-friendly. Despite that, Genson-Wadsworth was able to add roles such as dragonflies, grasshoppers and forest spirits to utilize the over 50 performers of all ages who auditioned for the production from CARE and from the community at large.
“We try to give opportunities to other dancers in the community,” says Liskiewitz. “It keeps our dancers fresh by having new faces and talents integrated into our productions.”
Heading the cast will be Claire Meyer as Cinderella, Bill Hodgkins as her Prince, Sawyer Smith as the Stepmother, Emily Foster and Lydia Hoekwater as the Stepsisters, and India Gorman as the Fairy Godmother.
CARE Ballet presents “Cinderella”
Saturday, February 3: 11 a.m. & 3 p.m.
Sunday, February 4: 3 p.m.
East Grand Rapids High School Performing Arts Center
2211 Lake Drive S.E., Grand Rapids
Tickets: $15/adults and $10/students
Purchase online or call (616) 464–3682
Tickets also available for purchase at the door one hour prior to each performance.
Parking is free.
