Published October 25, 2024

Learning Ballet from Miss Miriam 

by Steve Trounday

One of the favorite traditions at A.V.A. Ballet Theatre is having many of the dancers go to the lobby of the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts after a matinee show and mingle with the youngsters. It warms one’s hearts to see the joy and excitement in young children’s eyes as they meet and have their pictures taken with the ballerinas. Many of these children, some as young as three years of age, are dressed in colorful tutus and it’s clear from their behavior that they idolize the dancers and want to dance when they are older.

When many of these children see their first ballet performance, they can’t wait to begin taking ballet lessons. A majority of the corps de ballet dancers at A.V.A. Ballet Theatre started out the same way. These dancers, some now in their early twenties, began dancing as young children and are now gracing the Pioneer stage and performing with the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra. Miriam Allen, the co-director of A.V.A. Ballet Theatre, can take the credit for training a significant number of these dancers. For over 35 years, Allen, affectionately known as “Miss Miriam,” has been teaching young girls and boys the technical aspects of classical ballet at the Conservatory of Movement.

Trained as a Royal Academy of Dance ballet instructor, Allen is a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the United Kingdom and has had a fascinating dance career. She began as a professional dancer at the age of 14 performing in pantomime at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle. From there, Allen auditioned for a part in a traveling stage production. She was cast and realized she loved performing and traveling as it was a way to see the world while being paid.

Following a successful tour, Allen auditioned in London for the touring company of the Moulin Rouge. She again garnered the part and toured all over Europe and the Far East - including Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Doris Haug, the ballet mistress for the Moulin Rouge, was impressed by Allen’s dancing and offered her a full-time position with the Moulin Rouge in Paris. Allen danced there for two years, working seven days a week.

Margaret Leibovici, known world-wide as “Miss Bluebell,” was looking for dancers for a production she was collaborating on with choreographer and producer Donn Arden. The show was Hello Hollywood, Hello! at the still-under construction MGM Grand Hotel in Reno. Allen was offered a job as a tall showgirl and moved to Reno six months before the resort opened to begin rehearsals. The show debuted to great acclaim in the summer of 1978. Allen became a swing dancer and captain and was required to know the choreography of multiple dance numbers.

After six years on the world’s largest stage, Allen retired from Hello Hollywood, Hello! when she and her new husband, Willis, were expecting their first child. She took a few years off and began teaching ballet at the Conservatory in 1988. Thousands of children in the Reno area have learned ballet under her tutelage. She teaches ballet to children ages three to 15. 

I asked her how you teach ballet to a three-year-old child. “Three and four-year-old children learn much more than you would expect,” she said. “My dance instruction is story telling. I make up a story and the children follow my lead. As an example, I tell them they are princesses and they must walk, move their arms, and hold their heads like a princess. Of course, the movements are all those of classical ballet.” 

“I started dancing with Miss Miriam when I was three years old,” said Jayla Vanderpool. Vanderpool is a corps dancer with A.V.A. Ballet Theatre and a sophomore at Spanish Springs High School. “I began dancing with A.V.A. Ballet Theatre when I was eight.” Vanderpool was Alice in the recent production of Alice in Wonderland at the Pioneer Center. 

Allen met A.V.A. Ballet Theatre’s artistic director Alexander Van Alstyne in 1994 when he asked her to help with his newly formed ballet company. The artistry between the two has grown and today their organization is the resident ballet company of the Pioneer Center and they produce high quality and popular ballets throughout the year. Miriam Allen brings a wealth of talent and experience to Reno and it is a pleasure to see the women she has trained dance so beautifully on the Pioneer stage.

Steve Trounday is a board member at A.V.A. Ballet Theatre, the resident ballet company of the Pioneer Center. 

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