BR Ballet's directors take final bows, retiring from nearly 50-year careers after 'Cinderella'

Derek Stingley's name pops up somewhere in the conversation between "Cinderella" and "Nutcracker" memories.

You heard right. Stingley, the LSU All-American-cornerback-turned-Houston Texan, took ballet classes taught by Molly Buchmann.

To be fair, he wasn't the only football player in the class. Prior to COVID, LSU football coaches asked the team's defensive backs to take the class.

"And you wouldn't believe how high Derek Stingley could jump," Buchmann said.

She can't help laughing about it now. She and Sharon Mathews were discussing their impending retirement after 48 years as Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre's co-artistic directors — and suddenly, everyone was talking LSU football.

Stingley won't be making a surprise appearance on the Raising Cane's River Center Performing Arts Theatre stage in the company's production of "Cinderella" Saturday and Sunday. That role, along with the others, has long been filled.

So many ballet memories have both Buchmann and Mathews thinking about the rigors of ballet.

"You know, dancers spend every bit as much time in training as athletes," Buchmann said.

Just ask former Baton Rouge Ballet dancer Marlon Grigsby. He played football before a girl talked him into trying a dance class at Baton Rouge Magnet High School. The class eventually led to major roles with Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre, as well as in Houston.

"He's still dancing," Buchmann said. "And those football players realized the work that went into ballet. I mostly taught them footwork, but after a couple of classes, they really got into it."

Buchmann once taught classes in LSU's dance program, while Mathews taught dance at Baton Rouge Magnet. They retired from those jobs years ago, and though "Cinderella" will mark their final production as co-artistic directors, they're not going anywhere.

"What's the name for two artistic directors emeritus?" Mathews asked.

"Artistic director emerita," Buchmann said.

"Yes, that's it," Mathews said. "That's our new title."

After all, they still own the Dancers' Workshop, which serves as the official dance school of the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre. They opened it in 1973 on Government Street, three years before former artistic director Elissa Fuchs announced in 1976 they would be taking over as co-artistic directors.

They built the Dancers' Workshop's current Linkwood Court home in the mid 1990s. 

“We had just finished dancing lead roles in her (Fuchs') 'Rhapsody in Blue,' accompanied by the LSU Symphony Orchestra," Buchmann said. "We were all on stage for the curtain call when she made the announcement."

The news ushered in more than directorships. Buchmann and Mathews soon discovered that running both a dance school and ballet company is a round-the-clock venture.

"It's not Monday through Friday, 8-to-5," Mathews said. "It's Monday through Sunday, every day. And sometimes just about all day."

"It's every Saturday and Sunday," Buchmann added. "And there's not really a season, because one thing just rolls into the other. It just, it's always ongoing. We're always involved with something with the ballet."

They're not complaining. The ballet company is their love, their passion. They've been there to unlock the doors and help with last-minute costume alterations while choreographing "Cinderella" and creating "The Nutcracker — A Tale From the Bayou" from scratch.

Mathews choreographed the company's inaugural production of "Cinderella." It was first performed in 2003 with her daughter, Anna Mathews, dancing the lead role.

"My daughter, Rebecca, danced the part of the Fairy Godmother in that production," Mathews said.

That daughter, Rebecca Acosta, and fellow former company dancer Jonna Cox have been named new co-artistic directors.

"It's their time," Buchmann said. "They've choreographed so many of our summer ballets and spring concerts. It's their turn to do this."

New leadership likely will usher in eventual changes, but such staples as "The Nutcracker" will stay in place. Buchmann and Mathews worked hard on bringing this Louisiana-based version of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's classic ballet to life.

It's become much more than a fan favorite. Generations of families have made "The Nutcracker" part of their holiday tradition.

Generations also have participated in the ballet's cast, that tops 300, through the years — many who begin in childhood and work their way up to key dance roles.

Buchmann and Mathews started out producing a Baton Rouge Ballet "Nutcracker" in conjunction with Baton Rouge Magnet High. A couple of years later, they partnered with the Texas Ballet Theater of Richardson, Texas, and finally hired the Delta Festival Ballet of New Orleans to perform.

Though the show was good, Buchmann and Mathews believed they could do better.

"So, when we decided to do it, we just did it with community support," Buchmann said. "Sharon and I did it with the help of (dancer and company employee) John Lilly and some people at LSU who designed the sets and did a lot of other technical things for us. And we just did it."

The co-directors mapped out how the Louisiana element would play out in the story. LSU Theatre Professor Nels Anderson's sets weren't ready for the first performance in 1992, but they brightened the stage the following year.

And all of the years since.

"At this point, we're actually having to replace some of the sets," Buchmann said. "And I don't think we ever imagined in 1992 that we would still be doing 'The Nutcracker' this long. But it hasn't slowed down at all. People tell us every year how much they look forward to it. Little kids used to come up and say, 'Oh, you changed such and such.' The comments we've received from people over the years have really made an impression on us."

The duo also share other favorite memories:

• The company's acceptance into Regional Dance America in 1980, and being pegged to perform in the one and only National Gala Performance in Pittsburgh.
• Their supportive husbands, Fred Buchmann and the late Bill Mathews, helping to turn an old store on Government Street into a studio.
• Staging the company's first fully-produced — meaning full sets, guest artists and full orchestra — full-length ballet, "Coppelia," supported by its first grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts.
• The production of "Panorama," the first of two works by Martha Graham commissioned by the company. This one used 30 dancers from across the city and was performed with the Martha Graham Dance Ensemble when they were in Baton Rouge.
• Early choreography by New Orleans dancer and choreographer Will Eldredge and local choreographer Amelie Hunter.

Buchmann also treasures the memory of taking company dancer Emilie Plauché to her audition for The Julliard School in New York.

"She got in, graduated, and had a 10-year career with the José Limon Company," she said. "She was one of four of our dancers who attended The Julliard School — three who got degrees and one in a summer program."

Buchmann also treasures the first time her work "In A Woman's Voice" was included in a Gala Festival performance in Minneapolis.

"I felt like a rock star," she said.

Mathews' special memories include having all three of her daughters dance with the company.

"Really, our biggest accomplishment is all the dancers who have gone on to careers in national and international ballet and modern companies, in musical theater including on Broadway, and in dance academia," Buchmann said. "Also, the fact that we're leaving a strong institution capable of serving the community for years to come."

Not to mention sending a few LSU defensive backs into the world armed with dance knowledge.

But Buchmann and Mathews aren't going anywhere until Cinderella exits the stage in her sparkling glory for the final time Sunday afternoon.

That's when the new chapter of their lives begins.

The Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre offers three outreach programs: Youth Ballet, providing quality training for young dancers; Ballet for Every Body, bringing dance into schools, focusing on inclusivity and communication; and Ballet Experience, giving performance tickets to a list of nonprofits, providing opportunities of a lifetime for children and adults to see world-renowned dance companies. Visit batonrougeballet.org.

'Cinderella'

WHEN: 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

WHERE: Raising Cane's River Center Performing Arts Theatre, 396 St. Louis St.

ADMISSION: $30-$50.

TICKETS: batonrougeballet.org/springconcert.