The stage at Jake and Freida Stein Hall will be alive with music and dancing as the Greenville Arts Council presents Ballet Magnificat’s production of A Christmas Carol on Friday Nov. 12.
General admission tickets are $30, presale tickets for GAC members are $20 and non-GAC member pre-sale tickets are $25. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. with a cash bar and light hors d'oeuvres. Performance is set to begin at 7 p.m.
Ballet Magnificat!, an arts organization dedicated to presenting the good news of Jesus Christ to the whole world, was founded in 1986 by Keith and Kathy Thibodeaux.
Kathy Thibodeaux was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but trained and has lived in Jackson most of her life. She went on to become one of the first contracted dancers for the Jackson Ballet Company (Ballet Mississippi) under the direction of Thalia Mara, dancing as principal until 1986.
Keith Thibodeaux is the former child entertainer best known as “Little Ricky” on the I Love Lucy television series and Johnny Paul Jason on The Andy Griffith Show. He was a drummer for the rock band David and the Giants which later became a groundbreaking Christian rock band, with Keith becoming a Christian in 1974.
Keith and Kathy married in October 1976, and together live out the mission that God put before them.
Kathy stepped into the spotlight of the international dance world in 1982, winning a silver medal at the II USA International Ballet Competition which rotates between Russia, Finland, Bulgaria, and Jackson, MS. For the third contemporary round in that competition, against the advice of many, Kathy chose to express her faith in a dance to Sandi Patty’s We Shall Behold Him.
Longing to see the art of dance restored to the church for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ, in 1986, Keith and Kathy founded the Ballet Magnificat! Tour Company. Kathy had a vision for something totally unheard of – a touring Christian ballet company that would dance to the glory of God. She envisioned Christian dancers coming together for the purpose of glorifying God in dance. In addition to bringing people into worship, Kathy wanted the group to be an outreach ministry in which dancers would share the love of Jesus with their audiences.
