Hello, I'm Trey Devey, president of Interlochen Center for the Arts.

And it's my pleasure to welcome you to this very special performance of Sergei Prokofiev's thrilling ballet Romeo & Juliet.

This production comes to you from Interlochen Arts Academy.

The nation's premier residential boarding school for high school artists, where we develop creative changemakers capable of realizing their incredible potential.

Many of our Academy dance students featured in this performance first attended Interlochen Arts Camp, where more than 2,500 students, ages 8 to 18 from across the country and around the world, convene each summer to lean into their passions across a range of artistic disciplines.

Music, Theatre, Dance, Filmmaking, Creative Writing, and Visual Arts.

If you haven't already, I hope someday you'll visit our beautiful campus just outside scenic Traverse City to experience one of our more than 600 artistic presentations each year.

You can learn more about all our remarkable programs on our website at interlochen.org Enjoy the performance.

Producing a ballet like Romeo & Juliet offers me a unique opportunity as a choreographer and educator to adapt Shakespeare's play in a way that really can showcase the talents of our dancers.

I think that the company has grown a lot closer, a lot stronger throughout the time that we've been able to work on this ballet just because it's so character heavy and it's been challenging.

It's been very eye-opening.

It's been it's been incredible.

It's quite a rare opportunity for a high school dance program to produce a full fledged Romeo & Juliet.

I think what an experience like this does for dancers is offer them the unique fusion of music, dance, and theater all in one performance.

And in many ways, this ballet, it's not about how high the leg is going, how high one is jumping, how many turns one is doing.

If anything, it's all about the gestures and how one is connecting with another.

The scene that's took us the longest was probably the crypt, because there's so much emotion and the scenes you think would be the easiest are sometimes the hardest.

The costumes are absolutely gorgeous.

I felt like a kid in the candy store for like the first time when I got to put them on.

It's a very it's a prop heavy show.

It's probably one of the most prop heavy that we've ever had.

You've got the crypt, you've got the balcony.

You've got all these little things that kind of make it what it is.

And having people like that are able to create that and have it ready for us on this beautiful stage is just absolutely incredible.

I think the greatest feeling is when they're proud of their performance.

I feel so much joy for them.

And it's very special to to be able to be a teacher and watch that happen with your students.

It's something I love.

The bars been set at a high professional level and the dancers have stepped up to the plate.

I'm very proud of all of them.