Tapping Young Talent

Moorpark College officials have been on a treasure hunt this year, looking for talent to invite into the school’s dance department, and they’ve struck gold. You can see their discovery tonight at the campus’ Performing Arts Center.

“Eve of Dance II” will showcase several local professionals as well as some high school and college dance students, and will conclude with a performance by the winner of Moorpark College’s first annual dance scholarship.

Proceeds from the event will help support the scholarship program, enabling high school students to study dance at the college level. The results of fund-raising efforts will determine how many scholarships are awarded in the future.

Courtney Fredette, a freshman at Oxnard High School and a student of ballet since age 6, is the recipient of Moorpark’s dance scholarship.

She auditioned for judges at the college in January, bested the competition and was, as a part of her award package, enrolled in the dance program for the college’s current spring term. (Winners also receive money for transportation, health, parking, registration and other fees--even costume expenses related to performances, such as tonight’s.)

This isn’t the first time Courtney has been recognized for her talent.

“I was a guest artist at my school,” she explained. “I got paid to choreograph at 14,” she said, speaking of her arrangement with Oxnard High to hire and train 16 students for a May 7 public performance.

Projecting a no-nonsense aura unusual for her age, Courtney said, “I want to be a professional dancer with a major ballet company. And when I’m older, I want to choreograph.”

She heard about the Moorpark College program from her father, at the time a custodian at the college. Describing her physically active family, she said her sister is “into swimming and water polo, and my brothers are surfers.”

Courtney auditioned recently in Santa Monica for the Joffrey Ballet and was accepted for that company’s summer program. But she had to forego the opportunity for financial reasons.

The Joffrey’s loss is Moorpark College’s gain.

The ballet piece Courtney will perform for the “Eve of Dance” program will be accompanied by music from the soundtrack of the movie “Schindler’s List,” composed by John Williams.

“We were studying the Holocaust in freshman year at high school and I decided to do the choreography myself,” she said.

The piece is a one-dancer work with costumed walk-ons representing other characters in the story. Says Courtney, “It’s about a girl who has lost her family--she has no one. She thinks back, her memories--her family appears and disappears. It’s very dramatic.”

BE THERE

“Eve of Dance II,” tonight at 7, Moorpark College Performing Arts Center, Mainstage Theater, 7075 Campus Road, Moorpark. $5, proceeds benefit student scholarship recipients. (805) 378-1485.

C ourtney Fredette, a freshman at Oxnard High School and a student of ballet since age 6, is the first recipient of the dance scholarship.