dance

Back to Their Roots: Louisville Ballet's Next Season Goes Back to Classics

Erin Keane — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:38:49 +0000

The Louisville Ballet returns to its classical ballet foundation for its 2013-14 season. Val Caniparoli’s “The Brown-Forman Nutcracker” reprises its role as season anchor on December 3, bookended by full productions of “Swan Lake” and the Romantic classic “La Sylphide.”

Helen Starr: Ballet Gives You a Body Language

Erin Keane — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:40:03 +0000

As a soloist with the Royal Ballet and a principal dancer with the London Ballet Festival, Helen Starr danced many of the lead roles in classical ballets. But she didn’t dance the role of Juliet to Sergei Prokofiev’s score until 1985 when her husband Alun Jones, then artistic director, choreographed his version of the ballet in Louisville.

Now retired from the company, Jones and Starr return every five or six years to stage the version of Shakespeare’s tragic love story that they created together. They open another production this weekend in the Kentucky Center's Whitney Hall.

The Big Break: Looking Ahead

Erin Keane — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0000

On our audio diary series The Big Break, our apprentices gear up for audition season. Louisville Ballet trainee Claire Horrocks explains why January kicks off her least favorite time of year, while Actors Theatre of Louisville apprentice Samantha Beach explains the audition showcase the apprentices host for casting directors and agents during the Humana Festival.

Ballet Showcase: Dancers Stretch into Choreographer Roles

Erin Keane — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:53:20 +0000

If you’re used to only seeing the Louisville Ballet dance in Whitney Hall or the Brown Theatre, the upcoming Choreographers' Showcase is a chance to see the company in a whole new light as it premieres new work in its intimate, informal studio on East Main Street.

Strange Fruit: Fairness in Vicco; Keen Dance Company Founder Returns to Louisville

Laura Ellis — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Vicco, Ky., brought national attention to the state this week by becoming the smallest town in the United States to pass a fairness law. Like many of you (we're guessing), we'd never even heard of Vicco until the news broke. So we invited Fairness Campaign director Chris Hartman to join us this week and tell us more.

"It's about three and a half hours east," Chris explains, "and several hundred feet up."

Hartman and others from the Fairness Coalition worked directly with Vicco leaders on the law. He said folks in Vicco are what we might call "non-traditional allies" who may not fit our idea of what LGBTQ-rights supporters are.

"But that may just be because we all have some inappropriate stereotypes about what rural Americans are like, about what Appalachian folks are like, and about what people who live in coal country are like," Hartman said.

The Big Break: Stretching in New Roles

Erin Keane — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0000

On our audio diary series The Big Break, two of our artists stretch their artistic muscles in rehearsal this week. Louisville Ballet trainee Claire Horrocks finds the most difficult work in her upcoming Choreographer Showcase is a contemporary dance, because she has focused so intently on ballet movements since she started college. Actors Theatre of Louisville apprentice Samantha Beach takes to the air in rehearsals for the Humana Festival apprentice showcase "Sleep Rock Thy Brain," a collection of one-act plays that all feature flying—as in, strap the actors into harnesses, hoist them high and let them act in mid-air—as a metaphor for sleep.

A Cultural Marker: The Nutcracker Returns with Live Music

Erin Keane — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 21:19:24 +0000

“The Nutcracker,” a fantasy-fueled story of a young girl who dreams her toy prince to life and follows him through magical lands, debuted as a ballet in St. Petersburg in the late 19^th century with choreography by the ballet master Petipa and music by Tchaikovsky. But it didn’t become an American holiday tradition until after World War II, when George Balanchine staged his version for the New York City Ballet and the ballet caught fire as a Christmastime production.

Dance Theatre of Harlem Company Reborn, Launches New Tour in Louisville

Erin Keane — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:12:25 +0000

After an eight-year hiatus, the Dance Theatre of Harlem Company is back on the road, and its first stop is Louisville.

Founded in New York City in 1969 by Arthur Mitchell, Dance Theatre of Harlem is a rigorous ballet training program with an internationally-acclaimed professional dance company committed to racial diversity in ballet. The organization struggled financially in the years after September 11, 2001, and suspended its company in 2004.

Doomed Love Affair Opens Ballet Season

Erin Keane — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:30:00 +0000

The Louisville Ballet opens its 2012-13 season this week with Val Caniparoli’s “Lady of the Camellias.” The ballet, with music by Frédéric Chopin, runs for three performances on Friday and Saturday in the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts’ Whitney Hall.

Perennially Popular 'Wicked' Opens

Erin Keane — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 20:15:21 +0000

The touring production of the Broadway hit “Wicked” previews today and opens Thursday evening at the Kentucky Center. The Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical depicts "The Wizard of Oz" characters Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda the Good as schoolgirls in an oppressive political regime.

Performances of “Wicked” often sell out, but a limited number of steeply discounted orchestra-level tickets will be placed on sale the day of each performance.