The Ballet West 2022-2023 season boasts four Ballet West/Utah premieres and three full-length story ballets.
This year, which marks the company’s 59th and Artistic Director Adam Sklute’s 15th, also celebrates milestones such as Gerald Arpino’s 100th birthday.
Ballet West 2022-2023 Season Schedule
Onegin | October 21-29, 2022
Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre
- Onegin by John Cranko
Considered one of the greatest story-ballets of all time, the work was created in 1965 by John Cranko, one of the world’s foremost creators of dance-theater. Basing the ballet on Alexander Pushkin’s final narrative poem and arranging the score of numerous orchestral works by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Cranko presents a Romantic-era tale of passion and tragedy – and unexpected female empowerment as the heroine, Tatiana, grows from a love-struck teenager, enamored of the cold and mysterious Eugene Onegin, into a regal noble woman in charge of her own life and destiny.
Cinderella | November 4-12, 2022
Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre
- Concerto Barocco by George Balanchine
- Return to a Strange Land by Jiří Kylián
- Rodeo by Agnes de Mille
Opening the program is George Balanchine’s 1941 Concerto Barocco, a soaring example of the clean, musical aesthetic that shows why Balanchine is one of the greatest choreographers of all time. Set to Bach’s elegant and dynamic Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins, and first brought to Ballet West by founder Willam Christensen in 1965, it has not been performed by the company in nearly 20 years.
Next is the revival of Jiří Kylián’s soulful 1975 ode to loss and longing, Return to a Strange Land. Using his signature style, both powerfully acrobatic and poetic, renowned the Czech choreographer Kylián created this heart-stopping gem to the emotional, dreamlike solo piano music of Leoš Janáček for six dancers on a stage strewn with autumn leaves.
Finally, after having to postpone Rodeo in 2020, Ballet West will premiere this joyous classic Americana tale of a cowgirl who longs to be one of the guys, and who loses but then finds – her true love along the way. Best known for her productions of Oklahoma!, Carousel, and Brigadoon, pioneering American dance great de Mille choreographed this one-act story in 1942, a time when there were few women leading the field. She collaborated with composer Aaron Copland who wrote the buoyant and well-known score specifically for the ballet.
The Nutcracker | December 2-24, 2022
Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre
- The Nutcracker by Willam Christensen
More than three quarters of a century after Ballet West’s founder Willam Christensen choreographed it, America’s first full Nutcracker looks as fresh and relevant as it did the day it opened.
The Sleeping Beauty | February 10-18, 2023
Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre
- The Sleeping Beauty by Adam Sklute
Adored by Utah audiences for decades, this season’s production of The Sleeping Beauty is getting an opulent makeover with the premiere of new sets designed by critically acclaimed French artist and painter Alain Vaes. In 2011, Ballet West Artistic Director Adam Sklute and Resident Designer David Heuvel reconceived the costumes. Now, the first new sets created for this work since its BW premiere in 1986 will be unveiled.
Sklute’s unique adaptation of the spectacular Marius Petipa ballet set to Tchaikovsky’s unforgettable score is an evening of nonstop, fanciful adventure and magic.
The Wedding | April 24-22, 2023
Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre
- Les Noces by Bronislava Nijinska
- In the Night by Jerome Robbins
- Light Rain by Gerald Arpino
Under Adam Sklute, Ballet West has become known for its reconstructions of legendary lost masterpieces – in particular, from Serge Diaghilev’s early 20th century French marvel of a company, Les Ballets Russes. Now, that exploration continues with the 100th anniversary presentation of the groundbreaking Les Noces, or The Wedding.
In 1923 Polish choreographer Bronislava Nijinska, the sister of famed Ukrainian born Vaslav Nijinsky, was commissioned by Diaghilev to collaborate with composer, Igor Stravinsky, and Avant Guard scenic designer Natalia Goncharova on this powerful dance oratorio for 40 dancers, a chorus of 40 singers, four soloists, percussion, and four grand pianos.
All three artists revolutionized the French art scene of the early 20th century with their startling vision of a Slavic peasant wedding that chronicles the events from the symbolic cutting of the bride’s hair to the terror of the young groom, the mourning of the groom’s mother, and the raucous celebration of the village. An unprecedented early collaboration between two women artists along with the world’s foremost modern music visionary has inspired countless artists, including composer Carl Orff when he created Carmina Burana.
Jerome Robbin’s intimate, mini-masterwork In the Night (Ballet West premiere) is set to Frederick Chopin’s exquisite Nocturnes for solo-piano. Robbins ingeniously explores phases of love and relationships for three couples.
The 1981 celebration of youth and passion Light Rain (Ballet West premiere)is rarely seen in its entirety. The work was inspired by its fascinating unconventional score composed by Douglas Adamz and Russ Gauthier that fuses Eastern and Western musical elements and instrumentation.
Created by Gerald Arpino, co-founder of The Joffrey Ballet, this sexy, sleek and shimmering work was a mainstay of The Joffrey’s repertoire and always sent audiences home happy. With this production Ballet West joins companies around the country to celebrate the centennial of Arpino’s birth.
Featured Photo for the Ballet West 2022-2023 Season of Principal Artists Katlyn Addison & Adrian Fry. Photo by Beau Pearson.
