Performance to include And Mercy by New York choreographer Preston Miller
The complex Interplay by Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director Julianna Slager
And raw, emotion-filled Sigao Ekklesia by Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director Julianna Slager
Friday, March 11, 2016
CHICAGO - Ballet 5:8, a Chicago-area performing company in its fourth performing season, will return to the Davenport Junior Theater’s Mary Fluhrer-Nighswander Theatre on Friday, March 11. The engagement will be the second consecutive year Ballet 5:8 has stopped in Davenport, presenting engaging professional dance that “brings performances out of the abstract, elitism of some art forms and into the hearts and minds of everyday people” (Artistic Director Julianna Slager). Ballet 5:8’s founding Executive Director Amy Kozol Sanderson grew up in Eldridge, Iowa, just outside of the Quad Cities and studied ballet under former Ballet Quad Cities Artistic Director Johanne Jakhelln at Ballet Quad Cities’ School of Dance before going on to dance with Ballet Magnificat! in Jackson, Mississippi and eventually, move to Chicago.
Ballet 5:8’s program for Davenport, called Mirrors of the Mind, will feature three works that each play on the theme brought out by Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director Julianna Slager’s Interplay: imagining the mysterious inner workings of the mind, but in life-sized proportions. The program will also feature And Mercy, created for Ballet 5:8 by New York choreographer Preston Miller. The Davenport-based pre-professional dance group Baker Youth Ballet, directed by former professional dancers Caleb and Heidi Baker, will open the program. The performance will be held on Friday, March 11 at 7pm. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for children 12 and under; seating is general admission. Advance tickets can be purchased via Ballet58.org or by calling 312-725-4752; tickets will also be available at the box office 60 minutes prior to showtime.
Have you ever felt like there are multiple voices inside your mind? At these times, it seems as if your very consciousness has divided itself into multiple characters. These characters are often at odds with each other, with an intense and perplexing variety in perspectives. There is often confusion - or even downright antagonism. What if these mirrors and personalities of the mind came to life? The centerpiece of Mirrors of the Mind, Julianna Slager’s Interplay, imagines the characters Wisdom and Folly as they embody in the inner dialogue of the heart in a personified duel of reason and emotion. The work harnesses an angular, geometric brand of neoclassical ballet to convey a picture of the often noisy, chaotic, and passionate dialog within the human mind. Whether the inside of the mind is like a calculated game of chess, a dizzying house of mirrors, or an intense confrontation between desire and will, Interplay wonders aloud who will end as the conqueror - and questions what all could be at stake in the first place.
Finally, Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director Julianna Slager’s Sigao Ekklesia will round out the program with a raw, open reflection on a subject that many of us wrestle with: church. Originally premiered at the beginning of the 2014-2015 season, Sigao was called “phenomenal” and ”profoundly moving” by audience members. Sigao begins with a musical setting, Haydn’s Stabat Mater, that most of us would associate with church, or religion, after hearing just a few notes. The beautiful, at times haunting score evokes thoughts of the regal and magnificent – stained glass windows, expansive cathedrals and the like. The ballet’s challenging juxtaposition, however, becomes apparent as soon as the dancers begin moving. Sigao’s abstract storyline illustrates questions that many of us within – and maybe outside of - church circles have today about church. We may each resonate with different questions reflected in the work, based on our own experiences. However, the end of the story has something to do with the redemptive narrative that originally brought us, in the church, together in the first place - and what a beautiful story that is.
The mission of Ballet is 5:8 is to employ artistic ingenuity, innovation and excellence as the company celebrates the exchange of ideas in the creative realm. Ballet 5:8’s ongoing commitment is to the creation and performance of new, abstract and narrative works from the unique basis of its Christian faith, and to the development and creative exploration of the dancing artists, choreographers and composers of our day. Ballet 5:8’s goal is to serve as a catalyst for genuine discussion of life and faith with audiences and artists alike, in the context of breathtaking dance performance.
