JANUARY 18, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
KeizerCommunity
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Celtics’ resident choreographer keeps
actors on their toes
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
McNary High School’s an-
nual winter musical has become
a staple of this community for
a number of years now — the
performing arts rendition of
Grease opened last week.
The school’s focus on per-
forming arts is very apparent as
students display talents in sing-
ing, dancing and acting at a lev-
el that is hard to match in the
Salem-Keizer area.
It might be a struggle for
many programs to keep things
fresh and entertaining for their
audience year after year. But
with the help of choreographer
Zoe-Lisa Banton — who is the
director of City Dance Theatre
in Salem — students are con-
tinually able to capture the at-
tention of those who come to
see the show.
Banton has been choreo-
graphing the McNary musical
for the last 20 years and contin-
ues to challenge and push her
students to be the best that they
can be.
“I have pushed these stu-
dents to reach beyond their
expectations with the chore-
ography. Most of these students
are not dancers and I give them
choreography that I would give
my studio dancers,” Banton said.
“Every show I choreograph at
McNary I try to push the limit
with the intensity of choreog-
raphy.”
“Keizer theatre has a name
and reputation, so we have a
lineage to live up to.”
Banton, who grew up in En-
gland, brings an extensive danc-
ing background to her multiple
roles in the community.
She started dancing at the
age of two and by the time she
was 11 years old, Banton had
earned a scholarship to The
Royal Ballet School.
From there, Banton used her
skills to perform and compete
all over Great Britain. At age 16,
she was a fi nalist in both The All
EASIER, SMARTER,
WARMER
England Dance Finals as well as
Miss Dance of Great Britain.
After spending time per-
forming and traveling through
Europe, Banton was hired as a
dancer with Princess Cruises
— where she wound up meet-
ing her husband, Brad, who was
a musical director on the ship.
Banton spent more than fi ve
years on the cruise ships before
marrying Brad and moving to
Branson, Missouri.
But by the age 24, Banton’s
body began to feel the results of
dancing for basically her whole
life, which is why she decided
to get into teaching.
With a love for sharing her
knowledge, as well as teaching
qualifi cations from the Britain
Ballet Organization, it was a
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Director of City Dance Theater Zoe-
Lisa Banton guides some of McNary’s
Grease actors through a dance number.
seamless transition for Banton.
“I just started to realize that
this is really what I wanted to
do,” Banton said.
After spending a year in Mis-
souri, Banton and her husband
moved to Keizer to be closer to
his family, who are from Salem.
Within three months of
living in Keizer, Banton be-
gan teaching dance in Keizer
Christian Church. In 1996, she
opened up City Dance Theatre
(CDT).
When she fi rst opened up
CDT, Banton used to rent out
the auditorium at McNary
High School to allow her stu-
dents to put on recitals, which
is how she fi rst got connected
with Linda Baker — who was
the performing arts teacher at
McNary from 1996 to 2011
and is the founder of Keizer
Homegrown Theatre.
After seeing Banton’s stu-
dents perform, Baker knew that
she wanted to develop a part-
nership with her.
“Her creativity is phenom-
enal,” Baker said about Banton.
“She just really understands
dance and theatre.”
Baker agreed to let Banton
use the auditorium for recitals
and performances without a fee.
In return, Banton was required
to be the choreographer for the
McNary winter musical every
year— which ended up being
the beginning of a beautiful
partnership.
“(Banton) is the best collab-
orator I have ever worked with,”
Baker said. “She can deliver on
the run and is just a great prob-
lem solver.”
Oklahoma was the fi rst play
she choreographed in 1999.
And every year since, Banton
has played an infl uential role
in the production of each Mc-
Nary winter musical. Whether
it’s a show like Romeo and Juliet
or Legally Blonde, it’s easy to see
Banton’s fi ngerprints all over
the performance.
Even though there has been
some transition in the McNary
theatre department over the
years, the production value has
stayed at a high level.
Tom Cavanaugh, who is
in his second year as the the-
atre director at McNary High
School said: “It was the happiest
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surprise of my career to learn
that we had a built in choreog-
rapher at the school. It’s been
great working with Zoe. It was
such an easy transition and we
just clicked right away.”
“Sometimes you just have to
get out of her way and let her
get to work.”
Even though it’s been two
decades, Banton hasn’t lost an
ounce of her passion for kids in
this community.
“They are just a great cast
and they are super supportive of
each other,” Banton said about
the cast of Grease. “McNary
theatre is an amazing environ-
ment for our Keizer young
adults to thrive in. I feel very
blessed to have been able to
share my love of musical theatre
with them for so long.”
If you haven’t yet seen it,
there is still time to catch the
McNary performing arts de-
partment’s showing of Grease.
There will be a 7 p.m. show-
ing tonight and a 2 p.m. and 7
p.m. showing on Saturday at the
school’s auditorium.