Enter one of ballet’s most fascinating periods, when impresarios and daring choreographers changed the course of dance history. Ballet Russe Reimagined is a three-part series paying homage to the innovations that propelled ballet into the 20th and 21st centuries.
Paris 1909 — impresario Serge Diaghilev devised the avant-garde Ballets Russes company that became one of the most influential catalysts of performing arts to date. Artistic collaborations, innovative choreography, and compelling compositions created a sensation that reignited the public’s passion for the art of dance, shaping the artistic and popular culture of the time.
In this series, Fort Wayne Ballet will bring to the stage four incredible ballets, including two world premieres created just for our dancers, Fort Wayne Ballet’s Balanchine debut, and the return of a beloved audience favorite.
Daring, mysterious, and versatile – Ballet Russe Reimagined is a series you won’t want to miss.
March 21 | 7:30 PM
March 22 | 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Les Sylphides
Rite of Spring
April 11 | 7:30 PM
April 12 | 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Rite of Spring
Serenade
May 9 | 7:30 PM
May 10 | 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Serenade
Light Rain
Tickets starting at $35
Tables for two $160
tables are on the edge of the stage for an immersive experience during the performance
The Ballet Russe Reimagined Series is recommended for ages 12 and up.
WORLD PREMIERE
Choreography: David Ingram
Music: Frédéric Chopin
Les Sylphides, originally choreographed by Mikhail Fokine in 1909 for the Ballets Russes company and set to music by Chopin, is considered the first plotless ballet, a unique characteristic that shaped the evolution of ballets to come.
David Ingram describes his Les Sylphides as, “vast, romantic, and unmeasurable.” His contemporary take on this ballet will be unlike anything the audience has seen before.
WORLD PREMIERE
Choreography: Mark Godden
Music: Igor Stravinsky
Originally choreographed in 1913 by Vaslav Nijinsky, Rite of Spring was immediately controversial, featuring jarring music by Igor Stravinsky (now considered one of the most important pieces of music of the 20th century) and a depiction of ancient Pagan rituals which infamously incited a riot in the audience.
Inspired by Stravinsky’s score, Godden has reimagined the plot of Rite of Spring to portray the myth of Prometheus.
FORT WAYNE BALLET’S BALANCHINE DEBUT
Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust
Staged by: Rebecca Metzger
Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Serenade for Strings)
Regarded as the most prominent choreographer in ballet during the 20th Century, George Balanchine began his choreographic start with the Ballets Russes company before immigrating to the United States of America in 1933. Along with Lincoln Kirstein, Balanchine founded the School of American Ballet, and later, New York City Ballet.
Serenade was the first ballet Balanchine choreographed in America in 1934 and is considered a masterwork of the 20th Century.
The performance of Serenade, a Balanchine® Ballet, is presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust and has been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique® Service standards established and provided by the Trust.
Choreography: Gerald Arpino
Staged by: Cameron Basden
Music: Douglas Adamz and Russ Gauthier
Gerald Arpino, a co-founder of Joffrey Ballet, created Light Rain in 1981. Light Rain, “represents the youth and energy of the dancers it was created on,” according to the Arpino Foundation.
The energetic and dynamic ballet showcases the evolution of neoclassical ballet nearly 50 years after Serenade premiered and remains the most requested work in the Arpino Foundation.
David Ingram is currently an Associate Professor of Dance at Butler University’s Dance Department. Ingram began his dance training in Kingsport, Tennessee under the direction of Karen Gibbons-Brown. After graduating from Butler University’s Dance Department, Ingram danced professionally with Louisville Ballet and North Carolina Dance Theatre (now Charlotte Ballet). Ingram is an accomplished choreographer, whose works have been performed at Charlotte Ballet, the Chautauqua Institute, Louisville Ballet, East Carolina University, Butler University, The Yard, Kentucky Governor’s School of the Arts, and Fort Wayne Ballet. Ingram also holds an MFA in dance from Hollins University in association with the Forsythe Lab and the Mousonturm in Frankfurt, Germany.
Mark Godden has created original works for Boston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, Northern Ballet Theatre (UK), Ballet Florida, Compania Nacional de Danza (Mexico), Ballet Contemporania (Argentina), Ballet Memphis, Alberta Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, Ballet Met, Charlotte Ballet, Nacional Ballet del Peru among others. Godden is Resident Choreographer for the prestigious HARID Conservatory and was Resident Choreographer for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Godden won Top Honours for choreography in both Varna, Bulgaria and Helsinki, Finland international ballet competitions. He is a recipient of the notable Choo-San Goh award and Godden’s full-length ballet, Dracula,was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore award.
Dracula was adapted for film (Directed by Guy Maddin) and won an Emmy for Best Performing Arts Film. Godden was awarded Best Choreography at The Monaco Film Festival for Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary. Godden’s full-length ballet, Magic Flute, produced into film and directed by Barbara Willis Sweete, won a Gemini for Best Ensemble Performance. Godden Directed and Choreographed the 2006 Olympic Games Flag Hand-over Ceremony in Torino, Italy. Godden’s full length ballet Going Home Star – Truth and Reconciliation was a three year project based on the forced assimilation of Canada’s First Nations People. The ballet premiered to rave reviews: Going Home Star –Truth and Reconciliation may be the most important dance mounted by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in its illustrious 75 year history,”(Robert Enright- CBC). In 2019, Godden was awarded the Order of Canada for his outstanding achievements in dance.
George Balanchine is widely regarded as the most influential choreographer of the 20th century, and he co-founded two of ballet’s most important institutions: New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet. Balanchine was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1904, studied at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, and danced with the Maryinsky Theatre Ballet Company. In the summer of 1924, Balanchine left the Soviet Union for Europe, where he was invited by impresario Serge Diaghilev to join the Ballets Russes. For that company, Balanchine choreographed his first important ballets: Apollo and Prodigal Son. After Ballets Russes was dissolved following Diaghilev’s death in 1929, Balanchine met American arts connoisseur Lincoln Kirstein, who persuaded him to come to the United States. In 1934, the pair founded the School of American Ballet. Balanchine’s first ballet in the U.S., Serenade, was created for SAB students and premiered in 1934. Balanchine and Kirstein founded the New York City Ballet in 1946. Balanchine served as the Company’s ballet master from that year until his death in 1983. He choreographed 425 works over the course of 60-plus years. Many of Balanchine’s works are considered masterpieces and are performed by ballet companies all over the world.
Biography courtesy of the New York City Ballet
Photo by Tanaquil LeClercq
BALANCHINE is a trademark of The George Balanchine Trust
Rebecca Metzger, an Atlanta native, left home at the age of 16 to attend the School of American Ballet on a full merit scholarship. In her senior year of high school, she was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and was one of two dancers to receive the first ever Mae L. Wein Award for School of American Ballet students of outstanding promise. At 18, she joined the New York City Ballet, performing a variety of corps, soloist, and principal roles during her career. She has appeared in the PBS series Dance in America and The Balanchine Essays. While rehearsing, performing, and touring full-time, she attended Barnard College, graduating magna cum laude. Following her performing career, Metzger became the creative director of the New York City Ballet Workout. She has taught ballet to all levels and ages, from the public schools of New York City to elite ballet academies. As a repetiteur for the George Balanchine Trust, she has enjoyed the opportunity to work with companies and schools all over the world, sharing the work of this great master. Rebecca is currently the Director of Dance at the Lovett School in Atlanta, Georgia.
Gerald Arpino (1923-2008) was the Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer of The Joffrey Ballet, the company he co-founded with Robert Joffrey in 1956. Born on Staten Island, New York, he trained with Mary Ann Wells and May O’Donnell and became a principal dancer with the original Joffrey company. As resident choreographer, Arpino created over one third of the commissioned repertory for the Joffrey Ballet, and choreographed for Broadway, television, and opera.
Arpino directed the Joffrey Ballet from 1988 until 2008, continuing Joffrey’s vision of excellence in historical reconstructions and groundbreaking commissions such as Billboards (1993) the hit rock ballet to music by Prince. In 1995, he moved the Joffrey Ballet from New York to Chicago, where he established the Joffrey as a world-class company in the heart of the American Midwest. His 1974 Dance Magazine Award citation read, “more than any other choreographer, he has recognized the spirit of the times. His work speaks clearly of the anguish and the joy of being young in America today.” And Arpino’s timeless ballets continue to move audiences around the world to this day.
Photo by Herbert Migdoll
Cameron Basden is School Managing Director of Miami City Ballet. After a successful performing career with the Joffrey Ballet, Cameron served as rehearsal director and associate director of that company and director of dance at Interlochen Center for the Arts. Cameron was a muse for Gerald Arpino in the creation of his ballets and danced in a variety of styles by many noted choreographers. She stages ballets as répétiteur, has worked in film projects with PBS, portrayed herself in Robert Altman’s movie, “The Company” and produces collaborative events throughout the U.S. She works with passion, knowledge and organization in the projects she undertakes. Cameron serves on the board of The Arpino Foundation, the DanceNOW! Miami advisory board and is the Founding Director of Miami Dance Hub, a non-profit organization to promote and unify the dance commonwealth in South Florida. She now makes her home in Miami, a city she loves for its diversity, community and for being a cultural mecca.