Ballet Austin Announces 2024/25 Season
Ballet Austin has announced their upcoming 2024/25 season, featuring five productions filled with passion, excitement, heartbreak, love and hope.
By: A.A. Cristi Jul. 30, 2024
Ballet Austin has announced their upcoming 2024/25 season, featuring five productions filled with passion, excitement, heartbreak, love and hope.
The season begins with Stephen Mills' provocative and sensual retelling of the fairytale romance, BELLE / A Tale of Beauty & the Beast, with original music by Graham Reynolds. In December, waltz into winter with the 62nd Annual Production of The Nutcracker.
Celebrate Valentine's Day with Heart's Desire, a trio of exceptional dance works, featuring Christopher Wheeldon's Polyphonia, Stephen Mills' Desire, and Jessica Lang's ZigZag set to the legendary music of Tony Bennett.
Audiences will spring into the season of wildflowers and renewal with the World Premiere of Love's Gentle Spring, set to the music of Antonín Dvořák and Grammy award-winning artist Bryce Dessner (of the band, The National).
The season closes on Mother's Day weekend with Romeo & Juliet, featuring Stephen Mills' classic choreography set to Sergei Prokofiev's unforgettable score. Season ticket packages are available now, followed by single ticket sales beginning July 23.
Stephen Mills, the creative mind behind POE / A Tale of Madness, creates a provocative and sensual retelling of a familiar fairytale romance in BELLE / A Tale of Beauty & the Beast. Heavily influenced by French filmmaker Jean Cocteau's 1946 film La Belle et la Bête, the design and stylistic elements reflect the magic and mystery of that ground-breaking movie. Striking sets and fantastical, Alexander McQueen-inspired costumes, both designed by Michael B. Raiford, creates an other-worldly setting for this story that redefines true beauty and the search for love. Graham Reynolds' filmic score blends classical instruments with industrial sounds to create a remarkable auditory setting that is both achingly beautiful and hopelessly romantic.
This one-of-a-kind dance work will surprise, intrigue and leave you wanting more!
Waltz into the winter season with the spectacular 62nd Annual Production of The Nutcracker, which remains the longest-running production of this holiday classic in the state of Texas!
This timeless story follows a young girl, Clara, and her dream-inspired adventures through a twinkling winter wonderland to the Court of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Featuring exquisite costumes and astonishing sets, enjoy the artistry of a cast of more than one hundred artists on stage. Featuring live accompaniment by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Tchaikovsky's timeless score comes to life with music and choreography sure to warm the winter season and create lasting magical memories!
Celebrate Valentine's Day with excitement, elegance and a trio of exceptional dances!
Polyphonia, considered Christopher Wheeldon's breakthrough contemporary ballet, pairs four couples to the spiky, complex music of Hungarian composer György Ligeti. The work is described by dancers as “the curtain goes up and it's like being shot out of a cannon.” Incorporating music made famous by Stanley Kubrick's 1999 thriller Eyes Wide Shut, Wheeldon's Polyphonia made its premiere in 2001 with the New York City Ballet.
Stephen Mills' Desire finds passion and raw human emotion taking the spotlight. Featuring the exquisite music of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, this breathtaking pas de deux is inspired by the challenging emotions of letting go. Performed in Paris, New York City, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico, Desire now returns home to Austin. Dance Magazine proclaimed the “…energy was high, the gestures crisp, and the partnering bold…a strong sense of aesthetic purpose…”
The music of legendary crooner Tony Bennett provides the perfect soundtrack to Jessica Lang's ZigZag. Recently created for American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Austin is the first company to acquire the work since its premiere two years ago. Lang worked with Tony Bennett to incorporate both his songs and visual artwork into her fun-filled dance work featuring 14 dancers. With a festive array of brilliant colors, a burst of polka-dots, and (of course) zig-zags, this upbeat piece brings together seven decades of Tony Bennett's time-honored vocal favorites in a recording that also features a special duet by Lady Gaga. With costumes by Wes Gordon, creative director of the Carolina Herrera fashion house, this work brings together the worlds of theater, dance and fashion.
Following the success of last season's new masterpiece, POE / A Tale of Madness, toast a 2025 World Premiere! Celebrate the arrival of the season of wildflowers and renewal as Stephen Mills offers a musically-rich new work, Love's Gentle Spring.
The first movement is set to Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's “String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96.” Nicknamed “ American Quartet,” Dvořák wrote this piece while enjoying a summer vacation in Spillville, Iowa. Completed in only thirteen days, this was Dvořák's second attempt at writing a quartet in F major. Featuring live accompaniment by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the moving melodies of Dvořák's composition evoke the exuberant feelings of springtime.
The second movement features the music of contemporary composer and Grammy award-winning artist Bryce Dessner: guitarist, keyboardist and songwriter for his band, The National. Called “a vital and rare force in new music,” Dessner's compositions have been performed by Orchestre de Paris, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and many more. He has worked with a variety of artists, including Philip Glass, Paul Simon, Bon Iver and Taylor Swift on her song “Coney Island.” Dessner's “Concerto for Two Pianos,” written for and first performed by Katia and Marielle Labèque, premiered in 2018 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Dessner regularly tours with his band, including a recent performance at Austin's Moody Center in November of 2023.
Love's Gentle Spring unites the beauty of spring, music, and movement harmoniously in concert.
Close the season Mother's Day weekend with the most enduring story of young love, Romeo & Juliet. Set to Sergei Prokofiev's unforgettable score, performed live by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Stephen Mills' interpretation of this time-honored tale of “star-crossed lovers” leaves us believing in the sweet promise of first love. Tommy Bourgeois designed stunningly beautiful, period-appropriate costumes and a set brilliantly illuminated by an Italianate tapestry of stained-glass colors, both of which paired exquisitely with Stephen Mills' classic choreography. Shakespeare's magnificent story comes to life in an elegant, dramatic and simply gorgeous ballet.
2024/25 Season
BELLE / A Tale of Beauty & the Beast
Commissioned by Dr. Joaquin Delgado and the 3M Corporation.
Dates | September 27-29, 2024
Concept & Choreography | Stephen Mills
Music | Graham Reynolds
The Nutcracker
62nd Annual Production
Dates | December 6-23, 2024
Concept & Choreography | Stephen Mills
Music | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Live Accompaniment | Austin Symphony Orchestra
Heart's Desire
Dates | February 14-16, 2025
Choreography | Christopher Wheeldon, Stephen Mills, Jessica Lang
Music | György Ligeti (Wheeldon), Arvo Pärt (Mills), Tony Bennett (Lang)
Love's Gentle Spring
Dates | March 28-30, 2025
Concept & Choreography | Stephen Mills
Music | Antonín Dvořák String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96; Bryce Dessner's Concerto for Two Pianos (2018)
Live Accompaniment | Austin Symphony Orchestra
Romeo & Juliet
Dates | May 9-11, 2025
Concept & Choreography | Stephen Mills
Music | Sergei Prokofiev
Live Accompaniment | Austin Symphony Orchestra
Season ticket packages are on sale now, with single ticket sales beginning July 23. Visit balletaustin.org to reserve seats online, or contact Ballet Austin's Audience Services Team at 512.476.2163, weekdays from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT for personalized assistance.
Comments
Videos