Rural Missouri - December 2022 - 49

Above left: Braxton Copling delivers a heartfelt performance during the studio's production of the Anastasia story. Center: McKinley Satterfield
starred as Anastasia in their 2022 summer show. Right: Lillian Garrison is one of several young students who participate in the ballet shows.
Tia followed in her mother's footsteps and earned her
American Ballet Theater certification. She says there are
only a few ABT-certified teachers in the state. " Anyone
can dance, but the difficult part is finding people who can
teach with the proper technique, " Tia says. " You need to
know how to dance without injuring yourself. Learning
how to point your feet correctly, how to rise up on your
toes and hold your posture is very tricky. "
The studio offers classes for ballet, tap, jazz and contemporary.
" Tap might be the easiest to learn, but it is
loud to teach, " Tia says. " You have to have loose ankles
and knees to learn tap, which is basically the opposite of
ballet. " She encourages everyone to start with ballet. " If
they're not getting that, they're going to miss a lot of the
technique they'll need for other dance styles. It provides a
great foundation. You can apply what you learn in ballet to
all other styles, except tap, " she says with a laugh.
Her dad and all of her siblings each play a role in the
studio, too. One sister helps teach classes while another
paints the backdrop and other art for the shows. Others
take care of mowing the lawn and manage the cleaning. " I
couldn't do it without every one of them. "
She's also been training a few of their older dancers to
teach. " They've even helped me choreograph dances for
the shows and they're amazing, " Tia says. " It's given them
a chance to use their own creativity and it's all fresh and
new. They really impress me. "
They currently have around 150 students, from 3-yearolds
to college-age students. They perform at least two
shows a year, one in June and the other in December. The
year before Malai passed, she'd already selected the story
of Anastasia for their next show, so in June 2022, the
company dedicated the show to Malai, including a special
tribute dance at the end by Tia, her siblings and in-laws.
Learning to express elements of a story through song
and dance is a skill Tia learned from the women who came
before her. " Both Grandma and Mom were so good at it.
People were always amazed at their talent. "
Malai taught dance for nearly 35 years. She stopped
performing after she had kids, Tia recalls. She preferred to
be behind the scenes, helping others shine in the spotlight.
Tia's wish is the same.
" If you don't know what it is, I know ballet can seem so
boring, " Tia smiles. " That's why I love our shows. There is
a lot of variety of dance and different styles of music that
make it a lot of fun. And after Mom's passing, I think it's
given me a way to feel her with me all the time. Dance has
forever been a part of our family, " she says,
and she hopes it always will be.
To learn more about Children's
Ballet of the Ozarks, visit
childrensballetoftheozarks.com or
call 417-217-3546.
Cabool
Kaiser is a freelance writer from
Hartville.
DECEMBER 2022 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP 49

http://www.childrensballetoftheozarks.com http://www.RURALMISSOURI.COOP

Rural Missouri - December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - December 2022