Ballet

She fell in love with ballet as a child, as many young girls do, and Susan Savage didn't lack for promise. She learned her first plies and pirouettes at a feeder school for the Royal Academy of Dance in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. But when she turned 13, her family pulled up roots and moved to West Texas, a part of the world known more for football than for fouettes en tournant (spins with a sideway kick). "Not exactly a hotbed for my life's passion," she says. Fifty years later, Savage got a chance to return to the pastime she never got out of her system.

Again this spring season, dancer-director Jacob Rice will be the key male figure on stage in the Central Maryland Youth Ballet 's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Slayton House Theatre. He will partner a young ballerina in the showcased classical pas de deux . But if all goes as planned, Rice will find himself less in demand in coming years, as his current crop of proteges grow into their roles. Jacob Rice and his wife, Kimmary Williams, started teaching ballet in Columbia in 2005 with a mere six students.

"All I ever needed was the music, and the mirror and the chance to dance," sings the character Diana in the 1976 Broadway musical "A Chorus Line. " Her words ring true for one area dance company, because more than grants or donations or publicity, dancers need space to rehearse and to perform. Performance space becomes an especially rare commodity this time of year with many springtime events and gatherings. The problem of space impacted heavily on Ballet L'Etoile, the Russian Academy of Maryland, and the result is that the Ellicott City-based company is in Carroll County this weekend for this Sunday's "Tribute to Classical Ballet" at Liberty High School in Eldersburg.

Medieval knights searching in all the wrong places for the Holy Grail, singing as they go, will help fuel the first full season in the Patricia and Arthur Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric . So will John Waters, Baltimore's champion of all things weird, and the storied Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. As for those knights, they're part of the wacky musical "Monty Python's Spamalot," one of five touring productions of popular Broadway shows to visit the venue, which is reopening after extensive renovations.

The Lutherville-Timonium Recreation Council's ballet program presented its annual showcase on May 15, this year dubbed, "An Exquisite Cache of Jewels. " The show is an annual labor of love for AnnaMarie Scharbeck, 18-yearcoordinator of the ballet program. Sunday's event, held at Dulaney High School, included more than 90 dancers — from pre-ballet through intermediate, junior and senior troupes — and included an elaborate production choreographed by Louise Kurtz, who has worked with the troupe for some 46 years; and Sarah Smith, associate director.

Fishing tournament The Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen's Association hosts its annual rockfish tournament, "Championship on the Chesapeake," Friday, April 29 through Sunday, May 1. The tournament attracts thousands of anglers each year, all hoping to win prizes including a $100,000 check. Along with the overall awards, the tournament includes daily, weigh-station, catch-and-release and children's prizes. Information: 410-255-5535 or mssa.net. Charity golf The Rotary Club of Annapolis, Annapolis Lions Club, Annapolis Optimists Club and Annapolis Masonic Lodge No. 89 are hosting the 2nd annual "Golfing for Charity" event on May 17 at the Eisenhower Golf Course in Crownsville.

Balletomanes searching for a new vision of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" found much to savor last weekend in the three Ballet Theatre of Maryland performances of artistic director Dianna Cuatto's newly choreographed retelling of the timeless classic. At Friday's opening, Cuatto's introductory remarks gave the audience insight into her choreographic task of fusing dance and romantic drama with the antagonism of the rival Capulet and Montague families. Cuatto's major intent was to remain faithful to Sergei Prokofiev's brilliant score, which Cuatto described as "one of the most poetically breathtaking compositions for dance.

Paula Callou, countess de la Motte-Thierry, a longtime Baltimore resident and an award-winning dancer who taught dance worldwide, died Jan. 31 at the Avow Hospice in Naples, Fla., from complications related to a series of strokes. She was 89. Ms. Callou, whose birth name was Paulette Suzanne Calloustian, was born in Paris, the second-oldest of five sisters. She began studying ballet at age 6, entering the Paris Opera Ballet at 9 years old as a "petit rat de l'Opera," a distinguished title for young ballet students, according to her son, Marc Wienert.

Ballet Theatre of Maryland artistic director Dianna Cuatto has a seemingly inexhaustible array of choreographic magic to enliven each annual performance of "The Nutcracker" at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. Blessed with a strong group of new dancers, including Joshua Burnham, Stirling Matheson, Edward Tracz, Erica Wong and Django Allegretti, BTM offers its best-ever "Nutcracker" this season. Not only does the company boast strong dancers, it also has talented backstage artists, including ballerina Meagan Helman serving as set artist as well as production and tech designer along with Brian Walker; Alyssa Johnson is wardrobe mistress; Calder Taylor is prop master; Helman, Taylor and Walker work with Valerie Walker and Kathryn Carlson on production and sets.