Ballet returns to Mississippi; every four years Olympic-style ballet returns to Jackson - Mississippi Ballet International

Dance Magazine, June, 2002 by Sherry Lucas

Lured by a lifelong love of dance, she started as what she describes as "a glorified secretary," and learned the IBC from the bottom up. "What I was actually doing was training to be the director--something that never crossed my mind," said Lobrano, now 59.

Dance has rarely been off her mind from the moment she set foot in class at age 7. "To this day--and my children will roll their eyes--if the music comes on, I'll just hop up and dance.... I am so moved by the beauty of movement."

The love latched on early despite a dearth of classical ballet training in 1950s Batesville, the small northern Mississippi town where she grew up. "Fortunately, we lived so close to Memphis, I studied there, and my parents trucked me back and forth," Lobrano said. She studied all forms of dance with Charlotte Morgan in Memphis, and her dance education later included jazz with Gus Giordano in Chicago and ballet with the Memphis Civic Ballet. She began teaching ballet, tap, and jazz under Morgan's direction while still in high school, and she later opened her own dance school, attracting 200 to 250 students from the area during its thirteen-year run.

She moved to Jackson and, in the 1970s, worked in state tourism and staged Mississippi's Miss Hospitality Pageant and several other pageants. She taught for the Jackson Ballet for a year under its founder, Thalia Mara.

Lobrano's soft-spoken Southern manner belies the quadrennial frenzy that swamps her office each competition year. Competitors, companies, coaches, and jury members from other countries, volunteers, and dance fans converge on Jackson for the prestigious two-week marathon of ballet. Undergirding Lobrano's sheer endurance and grace under pressure is a sly wit that's both welcome relief and a stress-survival tactic.

"Being compulsive has served me well in this position. There are so many details and ... so much follow-through has to be done. And I'm so patient," Lobrano said, smiling as she craned her neck to see whether her staff had overheard. "When they're really bugging me, I wave my little voodoo ballerina," she said, warding off imaginary staffers with a tiny skeleton in a pink tutu.

Lobrano's administrative talents have been key in other organizations, too: founding member--World Dance Alliance; honorary committee--2000 Ballets Russes Celebration in New Orleans; advisory councils--Arts Alliance of Jackson/Hinds County and the Academic & Performing Arts Complex; and, for five years, executive board member of the Mississippi Dance Association.

Lobrano recently received the Hands of Providence Award from Southern Christian Services for Children and Youth for her work with young people. And in 1999, the Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau hailed her as a "Hometown Hero."

Nina Ananiashvili and Andris Liepa

Nina Ananiashvili and Andris Liepa (Senior-USSR) won the City of Jackson Grand Prix at the USA IBC in 1986. Recipient of a 2002 Dance Magazine Award, Ananiashvili is a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and Houston Ballet. Liepa, son of the legendary Soviet-era dancer Maris Liepa, danced lead roles with the Bolshoi, Kirov, American Ballet Theatre, and New York City Ballet. He retired from classical performing early due to injuries. He creates and produces theatrical programs in Russia.