LOUISVILLE, KY – Louisville Ballet is proud to present performance details for their upcoming Kentucky-inspired 2023/2024 season: Season of the Commonwealth. As Kentucky’s Official State Ballet, the organization celebrates the Commonwealth as a local and global stage for stories anchored in our state’s rich history, fearless voices, and boundless creativity. Made for Kentucky, by Kentucky, this season’s productions are infused with the spirit of the Bluegrass – highlighting local history, elevating community voices, and demonstrating Kentucky hospitality to world-renowned collaborators.
“In Louisville Ballet’s 72nd season, and my 10th season as Artistic Director, we bring you stories that reflect the crossroads of our home state: old fashioned and new fashioned, refreshing and familiar,” said Robert Curran, Artistic Director for Louisville Ballet. “Over the past 10 years, I have experienced famous Kentucky hospitality; I am constantly inspired by the spirit of the Bluegrass; I have immersed myself in the local history; and I have thoroughly enjoyed elevating our communities’ voices. And I’ve saved you a seat in the theater – so I invite you to come and experience what our Season of the Commonwealth has to offer.”
Following what has become a Louisville Ballet tradition of reimagined classics, fall productions begin with Curran’s Giselle, setting the classic story in a 1930s Eastern Kentucky mining town. In November, Distilled brings global talent to Louisville, featuring “Forgotten Land” by Jiří Kylián, “Chaconne” by George Balanchine, and a world-premiere work by the winner of the 2024 Dysart Award – an annual award for rising choreographers – to be announced later in the season. 2023 comes to a close with a favorite local holiday tradition, The Brown-Forman Nutcracker.
2024 will begin with the annual Choreographer’s Showcase, #CHORSHOW, hosted at Louisville Ballet’s downtown studios for two weekends in a row. The season then concludes with the beautiful and tragic Romeo & Juliet, choreographed by the late Alun Jones, who led Louisville Ballet as Artistic Director for 24 years.
“I’m exceptionally proud of our upcoming Season of the Commonwealth. It’s a nod to our roots, as the state ballet of Kentucky,” said Leslie Smart, Louisville Ballet’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our first production, Giselle, is reimagined in Appalachia. It reminds me of my time as a dancer – touring the state with Louisville Ballet in the 1970s and sharing the beauty of ballet with many Kentuckians who experienced it for the first time in their lives.”
2023/2024 Season of the Commonwealth subscription ticket packages, offering up to 25% savings on performances, are now available at LouisvilleBallet.org. Current or new subscribers can purchase online or by calling the Louisville Ballet Box Office at (502) 583-2623. Single tickets for 2023/2024 performances will be available in August.
Performance creative, photos, logos, and other assets can be found here.
GISELLE
An Appalachian ballad of love and betrayal
October 13-15, 2023 | The Brown Theatre | Choreography by Robert Curran, after Marius Petipa | Music by Adolphe Adam
The real and the supernatural worlds of Eastern Kentucky collide in this tragic retelling of a ballet classic. Giselle is the romantic story of a beautiful coal miner’s daughter and the disguised son of a mining magnate. In the real world, their love is doomed. In the spiritual world, it may be saved.
DISTILLED
The finest dance in the world, distilled in Kentucky
November 10-12, 2023 | The Brown Theatre | Choreography by Jiří Kylián, George Balanchine, and the 2024 Dysart Award Winner
Experience the thrill of ballet masterpieces, brought to Kentucky from around the world and performed by the extraordinary artists of Louisville Ballet. Distilled includes Jiří Kylián’s exquisite “Forgotten Land,” a Dysart Award Winner (TBD) World Premiere, and George Balanchine’s sumptuous “Chaconne.”
THE BROWN-FORMAN NUTCRACKER
The sweetest holiday tradition in Kentucky
December 8-24, 2023 | Whitney Hall, The Kentucky Center | Choreography by Val Caniparoli | Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Experience the nostalgic holiday tale of Marie and her Nutcracker prince as they journey to the magical world of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The Brown-Forman Nutcracker is a delight for all ages with a distinctly Kentucky flavor.
#CHORSHOW
Dance – up close and personal
January 24-28 and February 2-4, 2024 | Louisville Ballet Downtown Studios | Choreography by Artists of Louisville Ballet
Enjoy this intimate community favorite production, including exciting new works made by and for the dancers of Louisville Ballet, performed live in our downtown studios.
ROMEO & JULIET
Passion. Tragedy. The original star-crossed lovers.
March 1-2, 2024 | The Kentucky Center, Whitney Hall | Choreography by Alun Jones | Music by Sergei Prokofiev
All-consuming love, passion, and tragedy collide in this stunningly beautiful Louisville Ballet version of the timeless Shakespeare classic. Designed and choreographed by Alun Jones, beautifully portrays the bitter feud between the Montague and Capulet families that disrupts the city of Verona and ends in tragedy for Romeo and Juliet.
ABOUT LOUISVILLE BALLET
Louisville Ballet, led by Artistic Director Robert Curran and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Smart, is an evolved, but accessible artistic organization that boldly and beautifully communicates stories both classic and new. We exist to move, to evoke emotion, to provoke thought, and to challenge perceptions. We are artists, athletes, and activists. We are inventors and inspirers. As the official State Ballet of Kentucky, founded in 1952, we have hosted some of ballet’s biggest names including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Twyla Tharp, and Wendy Whelan, performed for tens of thousands of people, and reach over 20,000 school children throughout the Commonwealth with educational programs annually.