The Three Graces with the Media and The Guiding Angel at The Door

I drafted this during a spectacular Thunder and Lighting show, with the short-lived deluges notable for Jackson this time of year. In the afternoon I was informed the lights at Thalia Mara Auditorium had been blown, as had the digital watch in my hotel room.

Except on the rare dark night in the Competition, the Media Center on the ground floor of the Mississippi Arts Center is open from ten in the morning until ten at night. Overlooking a courtyard along Passcagoula Street, you reach the Media location by walking past the Center’s classroom, which is next to the driveway by the side entrance to Thalia Mara Auditorium. An elevated walkway connects the two, a nifty arrangement doubtless needed when it rains. I easily remember The Center located there for most of the Competitions, each time the equipment increasing in sophistication. Four computers now provide Internet access, with an official photographer’s images flashing the dancers’ images on the immediately opposite the Center door.

Kathryn Stewart, Vicki Harper-Blake and Traci Hayes grace the fortunes of the Media Center for the VII USA International Ballet Competition. For Kathryn it is her first, for Vicki and Traci their second. Through them I get my clearance to interview anyone with official connections with the Competition, jurors, production or support staff. They are as bright and accommodating a trio as you can find with the unflagging good humor and politeness one believes is a Southern hallmark.

Vicki and Traci belong to the public relaitons division of the GodwinGroup, recently recognized among the 50 fastest gorwing advertising agencies in the Southeastern United States. Traci’s title is Account Executive and Vicki as Vice President with A.P.R. after her name. APR, translated, stands for Accredited in Public Relations by the Public Relations Society of America. Kathryn is on the permanent International Ballet Competition staff. Vicki has been with the Godwin group sixteen years and Tracy for three. Vicki’s account group is in charge of consumer-related accounts.

Vicki and Kathryn share their college training in communications at Mississippi State University in Starkville while Traci Hayes has an M.B.A. from Millsaps College in Jackson. She contributed the fact that the Godwin Group has been around for 61 years, "and we still have our first client."

"I was responsible for writing the proposal for writing the 2002 Public Relations and Communication Plan for IBC," Vicki said. "Developing plans for special events in one of the specialties of our nine person department, and the time it takes to prepare a proposal depends on the complexity of the project. The IBC proposal, covering a two-year period, took about ten days. Traci, exceptionally bright and hard-working, was responsible for the details."

"The intensive work began about two years ago when we initiated regular contact with the media and began to generate press releases. The thirteen which we issued went to over 400 media contacts internationally – Europe; Asia; Latin America; Canada. Our work included the volume of queries and, of course, the specialized dance media. Advertising is done in the IBC Office."

During the two weeks of competition, Traci very seldom strays from the Media Operations Center, with Vicki a close second. Like the other IBC nerve centers they have rehearsal and class schedules, know who is arriving when, and have packets available for arriving press.

Periodically, Kathryn Stewart arrives to check on some detail. She started her public relations career at WorldCom in nearby Clinton before spending a year in New York City working for Fleishman-Hillard, a public relations firm. "I grew up hearing about the Competition, but had not been directly involved. My dancing was limited to some jazz classes, and I never considered it all that seriously.

"But when the job opportunity was announced, I was really intrigued, applied for it and was hired.
I’m one of four full time staff on the Competition. We added Peter Merz this year and he will remain after the Competition ends."

The Guardian Angel label belongs to Cynthia Ridler-Merz, who sits at the IBC office fielding incoming telephone calls. Cynthia came on staff in January when the momentum began to build for the competition.

Like her husband, Peter Merz, who is the Competition’s Artistic Administrator, Cynthia came from a ballet background, which includes both Ballet West and Cincinnati Ballet. "I attended the University of Utah where Willam Christensen made a serious effort to involve students in the Dance Department in the professional company. It is one of the few Universities in the United States which does this."

After two years with Ballet West, Cynthia moved on to Cincinnati Ballet where she danced for six years. "While I was there, I must have danced under at least four directors. David MacLain was gone after I arrived. Richard Collins, ballet master, was slated to take over for Ivan Nagy, but died in an accident.
I worked under Nigel Burgoine and Peter Anastos, and we had yet another before I left."

Cincinnati Ballet was the background for the meeting of Cynthia and Peter. It also was Cynthia’s second exposure to the late P.W. "Bill" Manchester, who served a number of years as adjunct professor of dance history both at the Cincinnati Conservatory and at the University of Utah where Bill Manchester frequently spent several weeks each spring before travelling on to San Francisco.

One of my early mentors, Bill Manchester’s ballet exposure went back to an initial performance of Swan Lake danced by Olga Spessiva. She worked with Dame Marie Rambert at The Mercury Theatre during World War II, and founded a magazine called Ballet Today. She also wrote a book on The Vic-Wells Ballet. P.W. Manchester went for a brief sojourn to New York in the early ‘50s at the invitation of the late Anatole Chujoy, and stayed, using New York City as her base until the late ‘60s. After Chujoy’s death, she sold Dance News to Helen Atlas, moving to Cincinnati to teach dance history.

Back to Cynthia, after marrying Peter, she completed her degree in psychology and worked with ‘developmentally challenged’ children. She planned to undertake her master’s degree at University of Cincinnati when The Jackson Competition opportunity opened up for Peter, bringing the young family here to the capitol of Mississippi state. After working briefly for a clinic, Cynthia took on the task of fielding visitors and telephone calls for IBC. Clearly her degree in psychology has been given a thorough workout in these peak operations months of the VIIth International Competition.

This piece is part of Ballet.co's overall Jackson Competition coverage. The competition runs from the 15th to the 30th June 2002 and we plan daily reports to keep you in touch:
Jackson Reports index page