Strengthened and inspired by our mission to provide artistically excellent programming to our home city of Charlotte and beyond, we invite you to join us for our new series of digital performances @Home With Charlotte Ballet.
During this current time of crisis, a group of Charlotte Ballet’s dearest friends have come together and created THE RESILIENCE FUND—a new $1 million campaign to help cover our losses while our studios are dark. Learn more and help sustain our artists and organization.
A PERFORMANCE FILM EXPERIENCE
FACE IT
Choreographer/Director: Nadine Barton
Videographer/Editor/Co-Director: James Wiley
Digital Performance: October 29, 2020
We premiered Face It, brought to us by Charlotte Ballet dancer Nadine Barton, on World Ballet Day 2020. Nadine and our other company dancers had recently returned to work with new safety precautions in place. However, while the dancers were away from the studio due to the pandemic, Nadine found a creative outlet in choreography. She intended to highlight bullying, supremacy, woman empowerment, people of color, and LGBTQIA. Nadine’s hope is that this project will make people think about their own feelings on these subjects. Each dancer also wears monochromatic outfits to tribute the 11 colors on the Progressive Pride flag.
A PERFORMANCE FILM EXPERIENCE
UPTOWN COLLECTIVE
Choreographers/Directors: Sarah Hayes Harkins and Maurice Mouzon Jr.
Videographer/Editor/Co-Director: James Wiley
Digital Performance: October 16, 2020
This work was inspired by and filmed at the Black Lives Matter mural in Uptown Charlotte. After Zoom calls and rehearsals, Charlotte Ballet dancers went to the mural and filmed the project one evening. We hope this work draws attention to the important social justice issues in our community.
Thank you to the artists who created this mural, the city of Charlotte for allowing filming, and Payton Harkins who generously offered his original music for this independent project.
A PERFORMANCE FILM EXPERIENCE
HOME STUDIES, PART III
Choreographer/Director/Concept: Helen Pickett
Videographer/Editor/Co-Director: James Wiley
Digital Performance: September 3, 2020
The third installment of choreographer Helen Pickett’s Home Studies trilogy features artists from Charlotte Ballet along with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Dance Theatre of Harlem in a digital performance choreographed and rehearsed entirely over Zoom.
Thank you to the artists from Charlotte Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Dance Theatre of Harlem who lent their talents for this independent project.
NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN REHEARSAL FOOTAGE
BEHIND-THE-SCENES WITH HELEN PICKETT: THE MAKING OF IN COGNITO
Choreography: Helen Pickett
Digital Premiere: May 16, 2020
Get to know choreographer Helen Pickett as Charlotte Ballet brings you exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage documenting the creative process of her work IN Cognito. Featuring interviews with Charlotte Ballet artists and never-before-seen rehearsal footage, this is your all-access pass to what goes into making a ballet.
Thank you to Lise and Travis Hain for their support in underwriting IN Cognito.
CHARLOTTE BALLET II & THE REACH PROGRAM
THE RITE OF SPRING: REINVENTED PROJECT — RIGHT(S)
Choreography: Peter Chu
Digital Performance: May 2, 2020 | Original Performance: April, 2018 at Center for Dance
Under the artistic leadership of Charlotte Symphony Music Director Christopher Warren-Green and Charlotte Ballet Artistic Director Hope Muir, this community collaboration was the first co-creation between the Ballet and the Symphony since the 1990s. In a re-imagined presentation of Igor Stravinksky’s The Rite of Spring, the performance connected the orchestra and professional choreography with students from Charlotte Ballet’s Reach program in an unprecedented community partnership.
Choreographer Peter Chu described his work as being driven by themes of togetherness during the creative process. The result was a performance encompassing the “power of moving together as a group, as a whole, to create greatness,” said Chu.
Thank you to the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Christopher Warren-Green for their partnership.
FULL PERFORMANCE + BEHIND-THE-SCENES
ESSENCE OF NUMBERS
Choreography: Sarah Hayes Harkins
Digital Performance: April 11, 2020 | Original Performance: May 16, 2019 at Center for Dance
Choreographers work in a variety of ways, and the process by which Harkins and composer Jared Oaks, music director for Ballet West, collaborated on this work was unique. Instead of setting Essence of Numbers to existing music, choreographer and composer worked together in a months-long, back-and-forth “conversation” that resulted in an original score informed by the movement — all created simultaneously.
Thank you Ballet West for this collaboration with Music Director Jared Oaks.
Charlotte Ballet would like to thank Renee and Hugh McColl for their support of 2018/2019 Choreographic Lab.
FULL PERFORMANCE + BEHIND-THE-SCENES
DISPERSAL
Choreography: Christopher Stuart
Digital Performance: March 27, 2020 | Original Performance: January 24, 2020 at Center for Dance
Dispersal was created by choreographer Christopher Stuart for our 2020 winter series, Innovative Works: Beyond the Mint. For this series, Stuart and two other choreographers were tasked with creating new works inspired by the Mint Museum exhibit, Immersed in Light: Studio Drift at the Mint. The gorgeous score “Il Nodo” was composed for this work by sought-after Nashville musician Cristina Spinei.
Thank you to The Mint Museum and Studio Drift for supporting this collaboration.
Charlotte Ballet would like to thank the following individuals for their support of Innovative Works: Beyond the Mint: Patty and Alex Funderburg, Posey and Mark Mealy, Todd Porter and Steve Rasnick, Ann and Michael Tarwater, Jenny and Henry Ward, Krista and Tom Wilson.
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