Butler Ballet

Butler Ballet is the pre-professional performing ensemble of the Department of Trip the light fantastic, , . The trip the light fantastic program is consistently ranked as 1 of the tiptop 5 in the nation; granting trip the light fantastic toe degrees since 1952, information technology has been accredited since 1992.

Ballerinas from the Butler Ballet, ca. early 1970s

Credit: Indiana Historical Society

The dance faculty is a diverse group of artists and teachers who have had national and international careers earlier coming to Butler. A professional person preparation program centered on classical ballet, it includes mod, jazz, grapheme dance, improvisation, world dance, and choreography, with the goal of producing versatile, well-rounded dancers who are prepared for the professional person stage. Quality dance instruction and professional-level operation have a long history at Butler, going back to its predecessor establishment, the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music.

Each yr, the Butler Ballet presents three fully produced professional-level dance performances. The classical ballet repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries, performed with live music in , is featured in two of these concerts. The tertiary concert is a mixed-bill programme that highlights a licensed work by a major 20th-century choreographer, or a newly commissioned work created for the grouping by a gimmicky trip the light fantastic toe artist, and includes original works by the company's resident choreographers.

Ballerinas from the Hashemite kingdom of jordan College of Art, 1946

Credit: Indiana Historical Society

In 1895 the Metropolitan School of Music was founded and merged the Indiana Higher of Music and Fine Arts in 1928 to become the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music. The conservatory became part of Butler University in 1953 and changed its proper noun to Jordan College of Arts in 1978.

Butler Ballet offset performed sections of The Nutcracker in 1962 with the Mansfield, Ohio, Symphony Orchestra. In the following years, the Ballet collaborated with other professional orchestras in performances of the 2d human activity of The Nutcracker. In 1983, the first full-length, fully produced production with a alive orchestra was presented at Butler University and the annual tradition was born.

The joins the Butler Symphony Orchestra or the Butler Ballet Orchestra for seven performances, including those for schoolchildren. The Nutcracker Tea Party, sponsored past the Sigma Rho Delta dance fraternity, has likewise go an annual event, giving young dancers the opportunity to interact with bandage members. With its beautiful set, gorgeous costumes, a cast of over 120 dancers, and alive music, Butler Ballet'southward The Nutcracker has been a g holiday tradition with consistently sold-out performances and over fourteen,000 audience members annually.

The is the current abode for the Midwinter Dances (formerly the Mid-Wintertime Dance Festival), first presented in 1964 and performed early on in the jump semester. Each twelvemonth, the Midwinter Dances features a historically significant work by a major choreographer or commissions a new piece of work past a contemporary dance artist. Past years' concerts have included works by such luminaries as George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Gerald Arpino, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Nacho Duato, Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, and Patrick de Bana. Midwinter Dances traditionally presents two separate programs in a rotating repertoire. Rounding out each program is original choreography created past the company's resident choreographers, ranging in way from the neoclassical to the advanced to contemporary ballet.

Butler Ballet'south performance of The Nutcracker, 2007

Credit: Butler University

The Spring Ballet is the terminal Butler Ballet performance of the bookish year, presenting a full-length classical ballet drawn from the nineteenth- and twentieth-century repertoire. Performing in Clowes Memorial Hall with a alive orchestra, Butler Ballet currently rotates among the v classics in its repertoire: Giselle, Coppélia, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella, giving dance majors experience with four dissimilar ballets during their higher careers.

The Section of Dance supports two other concerts that highlight educatee choreography. The fall semester Choreographers Showcase is produced, organized, choreographed, and performed entirely past the students. In the bound semester, the department showcases the choreographic work of the graduating class. The student concerts are performed in the Lilly Hall Studio Theatre and often include collaborative piece of work with other Jordan College of the Arts pupil artists.

Revised March 2021

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