Louisville Ballet’s 65th Anniversary Season explored the old and the new; the past and the future; uncharted territory and well-worn paths. Read and learn more about the company and the Louisville Ballet School in June 2017. Until then, here is a sneak peek into Louisville Ballet’s anniversary book, 65 Years Making Moving Art.
Art teaches the soul to breath, the body to sing. It opens the mind, broadens the vision, expands the heart. Art teaches us how to see. What heart has not ached with each pull of the strings in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake? What soul has not found peace in the strokes of Monet’s Water Lilies? What spirit has not soared with each boundless leap of Mikhail Baryshnikov?
Art teaches us to feel. Transcending walls and barriers, it speaks to the deep crevices of our souls in a language unique and mysterious. This language is one of joy and sadness, hope and betrayal. Its dialects are ingenuity, destruction, adventure, monotony, purity, corruption, and love. It is the language of the soul. The words only the heart can translate. Art transcends the walls and barriers of the mind and paves the way for the mind to hear. To see. To feel. To understand. To grow.
On March 16, 2017, Louisville Ballet will mark its sixty-fifth year of creating art. In these sixty-five years, the company has reached over millions of audience members, produced more than seventy world-premiere ballets, employed thousands of dancers, and generated a repertoire of nearly one hundred and fifty works by such choreographers as Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Marius Petipa, Antony Tudor, Erik Bruhn, David Parsons, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Adam Hougland, Val Caniparoli, and Lucas Jervies, along with Fokine and Bournonville ballets. From its conception in the 1950s, Louisville Ballet has cultivated a spirit of collaboration with other art forms. Sixty-five years later this tradition continues as Kentucky’s Commonwealth Ballet strives to unite with the other arts and bring something spectacular to the city of Louisville. From its humble beginnings as a civic ballet company with temporary dancers and predominantly guest artistic directors, Louisville Ballet has grown into one of the country’s leading ballet companies. Under the leadership of Artistic Executive Director, Robert Curran, the company preserves the traditions of its past, whilst charging toward the possibilities of its tomorrow. Experiencing art is a thing of the present, and for the present Louisville Ballet is committed to a simple, but significant goal:
Making. Moving. Art.
To read more about this illustrious company and its history, experience the complete 65 Years Making Moving Art at https://www.louisvilleballet.org/backstage/2016/12/louisville-ballet-65th-anniversary-book-limited-edition/
Thank you for your support of Louisville Ballet and Stage + Studio, A Louisville Ballet Blog. See you in June!
Louisville Ballet. 65 Years Making Moving Art. Louisville: Butler Books, 2017. Print.