Dancing for the community
Sep. 30—LOOGOOTEE — Lilian Lukomski fell in love with ballet when she was just two years old.
"She loved to watch the cartoon "Angelina Ballerina," said Lukomki's mother, Cori. "We started her in classes right before her third birthday."
Taking lessons in Bedford, Bloomington, Jasper and now Chicago, where her father, Tim, recently started working, Lukomski, who considers herself an advanced beginners, continues to foster her love of ballet even though there aren't necessarily a lot of other ballerinas in the area.
"A lot of people take ballet but they aren't necessarily emotionally invested in ballet. They take it to help with their other dancing," said Lukomski.
Now, the newly turned 16-year-old is sharing her passion of ballet with others through the production of "Emilia" an original ballet that will come to life of the stage of the Jasper Performing Arts Center on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.
"My studio in Bedford, Kat's Performing Arts, closed and rather than just a recital, I really wanted to do a full ballet like we had always done there," said Lukomski,who was put in contact with Dr. John Craton, who wrote the ballets for Kat's.
Lukomksi was able to meet with Craton to select the ballet she wanted to bring to life, one called "Emilia."
"It's set in a dance studio in 1910. Emilia is not as well trained as some of the others in the studio but one night she gets locked in the studio. Rather than fret, she decides to use the time to practice. The prima ballerina ends up getting hurt and so the studio needs to find a replacement. Emilia tells them she has been practicing and she takes over. They all end up loving her."
It's taken nearly 11 months to get all the pieces for "Emilia" to fall into place.
"I originally had the idea to do a ballet last November. We had auditions in March and now we are rehearsing each week," said Lukomski. "We had local studio who have allowed us to use their space for rehearsal."
Nine dancers, ranging in age from 4 to 68, are part of the production. Lukomski is the only local face and she also serves as the producer.
"I've worked on getting costumes and helping to teach the movements when our director, Cheryl Wellum Wagner, is not available," she said.
Wanting to give back to another one of the favorite things, the Loogootee Public Library, proceeds from the performance tickets will benefit the Friends of the Loogootee Library.
"I've always loved to read and the library has always been a big part of my growing up," said Lukomski.
The Jasper Performing Arts Center holds 700 and Lukomski would love to see all the seats filled.
"We are also selling t-shirts and all profits from the sale of those shirts will go to the Mathies family to help with medical expenses," said Cori Lukomski.
