The Words of the Beltrami Family
|
|
The Words of the Beltrami Family |
How can one person influence a town, and win the hearts of many? Through the International art form called Ballet, and through teaching children. Althea Corlett has been doing just that for one year as a dance intern for the Hope Garden Ballet School in Poolesville, Maryland. (www.hopegardenballet.org)
Under the artistic direction of Fran Ichijo, day in and day out, 6 days a week, Miss Althea, as the kids know her, has been teaching many of the 70 or so students at the school. With a cheery attitude, she teaches many classes per week, sometimes even asked on the spur of the moment to add an extra class, due to a change of schedule. This has allowed Miss Fran to take on more responsibilities for the school’s growth. Althea never complains, and through her investment of heart into the students, they have grown to love her, and are already making plans to visit her home, as her year is almost up.
Althea Corlett, a second generation Unificationist from Malta, met the Ichijo family by chance in Italy in 2006 when they were visiting the Italian relatives of their daughter’s husband. Fran Ichijo, a founding member of Universal Ballet Company, auditioned Althea at that time to see if she could be a teacher at her ballet school in Poolesville MD. They stayed in touch through the wonderful invention called e-mail, and she arrived in February, 2008.
Althea studied ballet diligently since she was 8 years old in Malta, with her parents support, and was even able to do one year of the STF program in Europe and still pass her ballet exams back in Malta, in 2007, a feat achieved through focus and diligence. Not only is Althea a talented, bright, and firm teacher, she is also a lovely dancer and performer, as seen in this link from Youtube from a performance in May, 2008.
In the last performance, Dec 19th, Althea competently performed the duties of Stage Manager as she knew all the cues for lights and sound to call, and the details of each dance. Therefore, for the first time, Miss Fran was able to watch some of the show!
Althea has influenced the town of Poolesville so much so that the ballet parents are giving her a sending off party and a memory book. Many of them have invited her to their home, and Miss Fran said she can not think of a better Ambassador for Peace than Althea, because all of the parents know that Miss Fran and Miss Althea are Unificationists. One has just finished sewing (for free!) a beautiful lace shrug for her wedding dress!
Althea is an example of true giving from the heart. Through her passion for ballet and dance, the kids enjoyed tremendous growth. The kids and families have memories of her that they surely will never forget.
Written by Erika Beltrami, from Maryland