Beat the chill of the season with hot works from BalletMet Columbus in Cool Nights, Hot Dance, Nov. 7-15 in the BalletMet Performance Space, 322 Mt. Vernon Ave. The show features two works that wowed New York City audiences during BalletMet’s fall engagement at the prestigious Joyce Theater.
Darrell Grand Moultrie’s ¡Square Off! and Stanton Welch’s Play were critically acclaimed during BalletMet’s performance at the Joyce Theater in early October. Francis Mason, editor of Ballet Review and a dance critic since 1950, called BalletMet’s return to the Big Apple “miraculous … they ought to change their name to Ballet International and go round the world.”
Cool Nights, Hot Dance will feature Moultrie’s wildly exuberant ¡Square Off! Born and raised in Harlem, Moultrie is a recipient of the esteemed Princess Grace Award for Choreography and is currently dancing in Billy Elliot, a new musical that opened on Broadway this fall.
Also Welch's Play is set to the pulsating beats of Moby’s Grammy-nominated album of the same name. The work draws from a flurry of everyday movement, meshing hip-hop with modern ballet to suggest chance encounters and spiritual alienation on frenzied urban streets.
Born and raised in Australia, Welch was Artistic Associate of BalletMet Columbus and is currently Artistic Director of Houston Ballet since 2003. He has created works for such companies as Houston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and The Australian Ballet.
The performance will also feature John Butler's Othello, which premiered in 1976 by La Scala Ballet and portrays the dramatic tale of Desdemona, Othello and Iago and explores timeless themes of love, jealousy and betrayal.
Adam Hundt's Rockabetty is a charmingly lighthearted series of dances set to classic 1950s rockabilly tunes and dedicated to the women in Hundt's life: his mother, grandmothers and sister.
William Soleau's Yellow Wood is set to the moving piano music of Janececk and uses imagry of autumn to explore themes of destiny. The ballet was inspired by Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken.
Showtimes are Nov. 7, 8, 14, and 15 at 8 p.m., and Nov. 9 at 1 and 5:30 p.m.
Tickets are $30 and are available through www.balletmet.org, Ticketmaster at 614-431-3600 and www.ticketmaster.com, and CAPA at 614-469-0939.