The Beginning Ballet students dance to the music of “Molly on the Shore” by Frederick Fennell. LOUISE KRAFFT 2015
The ballet and tap students at the School for Swans in Alexandria are busy in rehearsal this week for their spring recital on Thursday, May 14, at 6 p.m. in the lower auditorium at the First Baptist Church of Alexandria on King Street. The performance is free but seating is limited. About the upcoming performance ballet instructor and choreographer Grace Manly Machanic reminisces “as a child growing up in Lynchburg, Va., and living a block away from Randolph-Macon Women’s College, I participated in many of their traditional May Day celebrations which incorporated the children of my neighborhood and the children and grandchildren of alumnae (my grandmother). Those memories of those colorful celebrations when a Queen of the May was crowned easily lent themselves to a ballet recital.”