Miss Diana appeared as Mother Gigogne for the final time in White River Ballet’s December production of “The Nutcracker.” (Photo provided)
Catherine Borrone has some very pointe-y shoes to fill at White River Ballet
By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com
Borrone
White River Ballet Company Board Member Sarah Gaspary told The Reporter Miss Diana (Richardson) Ephlin is retiring and selling The Dancin’ Place studio after more than four decades at the helm. After speaking with Miss Diana and with her successor, Miss Catherine Borrone, this newspaper learned both what sets this ballet studio apart from most others, and also how the passing of the torch for this local institution was serendipitous.
“It is serendipitous!” Miss Diana said. “I just feel like a lucky duck that I found her because she wants to continue with the same philosophy and do the story ballets. My policy is to teach collectively. In other words, we don’t call out, ‘Stu, point your toe!’ We don’t use the child’s name. We do it collectively. ‘Everyone, point your toe. Everyone, lift.’ We try to be very careful about that. Nobody wants their name called out in class.”
Miss Catherine told The Reporter that is one of the reasons she’s so pleased to be able to work with Miss Diana.
“When I was growing up it was incredibly strict,” Miss Catherine said. “When I was growing up and having classes, you didn’t even dare sneeze in class, otherwise you’d be kicked out. It was super hardcore, super scary, and everyone came in with anxiety. With Miss Diana, you walk in and it’s like the studio is a second home. We’re still serious, but without teachers being mean or yelling.”
Miss Catherine has only lived in Hamilton County for a year and a half, adding to the fate-like feeling of the opportunity to take over from Miss Diana. Several months after moving to Fishers from New York City, one of Miss Catherine’s adult students told her about the opportunity to teach at White River under Miss Diana.
“I met with her, and our visions are very similar about teaching children and teenagers with positivity and inclusivity, and just having fun and telling stories with ballet,” Miss Catherine said. “She hired me and I’ve been on for a full year. The first time we met she said, ‘Oh, you know I’m probably gonna retire in a year and possibly looking for somebody to take over the studio,’ and my ears perked up. Running my own studio has been a dream for many years. I’ve been with her for a full year. And it’s funny that the month she asked me to consider taking over officially was the same month that my husband and I bought a house in Noblesville. I was like, ‘Well, that’s very convenient!’ It’s just been like a dream come true.”
Miss Diana’s final bow at White River Ballet will be this spring when the company performs Cinderella on May 30 and 31. In December, she was in her last performance of The Nutcracker.
“I’m always Mother Gigogne, which is the French old woman in the shoe who had so many children, she didn’t know what to do,” Miss Diana told The Reporter. “Years ago, and I mean years ago, one of my board members with the ballet company made this gigantic skirt. It’s huge. And it has the two drawstrings that lift up and then the children, the little children go under that. So this was my last Mother Gigogne, and that – that did hit me. It hit me. And it still does when I think about it, because it’s been all these years that I’ve always played that part since 1986 in The Nutcracker. I do it with the big straw hat, you know, I look like a typical French woman.”
Modern versions of Mother Gigogne in The Nutcracker are very different, but here in Hamilton County, the tradition will continue after Miss Diana retires in spring.
“I’ll leave the skirt there at the studio for anyone who does that part,” Miss Diana said. “I have a ballerina that I’m going to ask. She’s small like me. Until she graduates and goes off to college, I think she would be darling next year.”
Miss Catherine said she is deeply grateful for everything she’s learned from Miss Diana.
“I love her so much,” Miss Catherine said. “She’s so fun. When I met her, I was like, ‘I want to be the same when I grow up.’ She’s so loving to her students. She’s very fair, she’s very open-minded, she’s very welcoming, which is everything I love. Ballet isn’t always like that, but we believe ballet is literally for everyone. It’s been an absolute joy. And her students – I’ve fallen in love with them. They’re really great people and she’s taught them for many, many years and has instilled some amazing work ethic in them by just treating each other with respect and love. We have fun but we’re also serious.”
White River Ballet Company, 587 Westfield Road, Noblesville, has an all-volunteer board who want to see children learn the art of dance and participate in group activities while expressing their creativity. Learn more online at TheDancinPlace.com or at Facebook.com/TheDancinPlace. To get your children involved, email info@whiteriverballetcompany.com or call Miss Catherine directly at (347) 846-8574.
Photo provided
