‘Harlem’ by New Ballet Ensemble
What would you like to see most? Would you like to see the dancers in an established classical company doing personal, all-original work? Or maybe you’d prefer to see a modern company setting family histories into motion? How about a critically acclaimed tribute to the music of Duke Ellington, fusing various dance styles with heavy doses of ballet and Memphis street? It all sounds good, doesn’t it? And here’s the nifty thing: You don’t have to choose. It’s all on tap in Memphis this weekend. And some of it is either pay-what-you-can or free.
INTERIORWORKS is an annual pay-what-you-can opportunity to see what the dancers of Ballet Memphis come up with when left to their own devices. The 16th installment in the ongoing series runs through Saturday, May 16, at Ballet Memphis’ home base on Trinity road. The suggested $10 donation benefits the Artists Resource Fund for dancers in career transition.
The dancers of Project: Motion always start with a concept. For Bloodlines + Bylines guest artist and writer, Anna Esquivel has been tasked with weaving together the threads of various family histories collected from Knowledge Quest Memphis, the Madonna Learning Center, and Town Village at Audubon. The original choreography for Bloodlines + Bylines was created by Project: Motion dancers Bethany Wells Bak, Rebecca Cochran, Emily Hefley, Louisa Koeppel, and Wayne M. Smith.
The works will be presented on a stage without wings, eliminating the boundaries between onstage and offstage, and putting the dancers in a position where they are performing continuously. To get the inside scoop, click here.
In motion: ‘Bloodlines + Bylines’
Bloodlines + Bylines opens Friday, May 15, 2015 at 8 p.m. at the Evergreen Theatre and runs through
Sunday, May 17. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for students & seniors.
Saturday night at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park, New Ballet Ensemble teams up with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra to revive its critically acclaimed “Harlem.” You can read all the details here, in a piece I wrote for Memphis Magazine‘s 901 Blog. Best of all, it’s absolutely free. And coolers are welcom.
