Ballets With A Twist Reveals 2024 Touring Season to North Carolina, Wisconsin & More

New York City-based dance company, Ballets with a Twist, announces its 2024 touring season to North Carolina, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and South Carolina.

Tour Details

• July 6, 2024: Appalachian Theatre, Boone, NC

• October 5, 2024: Schauer Arts Center, Hartford, WI

• October 26, 2024: University of Minnesota Morris, Edson Auditorium, Morris, MN

• November 21, 2024: Tryon Fine Arts Center, Tryon, NC

• November 23, 2024: Newberry Opera House, Newberry, SC

The Show

Created by artistic director and choreographer Marilyn Klaus, Cocktail Hour: The Show melds the glamour of Hollywood's Golden Age with a sleek, twenty-first-century sensibility. Elegance and all-American energy collide in a series of sparkling dance vignettes. Watch as the “Bloody Mary,” “Martini,” “Manhattan,” and more spring from the menu and onto the stage. You've never seen cocktails like these! 

Ballets with a Twist makes its North Carolina, Minnesota, and South Carolina debuts and returns to Wisconsin where the company continues its commitment to education with dance workshops and classes at the Schauer Arts Center. Young dancers in the community will not only study with experienced professionals, but also have a chance to perform in “Mint Julep” from Cocktail Hour: The Show. For more on Ballets with a Twist's community engagement, visit the company's website.

Program highlights include:

• “Beer”— A crew of regal rockers amps up the attitude and steals the show.

• “Mint Julep”— Sophisticated fillies leap toward a photo finish on a breeze of bluegrass and southern hospitality in this Kentucky Derby story. 

• “Shirley Temple”— A daring damsel frolics through her soda pop-fueled imagination to an after-school hip-hop soundtrack. 

• “White Russian”— This festive trilogy tells the tale of a wintry royal wedding to the tones of a cinematic piano concerto. 

• “Eau de Vie”— Secrets, rumors and star-crossed love swirl in this stirring French escapade.

The Company

Marilyn Klaus, whose choreography has been seen internationally, formed Ballets with a Twist in association with Grammy-nominated composer Stephen Gaboury and costume designer Catherine Zehr. Her company has appeared in a wide range of venues throughout the country, from Cleveland's Playhouse Square and New York City's Beacon Theatre to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Tribeca Film Festival.

“Ballets with a Twist is a company with a pop sensibility. We bring people into the theater by offering an exciting nightlife experience. Our signature production, Cocktail Hour: The Show, is an audience builder. We've been touring all over the states and finding very appreciative audiences,” explains Klaus. 

She added “the show is composed of cultural cocktails—it's a way to look at different aspects of culture in one evening. For me, it's about uplifting the spirit—and it's fun because there are various meanings to the term ‘spirit'.”

Stephen Gaboury's compositions have been performed by celebrated musicians nationwide. As a pianist, he has collaborated and toured the world with pop/rock icon Cyndi Lauper for more than a decade, most recently joining her alongside the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at its historic home venue. He has also accompanied such artists as Patti LaBelle, Norah Jones, and Sarah McLachlan, and has performed at internationally televised events such as the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony and the New Year's Eve Times Square Ball Drop. Gaboury's music has been heard in concert, on television, and in films (including Boyhood and American Beauty).

Catherine Zehr is the artistic force behind the company's costume design. Her creations evoke the origins and essence of each dance with dazzling colors and ornamentation. Zehr honed her skills while working at major American fashion houses, then by designing and manufacturing attire for her own label. She studied art and design at Washington University and New York City's Fashion Institute of Technology, where she and the company delivered the presentation “Designing Costumes for Ballets with a Twist” as part of The Museum at FIT's Fashion Culture series.

Craving more Twist culture? Visit balletswithatwist.com.

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