As the Fossemalle Dance Studio is “bourree-ing” (a ballet term consisting of tiny steps in any direction, and in their case, forward) towards the 40th anniversary of its dedication to teaching the Art of Dance, it is announcing a special week of summer camps starting Monday, June 23, through Friday, June 27.

There will be four different camps to choose from according to age and level of expertise, each being limited to 10 students to provide proper instruction as well as attention to detail.

It will also celebrate the return home for the summer of one of the studio’s 2022 graduates, Miss Camryn Kemp, who will be instructing, as she has done before, alongside Christine Fossemalle, the founder and director of the studio.

“First it was Miss Amanda; it is now Miss Camryn who is returning for the summer to help teach the students who will beattending our summer camps. It makes me feel very content to witness their desire to contribute their talents to our cause,” said Fossemalle.

There are two camps in the morning from 9 a.m. to noon, one being a Ballet, Tap and Jazz Camp for 7-year-olds and up, taught by Kemp.

The other and most popular one will be the Nutcracker Camp for youngsters 8 years and up with some ballet expertise, which will also be taught by Kemp.

The afternoon camps will be from 1 until 3 p.m., which is a newly created Disney Camp for 5- and 6-year-old boys and girls. This is an educational and fun camp with the famous classical Disney tunes and instruction suited for that age group.

Finally, the Sleeping Beauty camp, taught by Fossemalle requires ballet expertise and is for 12-year-olds and up.

“These are exciting, fun, and educational camps that provide your children with the opportunity to discover the art of dance or enhance their technical and artistic skills, taught with tender loving care and attention to detail. It will be a week of joy, challenges, and camaraderie to celebrate our 40th year of dedication to the Art of Dance,” said Fossemalle. “We encourage prompt registration though as the enrollment is very limited.”

Fossemalle Dance Studio is at 3595 Numancia St., Santa Ynez. For more information, call (805) 688-8494 or visit www.fossemalledancestudio.com

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Contributing Writer

Maggie Mesikep says he has spent the better part of her adult life “living the dream.”

She is affectionately known as Miss Maggie to the thousands of students who have floated and twirled across the floor and performed pliés in front of the mirror at Los Olivos Dance Gallery for nearly 25 years.

Lompoc native Maggie Mesikep, 49, began dancing as a small child and never stopped.

“I wanted to have a (dance) school from age 7; I live my dream every day,” Mesikep said from her small school on Nojoqui Avenue. “I feel so fulfilled and filled with love, with respect. Working with students, watching their self-esteem (and) self-confidence grow; dance aside, watching them become their best selves, that’s what gives me the most joy. When the dance comes along with it, it’s breathtaking.”

A Lompoc native, Mesikep, 49, began dancing as a small child. She recalls always having a lot of energy, always tapping her feet and moving a lot. It was something her mother channeled into dance classes, starting at 5.

“That is how it all started. I have always been creative and love using my imagination and expressing through movement,” Mesikep said. “It has always been in me.”

Mesikep danced throughout her youth and said at one point a teacher told her she would never be a dancer because of her physique. She said the comment simply made her work harder to attain her dream.

At that time, Mesikep switched dance schools, got her pointe shoes and never looked back. She eventually attended UC Irvine, where she graduated with a degree in dance and an emphasis in teaching and management, knowing she wanted a dance school.

That teacher’s comment “sort of fueled me to do better and to create a school that I always wanted,” Mesikep said. “If I was little, this is where I would want to come and what I would want to see.”

Los Olivos Dance Gallery teaches not only traditional ballet and tap but also contemporary styles. Photo by Mike Mesikep.

Mesikep, along with the help of her husband, Mike, has been operating Los Olivos Dance Gallery at 2948 Nojoqui Ave., Suite 6, for the last 24 years. The couple do pretty much everything at the studio, where students can take classes in ballet, jazz, tap and hip hop. Classes are offered for kids as young as 4 years old up to adult.

Mike Mesikep, who also grew up in Lompoc, laughed that his wife groomed him for the job over the years. The pair met in kindergarten but didn’t start dating until their senior year of high school. They were married shortly after college and have been together for 26 years.

“She has been grooming me for the job for a long time,” he said with a laugh.

“That’s the joke,” Mesikep added. “Since kindergarten I have been like, ‘I need someone who knows sound, someone who is good at printing and can do programs.’ He does all the programs.”

In addition to designing and producing the dance school’s annual Centre Stage program — a high-end, quality look-book just like the ones people receive at big-stage productions — Mike Mesikep also helps with all the maintenance and handyman work and anything else that needs to be done at the studio.

He is a professional photographer with a background in printing. His wife, in turn, runs all other aspects of the Dance Gallery, which recently expanded to include a third studio, aptly named the Dancers Legacy Studio, where covers of years of Centre Stage programs line the walls.

“We are a good team,” Mesikep said with a large smile for her husband, who readily admits he never envisioned a career running a dance studio alongside his wife. Yet, he said, it’s something he wouldn’t change for the world.

Much like his wife, Mike Mesikep said he feels incredibly valued by the students who attend and have attended the dance school over the years. When the curtain comes up on opening night every year for Centre Stage, he gets a little misty eyed. As does his wife.

After almost 25 years, Los Olivos Dance Gallery has more students than the town’s elementary school. Photo by Mike Mesikep.

“I just feel so blessed. Almost beholden, that it is too good to be true,” Mike Mesikep said, “because sometimes I joke this isn’t always pretty. I mop the floors. I do a little bit of everything, (but) ultimately it’s a tremendous sense of pride, especially our show.”

When Mesikep opened her school in 1994 at the same location she still operates today — the space was formerly used by Fess Parker’s Grand Hotel as an aerobics studio and juice bar — she joked with the property owner that she’d be around until she was 70. At that time, she had 60 students under her tutelage within less than a year and now, almost a quarter century later, Los Olivos Dance Gallery has more students than the town’s elementary school.

And today, Mesikep and the property owner joke that he may not be around until the studio owner is herself a senior citizen.

“I don’t know that I will be teaching when I am 70,” Mesikep said with her trademark smile. “But I sure hope so.”

She added, “I have always told Mike I will keep doing this as long as I get joy from it, and I am still getting joy.”

Los Olivos Dance Gallery’s Centre Stage production this year was May 18-19 at Solvang Festival Theater. The theme was “Movies That Move Us,” and it featured more than 50 choreographed dances from ballet to jazz and tap to hip hop. Next year’s Centre Stage will celebrate the studio’s 25^th anniversary.

For more information, visit www.losolivosdancegallery.com, email Maggie Mesikep at lodg@verizon.net, or call 805-686-1627.

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By Leah Etling

Santa Ynez Valley resident Amber Giorgi started dancing with La Boheme three years ago and loves being a part of the Santa Barbara Solstice Parade.

Santa Ynez Valley resident Amber Giorgi has danced for the last three years with La Boheme, a group that has performed in the famous downtown Santa Barbara Summer Solstice parade.

“How could La Boheme professional dance group not pique an interest? I started dancing with La Boheme a few years ago and have had nothing but fun, especially the Santa Barbara Solstice parade,” Giorgi said.

In her everyday life Giorgi is a horse trainer and owns Nojoqui Horse Ranch, where she also boards and gives trail rides at her family’s multi-generational ranch, Nojoqui Falls Ranch.

Giorgi said she loves the dance troupe because it brings together so many people of all backgrounds, and she is thankful to “boss lady Teresa” for dreaming up themes and choreography each year.

Teresa Kuskey Nowak is a mother of six children who range in age from 28 to 11, but somehow she makes time for a second family. La Boheme is not made up of professional dancers, though some, like Nowak, have danced professionally at some point in their lives.

“When I look around the room, there’s an airplane mechanic, a physics Ph.D., a mother who hadn’t danced in 17 years …,” Nowak said. And they aren’t just women. There are men and kids, too. Last year’s ensemble included drag queens and children in wheelchairs. The age range of the group starts around 10 and goes up to over 70.

It’s why they’re called La Boheme.

“’La Boheme’ means ‘the outsiders,’ the ones who don’t fit in a box, the poets, the creative people,” Nowak explained.

Becoming La Boheme

Four years ago, La Boheme entered its first Solstice Parade with a group of less than 20 dancers – Nowak, some family and friends, and a few others who were curious about what she had in mind.  This year more than 60 dancers, and extra actors and helpers, will be part of the group.

A third-generation Santa Barbaran, Nowak loves Solstice.

“Solstice to me means community. It means a total expression of Santa Barbara. It’s the people who live here, it’s about the community we have. It’s just about love, unity, and our beautiful city. I feel like our group represents Santa Barbara,” she said passionately.

One thing she’s become particularly inspired by is welcoming those who might not think a creatively costumed, live-action Solstice group dance is something they could ever pull off.

“Some of our dancers have never danced, and come in so raw and insecure – I just love seeing the transformation. It’s like a caterpillar turning into a beautiful butterfly,” Nowak said.

Her first-time dancers might never have performed outside of their own living rooms. Some are terrified of what can be skimpy costumes and self-conscious about their bodies. By the time Solstice Saturday rolls around, that has all washed away.

In the three months leading up to the parade, Nowak holds dance class. At first it’s weekly, then ramps up to three times a week. She throws in extra sessions at lunch or privately for those who are most worried about their moves. But all it all starts with something very simple – learning how to walk.

“We start with just learning how to walk – just to give them the footwork and the attitude of empowerment. They get so saucy and sassy just learning to walk, how to move their hands and shake their hips, and then doing some poses.”

Sauce and sass

And when La Boheme finally marches up State Street, sauce and sass will absolutely ooze. When people say Solstice has become family-friendly, that doesn’t mean it isn’t still fun for adults – and even a little flirty.

Nowak personally choreographs the routine in a mélange of styles she calls “cabaret fusion.” She studied all kinds of dance growing up and trained professionally in New York and San Francisco after leaving Santa Barbara. She said that returning to the teaching, planning and training of a dance company has improved her own quality of life.

“Getting back into dance and in shape has been good for me,” she explained. Her third child, 22-year-old Michael, was born with Down Syndrome as well as a muscle-wasting disease that requires him to use a wheelchair. Nowak and her husband, Ray, are his primary caregivers.

“I’m his legs and arms, and when I lift him, it’s 120 pounds of dead weight. Dance keeps me strong for that and mentally revitalized as well. When I choreograph, it’s like my brain is on fire, memorizing steps,” she said. Michael participates in the parade each year, too.

The results of Nowak’s creative process will be on display Saturday, June 24, at the annual Solstice Parade. The theme of this year’s celebration (the parade is followed by a festival at Alameda Park) is “Celebrating Unity.”

Nowak wouldn’t reveal what the La Boheme performance theme will be this year, but she hinted that it might be “more tribal” than in the past and mentioned bringing in performers from the Brazil Arts Café downtown. Another contributor slipped and told us the routine might be driven by a certain well-loved Shakespeare play. You’ll have to check out the parade yourself to find out.

The dancers

Steven Lovelace has played a major role in the development of Santa Barbara’s dance scene and is the director emeritus of Santa Barbara Dance Arts, which he previously co-owned. A working performance artist since 1980, Steven was the longtime director of the Solstice parade – but he was always on the sidelines.

“For 30 years, I sat out of the parade itself, then here comes Miss Teresa and the rest is history,” said Lovelace, who is an unabashed fan of Nowak’s efforts with La Boheme. “She has got my heart and soul,” he said.

“It’s really so amazing for a large group of non-professionals to take on something that ends up looking so professional, so slick,” Lovelace said. He has danced with La Boheme for the last several years and loves the inclusiveness and creativity of the group.

“The people that (Teresa) draws in are all special. She really gives them a process and makes them a part of what she’s doing, That woman can create and hold a vision for something that looks like nobody’s business,” Lovelace added.

One of the first-time dancers with the group this year will be Jessica Anne Parsons, a Goleta resident who was recruited into the group after meeting Teresa this year.

“She was so fun and I loved dancing with her and was so excited to find out about the Solstice group. I danced with La Boheme for ‘Thriller’ last year and I have never danced in the Solstice Parade. So I am loving it and really looking forward it,” said Parsons, a local yoga teacher.

Parsons has Down Syndrome and first met Nowak at a flash mob for World Down Syndrome Day. She hasn’t let the condition slow down her life, and she teaches inclusive yoga at the Carrillo Recreation Center.

As a lifelong Solstice Parade spectator with her family, she’s looking forward to being part of the fun this year.

Traci Russell, a second-year dancer with the group, said that she had never danced before a friend urged her to overcome her fear of the unknown and show up for practice.

“It was comforting starting with other newbies and learning from the experience of the veteran dancers.  There were days that I thought there’s no way I’m going to learn this, and days I wanted to quit and I didn’t think I could go on, but I kept showing up,” Russell said.

“My experience with La Boheme personally has been empowering, but also inclusive, loving, challenging, and connected. The kinship of the group, and meeting new people, and allowing myself to be vulnerable with people has been very powerful.”

The post Group of delightful ‘misfits’ bond by dancing appeared first on Santa Ynez Valley Star.

SYV Star Staff Report

The Santa Ynez Valley Performing Arts Company, under the direction of Christine Fossemalle, will present its 30^th anniversary celebration with a public performance of “An Invitation to Dance.”

Dancers from many years of instruction will come back to perform at 7 p.m. from June 22-24 at the Santa Ynez Valley High School Little Theatre.

Dancers will perform an excerpt from “Don Quixote” at Fossemalle Dance Studio’s 30th anniversary celebration from June 22-24.

The wide range of ages and expertise from the dancers associated with their mutual support and camaraderie makes for entertaining performances of ballet, jazz, hip-hop and tap choreographies. The enthusiasm for the challenge is delightful to witness, Fossemalle said.

It will be the farewell performance for 2017 graduates Victoria Arias, Isabella DeLeon, MaKayla Guillen, Harley Haberkorn, Alyssa Muller and Alyssa Richardson after years of involvement with the company.

“Unbelievable as you witness that your former dancers have now their children on the stage, and always exciting as you showcase another generation of newcomers,” Fossemalle said.

The performances have been made possible by a succession of outstanding current and previous choreographers including Stephanie Carsello, Ann-Jeanette Maldonado, Susan Manchak, and Sonia Ibarra Corona, she added.

Tickets are on sale exclusively at the Fossemalle Dance Studios in Santa Ynez. For more information, call 688-8494.

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By Pam Pilcher

Contributing Writer

As Solvang Festival Theater celebrates 43 years this summer, who would have thought that a theater built in just 58 days would still be standing, let alone continuing to bring wonderful live performing arts to our community?

More than 30,000 people come through the gates each year to attend the stellar PCPA summer performances as well as to support the many other events held at the theater.

The current board of directors remains stalwart in supporting the dream and determination of the original organizers to provide and maintain a venue for live performing arts in our wonderful valley.

Numerous nonprofits rent the theater for fundraising events, including Friendship House’s Nashville Nights, Los Olivos Dance Gallery’s Centre Stage, The Nativity Pageant, the Solvang/Buellton Park and Rec’s very scary Haunted House, and the local high school’s Raw Talent, among others.

In the past year we partnered with Santa Barbara Public Library to provide a free presentation of readings by Drama Dogs, “Qualities of Mercy,” and with Arts Outreach for Tales for a Summer Afternoon, written and performed by Gerald DiPego.

This past year there were numerous improvements to the theater and grounds. For example, we moved the concessions’ electrical feed from the theater’s main panel to its own 200-amp panel. This will allow expansion on the theater’s main panel and help with some electrical issues we were having in the concessions.

Also, as with any older building, as we were completing this project we found dry rot in the wall, so that was repaired and painted. We also installed new flooring and galvanized counters.

In the Star Patrons patio, we installed overhead LED string lights. Now the patio area is illuminated for evening events. The Green Room needed a major cleanup and repair since we were infested with rodents that had decided to make nests in the ceiling’s insulation and chew on a few wires.

Along with the generous grants we receive from various foundations to help with these repairs and renovations, we have our own fundraisers to support these ongoing projects, such as the upcoming “Riders in the Sky – America’s favorite cowboys” at 7 p.m. on May 5. They bring their own wacky humor and Western wit to the stage along with their incredible artistry as musicians and singers.

During the summer, on four Sunday afternoons, we have Jazz & Beyond concerts in the Star Patrons garden from 3 – 5 p.m.

For event information, please go to www.solvangfestivaltheater.org or call 686-1789.

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From her very first ballet class when she was a little girl, Christine Fossemalle knew her life would revolve around dance — but she didn’t know it would take her all over the world, from her home country of France to the small town of Santa Ynez, where she is celebrating her 30th year of teaching dance.

Fossemalle starts her preparations for the summer Invitation to Dance dance performance in January, choreographing and organizing volunteers to build sets and help backstage.

“I remember our first year we had costumes the girls had to share because we could only afford one style of costume. So one group would dance and then strip right after to give to another girl for their performance,” Fossemalle recalled.

Invitation to Dance runs from June 23 -25 at the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School Little Theater with performances starting at 7 p.m. Call 688-8494 for tickets.

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The post The Circus Came to Town and Danced appeared first on Santa Ynez Valley Star.

The Los Olivos Dance Gallery presents the 22nd annual Center Stage, “Circus, Circus” May 20 and 21. The school showcases the outstanding achievements of dedicated dancers in various styles, including ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, contemporary, and hip­hop.

Performers range from first­time dancers to professional choreography and artistry. Celebrate the big top and all the fun that comes along with going to the circus with your family and friends. Classes portray their versions of “Growing Up in the Circus,” “Cotton Candy,” “Dancing Horses,” and peculiar oddities like “Conjoined Twins.”

Don’t miss outstanding works by Director Maggie Mesikep and the amazing teachers Jessica Ruiz, Nicole Helton, Ashley Kohler­ Reynolds, Cecily Stewart, Mariah Korte, Anna Carnes, Jillian Haig, Donovan Tunay, and special guest choreographer Joe Istre.

For five graduates, Lily Connolly, Emma Kuskey, Michael Loos, Abigail Mullin, and Sarah Stucky, this will be their farewell performance, for some after more than a decade with the school. Los Olivos Dance Gallery alumni continue to dance with prestigious companies like American Ballet Theater Irvine and Alabama, San Francisco Conservatory, The Rock, Boston Ballet, Ballet West, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s senior intensive in Chicago and their new two week program at USC.

Event Details:

●  Senior Show Performances: Friday, May 20 & Saturday, May 21, 7 p.m.

●  Junior Show Performance: Saturday, May 21, 10 a.m.

●  Location: Solvang Festival Theater

Tickets: $13­- $38 are available at tututix.com/losolivosdancegallery or 1-­855-­222­-2849.

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