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DOFW Day 4: “Fashion Night Out” Brings The Russian Academy of Ballet Closer to Being Orlando’s Next Cultural Mecca
by Mellissa Thomas
Downtown Orlando Fashion Week’s “Fashion Night Out” benefit dinner for Harbor House of Central Florida was the right mix of formality and fun. National television personality and comedian Mitch English emceed the event, tickling the audience with laughter every chance he could. DJ REDLINE worked the night’s music, including the songs for Zou Zou Boutique’s two-part fashion showcase, the instrumental tracks for local R&B singer La’Wrenne as she smoothly serenaded the guests, and the body-shaking party tunes as the event came to a close.
Orlando model Vanessa graces the catwalk for Zou Zou Boutique’s fashion showcase during “Fashion Night Out” at the Russian Academy of Ballet. Photo by Images by L DiMarco.
Local R&B singer La’Wrenne woos the audience as DJ REDLINE controls the music in the background. Photo by Orlando Weekly’s Joe Barroto.
Harbor House of Central Florida’s Chief Development Officer Michelle Palmer neatly counterbalanced the playfulness. She informed the audience of the organization’s mission to shelter and empower domestic violence victims and their children, and introduced an advocate, who also spoke on Harbor House’s behalf.
The Russian Academy of Ballet, the hosting venue, presented a stunning classical ballet performance by three of its adult students. School owner and Russian ballet instructor Katerina Fedotova watched and guided proudly from the sidelines as they leapt, pirouetted, and flitted across the floor. The dancers gracefully embellished their performance with folding fans, tambourines, and rhythmic applause.
So why would the Russian Academy of Ballet get involved with Downtown Orlando Fashion Week?
In the name of culture.
Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Fedotova and her older sister Darya grew up in the great halls of the Kiev Theater as her parents, theatrical art directors Vadim Fedotov and Irina Depler, worked on ballet productions. They were nurtured in artistic expression and history.
Katerina Fedotova at the Russian Academy of Ballet. Photo by Harry Tsang.
In the late nineties, her father was hired for a Nutcracker on Ice production in Winter Haven, Florida, for three months. The show was so successful Barbara Riggins, founder of what is now known as The Orlando Ballet, hired Fedotov and the family moved to the U.S.
Despite the family breaking away from Orlando Ballet to start the Russian Academy of Ballet, both schools still maintain a great rapport. “Their artists attend our courses,” she explained. “We attend each other’s productions, and we train their new teachers.” Fedotova added that after her parents were ready to move on from working with Orlando Ballet, they chose to start the Russian Academy of Ballet instead of moving back to the Ukraine.
One thing Fedotova noticed about Florida was the seeming hunger for culture. Once she and her family established the Russian Academy of Ballet over thirteen years ago, she set out to feed that hunger. “My mission is to raise talent in Orlando,” she told me in a recent DOFW interview. “I aim to make it [the school] international — offer African, Spanish, Italian, and French dance courses as well. I want to turn the city around [to be] the artsiest.”
Katerina’s student makes a perfect leap during the night’s ballet performance. Photo by Images by L DiMarco.
The Russian Academy of Ballet offers far more than adult and children’s Russian ballet classes. The school offers adult flamenco lessons, and private ballet training in a variety of methods (including French, English, and Balanchine). It also offers after school care and summer intensive programs in which children learn art history, dance history, music and rhythm, performing arts, and acting and theater courses.
The school’s success has allowed Fedotova’s family to expand with two more schools: her parents Vadim and Irina run the Russian Ballet of Orlando in Waterford Lakes, which Fedotova says is the largest ballet school in Orlando at 8,000 square feet; Darya and her husband Sergiy run The School of Russian Ballet in Sarasota.
Fedotova’s no boring book instructor, either.
Fedotova is a fourth generation ballet dancer herself. She trained in the Kiev Ballet Academy and National Theater of Yugoslavia, and landed her first lead performance (principal title) at eighteen. Since then, she’s performed all over Europe, in Asia, South America, and the U.S.
I asked her if she still does any performances given the school’s comprehensive daily schedule. “I teach six days a week, [so] I’m officially retired,” she said. “But I might come back in the next year or so.”
Katerina examines costumes before her students perform during “Fashion Night Out.” Photo by Orlando Weekly’s Joe Barroto.
She’s passionate about her students, children and adults alike. She told DOFW each student’s completion time is subjective — there’s no set graduation date. “We provide them with the best training, provide them auditions, and a good resume.”
The summer intensive program actually ends with a full ballet production. “We did a Snow White production last term,” she added. “We put together a two-act, professional, classical ballet. They get real world experience. It takes [only] weeks, or even days to learn a new production.”
What’s Coming Up
The Academy held its auditions for December’s Nutcracker production at the end of September. “We opened auditions for dancers from other dance companies,” Fedotova told DOFW. “They’ll be trained in the Russian method.” She auditioned for four different casts to facilitate four different shows.
Fedotova said the school will produce two Carmen performances in Spring 2014, one in February and one at the end of April. “We have our end of year performance in June, and our summer performance in July.”
You can learn more about the Russian Academy of Ballet here.
Katerina Fedotova headshot taken by Harry Tsang of Mr. Harry Productions.
Katerina Fedotova wardrobe photo, press wall group photo, and ballet duo taken by Orlando Weekly‘s Joe Barroto.
Event photos of La’Wrenne, local model Vanessa, and ballerina taken by Images by L DiMarco.
About the Author:
Downtown Orlando Fashion Week Chief Editor Mellissa Thomas is a Jamaica-born writer. She’s a decorated U.S. Navy veteran with Entertainment Business Masters and Film Bachelors degrees from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL.
She’s currently available for hire, writing content for websites, blogs, and marketing material. She also writes poetry, screenplays, and ghostwrites books.
She has published three books, all available on Amazon.com, with her fourth, “Faded Diamonds”, set to release on Amazon.com and all digital devices in early January 2014.
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WINTER PARK, Fla. (Florida National News) – Mister Rogers’ Week of Kindness, inspired by the children’s TV host and icon, comes to Orlando in March 2023. This week-long series of events was announced today at the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation in Winter Park.
“Fred McFeely Rogers devoted his entire life to reminding us of some of the most important ideas of what it means to be human among humans: love, respect and kindness,” explained Buena Vista Events & Management President & CEO Rich Bradley. “Many of us find that nearly 20 years after Fred’s passing, it is important to focus on his teachings once again, perhaps now more than ever. This is a week to re-engage with his massive body of work with some folks, and to introduce his teachings to others.”
Mister Rogers’ Week of Kindness begins March 20, 2023, the date which would have been Fred’s 95th birthday, and concludes on Saturday, March 26 with the Red Sweater Soiree, a community dinner to recognize ten ordinary members of the community who inspire and exemplify the affinity that Fred Rogers had for showing kindness to our “Neighbors”.
Mister Rogers Week of Kindness coming March 20-26, 2023. Photo Credit: Mike Brodsky (Florida National News)
Activities planned for the week will include early childhood education activities and faculty training, as well as events open to the public.
“The events will be offered free or at low cost,” continued Bradley. “This week-long celebration is not a series of fundraisers, but rather about once again remembering and sharing some of the great work that Fred Rogers created, not only in early childhood education, but in reminding us that we are all part of one big ‘neighborhood’. Fred taught us the importance of accepting our Neighbors just the way they are and engaging in kindness with our interactions. I can’t think of another period in my lifetime where we needed to reflect on those messages again more than today.”
“There are three ways to ultimate success,” Fred Rogers was once quoted as saying. “The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind. Imagine what our neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.”
Many of the activities of Mister Rogers’ Week of Kindness will be attended by members of the cast and crew of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 – 1975, and again from 1979 – 2001. David Newell, known as “Mr. McFeely,” the “Speedy Delivery” man, appeared at today’s media conference via video, and looks forward to visiting Central Florida next March.
David Newell, “Mr. McFeely.” Photo Credit: Mike Brodsky (Florida National News)
Mister Rogers’ Week of Kindness is supported by the McFeely-Rogers Foundation, the Fred Rogers Institute, and Fred Rogers Productions. Details regarding the specific activities and venues will be released over the next few weeks.
For more information on the events, visit https://www.BuenaVistaEvents.com or https://www.MisterRogersWeekofKindness.com.
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