What: Magazine Feature

Who: Feature on retired theatre professor

When: 2013

Where: The Magazine of Radford University

Cover and end photo by Leslie King

Mesmer wins Gran Prix

What: Media release for RUBY student who won ballet’s Grand Prix Gold Medal

Who: Written for Radford University Ballet Youth program

When: 2014

Where: Published in the New River Valley section of the Roanoke Times, Radford News Journal and the Radford University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Why: Part of the PR efforts for this youth ballet company

Lindy Mesmer has been dancing since she was 3 years old. This Radford University Ballet Youth student is now 12 and the Gold Medal winner of the Youth America Grand Prix international ballet competition held in April in New York City.

Youth America Grand Prix is considered the world’s largest student ballet scholarship competition for dancers of all nationalities between the ages of 9 and 19. Each year over $250,000 worldwide leading dance school scholarships are awarded to winners. Since its inception 15 years ago, over 25,000 dancers have participated in its workshops, competitions, and audition classes.

Mesmer studies with Aleksey Plekhanov, principal faculty of RU’s youth ballet program, RUBY, and adjunct professor of dance at RU. He has coached and prepared her for the Youth America Grand Prix competition. Together they have worked on her classical variation from the ballet “Paquita” since mid-January. She also presented a contemporary piece entitled “The Calling”, choreographed by Kyle Shukis.

This has meant practicing extensively six days per week.

Mesmer qualified for the Youth America Grand Prix final competition in February when she performed at the regional round in Atlanta.

During the finals in New York, she vied against 120 ballet students representing 25 countries. She was the only American to place in the top three in her age group.

“This achievement demonstrates a very high caliber of ballet training offered by Radford University and its Ballet Youth program,” said Inessa Plekhanova, RU associate professor and artistic director of RUBY.

In the past, Inessa Plekhanova’s students participated in this competition. Some won Bronze, Silver, Gold medals and the Grand Prix award. Among them is Isabella Boylston, currently the principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. Boylston won a Gold Medal in junior category in the finals in 2001. Also, Plekhanova received the prestigious “Outstanding Teacher Award” at the Youth America Grand Prix in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

“Lindy is talented, very dedicated and a hardworking dancer,” Aleksey Plekhanov said, “She has studied with Radford University Ballet Youth under my instruction for two years. Inessa and I look forward to continue working with Lindy to help her to develop her potential and skills further.”

Heidi Mesmer, mother of the Gold Medalist, discusses the adjudication, “Her performances were judged by representatives from international ballet schools and companies including the Paris Opera Ballet, American Ballet Theater, the National Ballet of Canada, and the Australian Ballet School. She was also offered a summer scholarship to attend the Rock School in Philadelphia.”

RUBY provides serious high-quality ballet training to aspiring young dancers in the community. It also provides its students with unique performance opportunities through its direct association with the Radford University Ballet Theatre. To learn more, please visit http://www.radford.edu/content/cvpa/home/dance/about/ruby.html.

For more information about the Youth American Grand Prix, visit their website at www.yagp.org.

What: Media release for “The National Poster Retrospecticus”

Who: Written for Radford University’s Art Museum exhibition

When: 2016

Where: Published in the Radford News Journal and the Radford University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Why: Part of the PR efforts for this exhibition

In a college environment, posters are often the quintessential motif determining the design of many dorm rooms. But posters are so much more than this, especially hand-printed ones – they are an art form in their own right.

Radford University Art Museum promotes this idea with the National Poster Retrospecticus (NPR), a gig and art poster show on exhibition from Sept. 8 to Oct. 7. Some of the most prominent poster designers from North America will have their work on the walls of the museum’s Covington Center location. These include heavy hitters like Aaron Draplin, Jay Ryan, and Daniel Danger.

The NPR is an international traveling show featuring select works from a collection of more than 400 hand-printed posters. It has traveled throughout North America and has shown in venues such as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Lego HQ and Adobe Studios. Events like SXSW, MondoCon, and NXNE have hosted it.

“We’ve traveled to big cities all over North America but some of our favorite shows are in smaller towns like Radford,” said JP Boilard, known in the poster world as JP Boneyard, NPR show producer, “The enthusiasm we find at university shows is hard to beat as well. We’ve been looking forward to this show for over a year now!”

When asked about what inspired the idea behind the NPR, Boilard mentions another poster show – the Western Massachusetts Flyer Retrospecticus. This commemorated a DIY venue he and two friends ran from out of a shed in his mother’s backyard in the early to mid 2000s.

“After 100 shows and hosting bands from all over the world we had the idea to celebrate the history of the Shed and DIY in Western Massachusetts,” he said. To promote the shows, the trio had designed and screen printed their own posters.

For their first show they displayed work from a collection of over 1,400 show flyers and gig posters representing thousands of bands and hundreds of different venues. The art spanned over two decades of events. This became the foundation of the NPR, which focuses on gig posters and art prints entirely hand printed via screen printing, stenciling or letterpress.

To clarify, gig posters present, commemorate, and/or promote a music event. Viewers can expect to see a mix of these along with art prints that are all hand printed. All posters are for sale during the opening and closing receptions.

In addition to established artists, the NPR represents up-and-coming printmakers.

Another poster theme the NPR explores is National Parks. The NPR is sponsoring the print series “Fifty-Nine Parks,” celebrating the unique beauty of each park. At Radford, viewers will see the Grand Canyon National Park poster by DKNG.

Boilard will give a talk about the NPR Sept. 8 at 4 p.m. in the Performance Hall of the Covington Center. An opening reception will follow at 5 p.m. The closing reception is Oct. 8 at 5 p.m. At the two receptions, the posters are available for sale. Everyone is welcome to attend. The gallery is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

For more information about the museum, please visit www.radford.edu/museum or call 540-831-5754. Visit nationalposterretrospecticus.com to learn more about the NPR.

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