Ballet Magnificat! Ballet company seeks local dancers for November presentation of 'Snow Queen' at Temple Theatre

For more than a decade, Meridian’s celebration of the holiday season has kicked off with a ballet performance of the Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker at the Temple Theatre.

While the local tradition continues with a ballet presentation before Thanksgiving Day, this year’s performance will be from a company closer to home — the Jackson-based professional company Ballet Magnificat. The world-renowned ballet company will present the Hans Christian Anderson classic “Snow Queen,” featuring Kathy Thibodeaux, the ballet company’s director, in the lead role.

The production, which is presented by Meridian businessmen Tony Sansone and Ken Rainey of TK Productions, will be performed Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Temple Theatre in downtown Meridian.

Ballet Magnificat! tours “Snow Queen” in Nashville each year, as well as other select cities. Leslie Lee, dance coordinator for the Meridian performance and owner of Elegance Ballroom Dance Studio, said the ballet company’s world-recognized professionalism was a leading factor in bringing it to local audiences.

“We looked at many national and international touring companies and selected Ballet Magnificat! due to their high quality of production and positive message that they bring to the children,” Lee said. “Meridian doesn’t have a lot of opportunities for a ballet performance of this caliber, so we are especially happy to be included in the company’s tour schedule.”

A ballet by Jiri Sebastian Voborsky, “Snow Queen” fantastically dips into the beauty of storytelling through the art of dance. The audience is taken on a journey with a young girl who fearlessly faces the fury of the Snow Queen with boldness, bravery and love. This fast moving production stands strong on the cast of 75 professional dancers, enhanced by powerful choreography, creative costuming and bigger-than-life sets and scenery. Thibodeaux shares choreography duties with Voborsky in the production.

In addition to the Ballet Magnificat! dancers, 112 local children will be featured in the production. Selected during a special audition in September at the Temple Theatre, the youth — students with and without ballet experience — have been in rehearsals at local dance schools Carol Merrill Academy of Dance, Encore Dance Company, Susie McGraw School of Dance, Elegance Ball Dance Studio and Ms. Tina’s School of Dance in Philadelphia.

“Response to the audition was more than anticipated,” Lee said. “Originally, there were 97 parts available for local children to be able to perform onstage with the dancers from Ballet Magnificat! However, the response was so great that additional parts were created.”

Tickets for Ballet Magnificat!’s “Snow Queen” are $30 and $20, reserved seats, $10, general admission (cash and checks only). Box office hours are Monday-Friday, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Lee noted ticket prices for the Meridian performance are more affordable due to the generosity of the local producers and sponsors.

“If you would go see this in Nashville, the tickets would be $80 and upwards,” she said. “The producers and sponsors were able to keep the prices low where everyone is able to attend.”

Local sponsors are WTOK-TV, Bo Haarala Autoplex, McDonald’s, Meridian Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Yates Construction, Structural Steel Services Inc., Meridian Community College and Trustmark Bank.

For ticket information, call 601-693-5353.

About Ballet Magnificat!

Ballet Magnificat! was founded in 1986 by Keith and Kathy Thibodeaux. 

Kathy Thibodeaux was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but trained and has lived in Jackson most of her life. She went on to become one of the first contracted dancers for the Jackson Ballet Company (Ballet Mississippi), dancing as principal until 1986. 

Keith Thibodeaux is the former child entertainer best known as “Little Ricky” on the “I Love Lucy” television series and Johnny Paul on The Andy Griffith Show. He was a drummer for the rock band David and the Giants which later became a groundbreaking Christian rock band, with Keith becoming a Christian in 1974. 

The couple married in October 1976, and together live out the mission that God put before them. In 1985, a prophetic word was given to Keith and Kathy that their lives would be changing course, and that they would begin to see greater days and greater ways to use their testimonies for Him.

After becoming a Christian in 1979, Kathy began to see dance as a way to express worship and praise to God. God gave her a greater joy in her dancing, and her motivation for dancing – worship – began to manifest itself in her performances. Kathy stepped into the spotlight of the international dance world in 1982, winning a silver medal at the II USA International Ballet Competition which rotates between Russia, Finland, Bulgaria, and Jackson, Mississippi. For the third contemporary round in that competition, against the advice of many, Kathy chose to express her faith in a dance to Sandi Patty’s We Shall Behold Him. 

In 1986, Keith and Kathy founded the Ballet Magnificat! Tour Company. Kathy had a vision a touring Christian ballet troupe that would dance to the glory of God. In addition to bringing people into worship, Kathy wanted the group to be an outreach ministry in which dancers would share the love of Jesus with their audiences. With space donated by Belhaven College, and the help of Kathy’s friend and choreographer Gregory Smith, the fledgling company — the world’s first professional Christian ballet company — was soon dancing and touring across the country. 

Since its start in 1986, the company has attracted dancers from professional companies around the world and now also from within Ballet Magnificat’s own professional training program.  In 1989, the ministry opened a School of the Arts which offers dance classes to area students ages 3 through adult. The school’s student companies – Magnificat! Youth Ballet and MiniMag! – are frequent guests at local nursing homes, schools, and churches. That same year, the Summer Dance Intensive and Teachers Workshop were started, and now brings hundreds of students annually from around the world to Jackson for a unique technical and spiritual experience. 

Keith, who had been touring with bands for most of their marriage, left the world of music and, in 1991, joined Kathy and Ballet Magnificat! In 1993, Keith became executive director.

In 1994, Ballet Magnificat! started the Dance Program at Belhaven University, providing curriculum, faculty, and facilities to this program that has now grown into a full Dance Major, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD). The Pre-Professional Training Program began in 1996 with three dancers, and today has grown to two levels with approximately 40 dancers. This Trainee Program feeds dancers into touring companies trained in the Ballet Magnificat! style, trains dancers for positions with other dance companies, and prepares individuals for work with other ministries. The Trainee Program is recognized by the U. S. Immigration Service as a vocational school and yearly draws students from across the U.S. and many foreign countries. 

In 2004, a second professional touring company was added, Ballet Magnificat! Omega. This company tours the United States with its thought-provoking and ministering repertoire. Since its formation, Omega has been breaking ground in Europe each spring with performances in sold-out theaters in Paris, Macedonia, Germany, Czech Republic and Italy, to name just a few.  Ballet Magnificat! Brasil was launched in February 2017. Headquartered in Curitiba, Brazil, the program includes a trainee program and performance company. Dancers from all over South and Central America joined with an international staff to proudly serve as Ballet Magnificat!’s first satellite campus.