Jackson Free Press

Jackson's Ballet Magnificat! Alpha Company has been chosen to represent the United States at the fourth annual Festival Internacional de Ballet "Puerta de Oro de Colombia" in Barranquilla, Colombia. The 14-member company, which includes 1982 International Ballet Competition silver medalist and artistic director Kathy Thibodeaux, will leave for the port city of Colombia Aug. 28 and return to Jackson Sept. 5.

"We wondered how exactly the executive director, Jorge, picked us out of hundreds of secular companies," Ballet Magnificat! co-founder and manager Keith Thibodeaux says. "He said: 'because of the lord.' He thought we'd be a good representation of the religious aspect of the United States."

The Alpha Company will perform two 20-minute segments Sept. 2 and 4, including "Freedom," an instrumental piece from the IBC gala in 2004, and excerpts from the latest ballet, "The Scarlet Chord." The company will end with a Spanish version of "My Redeemer Lives." Thibodeaux says he expects about 4,000 to attend.

"I look forward to meeting the people, being able to connect with the dancers and seeing what God does as far as bringing in this Christian company in the middle of this kind of festival," Thibodeaux says.