FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LOUISVILLE BALLET ANNOUNCES VIRTUAL 2020 / 2021 SEASON
LOUISVILLE, KY, June 11, 2020 – Louisville Ballet, under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert Curran, announces its bold move to an entirely digital stage for the 2020 / 2021 “Season of Illumination.” As a ballet company committed to its core identity as a live audience-based performing arts organization, Louisville Ballet is moving forward, past the uncertainty of when performance venues may safely re-open, and committing to making moving art that virtually connects and reconnects with audiences, wherever they are. As Robert Curran states about this decision:
“While the prospects of planning this Season initially felt bleak, once we simply made the decision to pivot to a completely digital platform, I felt this sense of momentum and excitement; I began to see this current environment as a chance to truly innovate, to create amazing, meaningful work on a new ‘stage.’ And this is an incredible opportunity to invite new, diversified audiences to join us, to lead existing audiences into a digital platform and to establish this virtual stage as another expanded venue, even when we’re finally, and joyously, able to return to live performances in physical theaters.”
To ensure the artistic integrity and success of the productions performed on this digital stage, Louisville Ballet is also excited to announce a season-long partnership with KERTIS, a Louisville-based creative group of strategists, filmmakers, photographers, writers, and designers. As Stephen Kertis, KERTIS Founder and President explains:
“Ballet is, and can still be more than its history. If there can’t be a ‘stage,’ we will transform existing spaces in ways that complement and push against this season’s concepts. If we can’t allow people to experience the Ballet from inside an auditorium, we will re-imagine accessibility, performance, and presentation. This is an historic chance to engage with the challenges and opportunities of non-traditional physical (and emotional) space.”
SEASON OF ILLUMINATION DETAILS:
Louisville Ballet and KERTIS will work together to create ballet art film productions, performed and filmed from inside Louisville Ballet’s Main Street studio building. Productions will range from locally-inspired new works to internationally recognized classics, all innovatively and cinematically filmed. These will not be re-broadcasts of previous existing performances, captured by a few static cameras in a theater.
Season productions will be announced on a rolling basis, at least four weeks prior to each virtual performance.
While the Company has internally planned a production schedule, the nature of the current environment requires a sense of agile flexibility.
Louisville Ballet and KERTIS plan to launch the our first film production of the Season of Illumination in mid-October 2020. Details for this production will be announced by early September 2020.
All productions will be available on-demand, with the purchase of a virtual ticket, for a limited time.
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Louisville Ballet will return to the theater, but this virtual “Season of Illumination” serves as a critical platform to stay connected to our audience, to actively invite more people to join the Louisville Ballet family and to continue making moving art until we can join each other, in person, together.
To learn more about Louisville Ballet and to stay updated with the latest about our “Season of Illumination,” visit louisvilleballet.org/backstage.
Learn more about KERTIS and their work on their website, kertiscreative.com.
View previous Louisville Ballet and KERTIS projects:
Building Louisville’s Coppelia
For more details, or to schedule interviews, please contact Louisville Ballet Marketing Director via email / cell:
nharris@louisvilleballet.org / 502.777.1672