Music metaphors afoot in Ballet Nouveau show
Attracting new audiences to the world of ballet is difficult enough without having to worry about cementing existing ones, but Broomfield-based Ballet Nouveau Colorado has done both the last few years with smart, risk-taking choreography and innovative contests.
Under the artistic direction of Garrett Ammon and associate director Dawn Fay, the company continues its experimentation with “Pop.” The program uses songs from Nancy Sinatra, Rufus Wainwright, the Knife and others to provide an accessible, high-energy entry to the world of dance.
We spoke with Ammon about “Pop,” a follow-up to last year’s successful “Rock,” in advance of the show’s premiere tonight at the Lakewood Cultural Center.
Q:Where did the idea for “Pop” come from?A: It was actually through a conversation with (2008 choreography competition finalist) Alex Ketley. I wanted to bring back my work “and tomorrow came,” which closed one of our choreography competitions, because our audience has grown dramatically and we knew there were people who hadn’t seen it. In talking with Alex about preliminary ideas for the show, he noted how a lot of really interesting stuff was going on in pop music, and something kind of clicked for us. We thought, “That’s really where we could take the show. We could explore those possibilities.”
Q:And it matches up with the music-themed “Rock” from last season.A: Absolutely. We’re incredibly excited to start the beginning of my third season here with this program. It’s a really fun, high-energy show to get people back in and excited about what we’re doing.
Q:Can you describe some of the pieces?A: I gave the choreographers the genre of pop as their launching pad, but really left it to them to kind of develop where they wanted to go. Joshua Blake Carter (winner of the 2009 choreography contest) used music from Rufus Wainwright. His piece is very expansive, but very thick in the way that it’s performed and produced.
Q:What about Alex Ketley’s piece?A: He’s pulled from a lot of different things, from the Knife’s “Heartbeats” and “Circle. Square. Triangle.” by Test Icicles to “Blue Turning Gray” by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and “Time to Pretend” by MGMT. So all of his choices are definitely heavier on the almost punk-pop feeling — slightly more aggressive in tone, but also with a sense of humor. They definitely go through a lot of different landscapes and emotions.
Q:And your own piece “and tomorrow came” will close it out, right?A: There’s that, which is choreographed to Joanna Newsom and has a lot of incredibly demanding physicality and nonstop energy to it. There’s not a lot of time to breathe. But I’m also working with some dancers on a last-minute addition that’s going to include a few Nancy Sinatra songs that tell a little love story. So we’ll have some ’60s pop in there as well.
John Wenzel: 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com
