BY ERICA RUCKER Louisville Ballet Artistic + Executive Director Robert Curran is tired of cashmere sweaters. It isn’t the sweaters, exactly. It is what the sweaters represent. After finding himself on the outside of a long relationship and then experiencing the death of his mother earlier this year, Curran is reflecting on his collection of … Continued
Sometimes I don’t realize that I am missing something until I have it back—like when I loan Star Wars: Episode V to a friend and get it back months later and watch it and realize how much I had missed it. Or when Keith’s cheerful voice is at the other end of the phone line … Continued
Christmas is magic. It sweeps me away. Back to childhood. Joy. Innocence. Nutcracker is Christmas. It sweeps me away. Into imagination. Into a new world—but a familiar one. For as long as I can remember I’ve been carried by the magic of Nutcracker. As a child I would place costumes on my parents couch and … Continued
Most of ballet is fun. Like the music and the costumes and the pink slippers. Even the not fun parts like the sweating and sore muscles and remembering steps and corrections is fun. Christmas was the best time of year. And with Christmas came Nutcracker. And with Nutcracker came performing. But before you got to … Continued
Funny how much we can learn from children. How they can remind us how to love. How to look. How to laugh. Funny how they can see with their hearts and listen with their eyes. And their big wide gazes can penetrate those deep dark places we hide inside. The ones we’d rather forget exist. … Continued
by Elizabeth Kramer for Courier-Journal When Australian choreographer Lucas Jervies flew into Louisville almost six weeks ago, it was a homecoming of sorts. He first came to here in 2015 to create a new work for the Louisville Ballet. This time, Jervies returned to create a work stemming from an idea he hatched with his friend and former colleague Robert Curran, … Continued
by Eileen Yanoviak of Burnaway.org In April 2015, the then relatively new Louisville Ballet director Robert Curran initiated a series of collaborations with Louisville artists to produce scenery and costumes for ballet productions. Artists, with little or no background in theater, were faced with such tasks as reimagining classics like Swan Lake or bringing to … Continued
By Eli Keel for Insider Louisville Curran wants the work to challenge both the audience as well as the dancers. “I’m so proud of the work, it’s so confronting — there’s no nudity and no overt violence — it’s just not conventional,” he says. “It’s going to be challenging.” He notes that challenging the audience can be … Continued
As part of their 65th Anniversary Season, Louisville Ballet premiered a new Swan Lake – a classical ballet now re-imagined as virtual reality – in the fall of 2016. Artistic & Executive Director, Robert Curan, chose three Louisville-based visual artists – Ryan Daly, Garrett Crabtree and Tiffany Woodard – to help create the designs that, … Continued
Swan Lake is, without question, a workhorse. Even if you have never seen a live production, you most likely feel like you have. Swan Lake is the epitome of ballet, for better and for worse, and ballet companies often rely on its appeal. And there is so much to find appealing – a handsome, conflicted … Continued