Ballet Des Moines' “Gravity on Tour" in Muscatine's Riverside Park -- July 31(photo of "Of Gravity & Light" by Ryan Morrison).
Sunday, July 31, 7 p.m.
Riverside Park, 101 West Mississippi Drive, Muscatine IA
Making a July 31 stop at Muscatine's Riverside Park as part of the group's six-city summertime showcase, the artists of Ballet Des Moines will showcase their full company of professional dancers in Gravity on Tour, an engaging and culturally enriching arts and education program co-presented by the Iowa Space Grant Consortium.
Gravity on Tour includes excerpts from Ballet Des Moines’ ground-breaking GRAVITY season along with a host of interactive STEM experiences, from Iowa State University’s FLEx Virtual Reality Lab and the Science Center of Iowa's mobile planetarium to sending postcards to space and back. These free performances build on the April 2022 world premiere of the interdisciplinary ballet Of Gravity & Light, exemplifying how music and movement can make abstract concepts more human and accessible to audiences of all ages. Ballet Des Moines CEO Blaire Massa has been working with community leaders statewide to determine tour locations, ensuring a strong sense of collaboration with tailored opportunities specific to the interests and values of each community. “We’ve worked diligently for the past several months," says Massa, "to ensure we’re delivering on our community engagement, outreach, and education initiatives — to expand access to the arts, while wielding creativity and expression as a tool to expand learning, build confidence, and forge community connections. From educational workshops and in-person ballet classes to meet-and-greets with the artists, pop-up planetariums, and young professional cocktail parties, there’s no shortage of opportunities to collaborate and inspire curiosity, confidence, and creativity across our state.”
Each Gravity on Tour performance will include excerpts from Ballet Des Moines' GRAVITY season, highlighting a diverse range of programming including Of Gravity and Light, a pas de deux from Swan Lake, and Flight, a joy-filled contemporary ballet by Ballet Des Moines Artistic Director Tom Mattingly. In between the evenings performances, NASA Solar System Ambassadors will guide the audience through scientific discussions.
Ballet Des Moines was launched as a professional ballet company in 2012, bringing world-class performing artists to the Des Moines community for classical and contemporary mainstage productions. The company offers training opportunities for pre-professional dancers and engages thousands of local youth each year through rich educational and outreach programs. The mission of Ballet Des Moines is to enrich lives through inspiring dance performances, inclusive education and outreach programs, and innovative community partnerships. The Iowa Space Grant Consortium, meanwhile, has been part of NASA’s National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program since 1990, and strives to improve and inspire Iowa’s future in STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. The ISGC supports aerospace research, education and outreach activities for all Iowans with NASA internships, fellowships, and scholarships, competitions for grants within higher-education members (with NASA Mission Directorate alignment), as well as informal education grants with outreach affiliates.
Ballet Des Moines will present Gravity on Tour in Muscatine's Riverside Park on July 31, the free performance begins at 7 p.m., and family-friendly STEM activities will be held in the park from 5p.m. to show time. For more information on the event, the tour, and the company, visit BalletDesMoines.org/summer-tour.
