Transcript
Speaker: I'm Chris Farenthold, Director of Outreach at Madison Ballet, and this is at the Bar, your behind-the-scenes look at the ideas, stories, and creative processes shaping Madison Ballet's work.
Speaker: Each episode brings our community a little closer to the dancers, choreographers, and collaborators who are making ballet in Madison right now. Whether you're a seasoned ballet domain, current or former dancer, or simply curious about how dance gets made, we warmly invite you into the room where it happens.
Speaker: Welcome back to At the Bar with Madison Ballet. I am Chris Farenthold, the director of outreach at Madison Ballet. And today i am joined by two of my colleagues who are probably the most important to a ballet called Jekyll and Hyde.
Speaker: They are Alex Verba and Ben Shepard. Ben Shepard will be dancing the role of Dr. Jekyll and Alex Verba will be dancing Mr. Hyde. And so I am so thankful to be joined by both of you today. Thank you. Great to be here.
Speaker: I'd like to sort of start this conversation by just asking you both how you got into dance and ballet in particular. as you think about this, what were the other things competing for your attention, either artistically or athletically along the way growing up?
Speaker: I was a bit of a late starter into ballet. I started at the age of 15. I was one of those kids that always wanted to like try sports. I also did community theater as well, which was a bit of a stark contrast to that. How I got into ballet, i was doing a show, Gypsy, in Waukesha at the Waukesha Civic Theater, and I was required to learn how to tap dance.
Speaker: So my mom was searching around trying to find places that sold tap shoes. And she happened upon a dance studio that sold tap shoes. She thought, well, while I'm here, I might as well try and sign my son up for a dance class or two and see how it goes.
Speaker: Ironically, when she sent me the text saying I signed you up for a dance class, I was like, Mom, tell them I don't like ballet. I don't want to do ballet. Famous last words. Yeah, I went and I tried it. Super nervous because, you know, 15 year old just entering the world of ballet and knowing nothing about it. I tried it and I kind of enjoyed how it made me feel. i don't know. It's hard to describe at the time, but it just kind of spiraled from there. my mom knew someone from the theater that i used to dance for Eddie Bray, who trained me.
Speaker: at Main Stage Academy of Dance and they introduced me to him. So I was with him for a few years and through that I developed a real passion for it and a love for ballet, coincidentally. What sports did you try or that you enjoyed or excelled at most? I tried football. wasn't the greatest because i didn't train for it. you know I just went in there seeing how I would do. And then after that, I did wrestling for a year. wasn't the greatest at that either because I didn't train for it. i was like, oh, well, see how it goes. Those are the only two sports i really like tried to get into. But don't know. I just didn't see any anywhere to go with it.
Speaker: And I guess Waukesha is fairly close to Madison. So did you go through the audition, send tapes out thing? Or did you were you invited to come audition for the company? Or how did you hook up with Madison Ballet? Back in Oconomowoc is where Eddie Bray's studio was based.
Speaker: at the time. I danced with one of our company members now at Madison Ballet, Lauren Thompson at Eddie Gray Studio. don't it was during like COVID times and ah you know, it was kind of hard to find what was the next step going to be Madison seemed like a close, it's within range of where we live now. So like, i as well give it a shot. She helped me put together tapes and actually went with me to audition for Sarah Schumann in Chicago for Madison Ballet.
Speaker: So from there, kind of just snowballed. I think y'all's first show was my first show, that Midsummer Night's Dream. And Ben, what about you? What was your path into ballet and then to Madison?
Speaker: As a kid, my mom was an adult ballet student. She always wanted to do ballet, but she wasn't able to do it until after she graduated college and got a job. And she's a fan. She loves ballet. She loves the physical nature, the artistic side of it. She had gotten my sister into classes and she was taking adult classes. And every year I'd have to go see the recital.
Speaker: And one year it clicked. I was like, wait, why don't I get applause? You know, like i play sports, but there's no theater involved. There's no, you know, lights. There's this like pomp and circumstance that was very attractive to me as a second grader. i was like, yeah, I'll give it a try. And Signed up and I was taking classes. And unfortunately, the girl I had a crush on in second grade, she did not think it was cool that I was doing ballet. That discouraged me from continuing. So I went home and I was like, Mom, I can't do this anymore. Like, it's not for me. She was like, well, Ben, I've paid for the semester, so you're going to see it through. i saw it through. i was cast an ace of hearts in their production of Alice in Wonderland. I still remember the costume to this day. It was two sheets of foam core and a red unitard. And it wasn't enough to keep me in it. I quit after that and went back to sports. And let's see, I played soccer, basketball, lacrosse.
Speaker: My parents kept me busy because if I was tired, I wasn't getting in trouble. So I worked out well for them. And then by the end of elementary school, I got over the crush. She moved to a different school and Rejoined ballet. Yeah, i was taking it as an extra thing, right? So i was taking ballet once a week, and then I was i really enjoyed playing lacrosse. There was a part of me that really loves participating in contact sports, and it's a part of me that's been suppressed by ballet. Ballet is not a contact sport in the same way. Intentionally, yeah There's a lot of contact, but I got into it, and I saw this production of Swan Lake when I was 11,
Speaker: And I saw the male dancer playing Siegfried and I fell in love. I knew just enough about ballet to know that what he was doing was incredibly difficult and he was making it look so easy. And that just element of...
Speaker: magic and almost like coolness factor the effortless you're seeing on stage the flow state that he was in and the ability to still act and just perform at such a level that's what got me hooked and i was like all right this is it i've decided what my career will be 11 years old and i stuck with it we're doing swan lake this year so fingers crossed i'm considered for siegfried and it would be a full circle moment i think Wow. That's really amazing. I think both of you have, in your own ways, fairly typical experiences with it, and yet they're pretty opposite. you know Starting late at 15, getting into it in second grade, but the rare woman who who seems to have not been charmed by having a male dancer as a crush, the second grader. and Poor girl. Almost altered your artistic trajectory, but I'm glad you came back to it.
Speaker: And then deciding at 11 that you wanted to pursue this is also in its way very ballet, but that's usually the women's kind of experience of it, having to lock in early and then decide this is what I'm going to do and follow it. It's interesting hearing you talk about the comparison of being an athlete and celebrated from the stands, but just that's different from your name and the program and the lights on you at final bow. Because I think Richard mentioned something similar. like He enjoyed playing soccer, and enjoyed the adulation, but it's just nothing quite like being on stage. And the way our male ballet lead characters are often both choreographed for and celebrated does sort of, i think, attract a Certain kind of charisma. I also am always imagining those fights between like lacrosse or soccer coaches and ballet studio owners over the body and soul of whoever. i was not as appreciated on the lacrosse field as I was in the ballet studio.
Speaker: And I think it's just simple economics being the only boy the hallway studio. And I grew up in Annapolis, Maryland, and I started playing lacrosse at seven.
Speaker: And that was considered late. My dad still tells me, he was like, yeah, your first lacrosse game, a parent came up to me, it was like, Are you sure? i don't know. Like all the other boys are way ahead of him. And my dad was just like, he's seven. I think he's going to be okay. Man, the mid Atlantic is just a whole other country when it comes to lacrosse, isn't it? oh Yeah, that's really fascinating. And you you did also highlight one of those real distinct...
Speaker: experiences in ballet of the male dancer versus the female dancer. And Chloe Angel, who i interviewed last year, has written very well on this, that you guys are both celebrated often because you're the only boy or one of a couple in the studio. And so you get a lot of attention. And there is usually a scholarship angle or auditions when there are fewer people competing for them. The idea that you know it's somehow easier.
Speaker: And yet the experience of being a male dancer in ballet and in society general is not as visible in this country and this century as say, you know, the ballerina. It's different and it has its own difficulties. And I think, you know, you both have managed to navigate that. really well, and I think with a lot of both pride and humility, which is, I think, required a lot from you guys. Let's talk about this production. This is Jekyll and Hyde, and you are Jekyll and Hyde.
Speaker: When you were cast in the roles, What did John Richard, when coming to you and sort of outlining the character, what did they give you to go on? Did they say, go read the book? Did they say, don't read the book? Did they say, here are three adjectives that describe them? Or what direction did they give you for their vision?
Speaker: I don't think there was like explicit guidelines to follow for the characters themselves, but I am a fan of the musical. Like I have watched it many times and have enjoyed it many times. So I kind of took it upon myself to try and embody what I had seen from the musical. Not sure if that's what we're pulling from, or because in rehearsals there are many differences from what I've seen and we're read about, but I feel like the motif is still the same for Hyde.
Speaker: I'm still developing it. I'm still trying to dig deeper how to portray this character through movement. It's much easier to you know say what you're thinking and rather than a show.
Speaker: I think there's also the challenge of you have two choreographers coming to you, both trying to discover the character in the room with each other yeah and you all. So I'm sure that's an added level of discovery that you're all kind of finding in the room together.
Speaker: Ben, what about you? How did you approach Jekyll and what did Jamalik and Richard give you to go on? I began reading the book just to get a better understanding of plot and kind of character description. And I was about halfway through and talking to Richard and John, they kind of described that they're going more, at least my understanding, and it's kind of been shown through the rehearsal process. It's like the characters develop alongside the ballet.
Speaker: They are drawing from more of the universal concepts presented in the book, and they're using the vessel of a story ballet to present those concepts. For Dr. Jekyll, the character that I've been working on is both a scientist and like almost to an eccentric level involved in his work.
Speaker: And he's got this side of him that's a bit of a workaholic, a little almost too devoted to his experiments and his work side of life. And then he has a personal relationship with Emma, who is his fiance. And without giving too much away, you see a little bit of the push and pull between personal life and a work life and the goals between both of them. then His ego kind of gets in the way when he experiences, I don't know how much we're supposed to be giving away here, but like he experiences an unexpected result of his hard work and breaks down a bit and overreacts in his course correction and...
Speaker: ego kind of takes over and it's been pretty easy to kind of identify these themes and like the more I think about it the more examples I see i think something that came to me today was the parallels between dr Jekyll's trajectory and the development of but technology i think social media has been in the news lately AI has kind of been rampant and the debate surrounding it. But there's been a reckoning with social media sites like Instagram and Facebook this past year with the Supreme Court hearing and finding that, hey, this invention that you've made is damaging and is running rampant through society. And yes, it highlights the good of people, but it also accesses the bad.
Speaker: That's been a good parallel for me to put myself in the shoes of a Zuckerberg or a Musk or whatever technocrat you can think of, right? And think like, okay, was the initial invention something that's going to, quote, save the world or something that's like going to do its job very well and have negative effects and like how are we going to manage it and how are we going to reckon with potential negative outcomes the universal themes of Jekyll and Hyde are explored very well and the source material is useful to analyze themes but not necessarily to analyze the plot per se or like the storyline
Speaker: Very well put, Ben, because a lot of that is what I have heard from Jean Richard in both the, we're examining universal aspects of humanity through the lens of this particular story.
Speaker: And that accords with kind of how the costume discussions and setting discussions have interacted to give it kind of, it's not Victorian, it's not wholly modern, it's in this kind of never realm that is sort of always contemporary because these issues of you know good intentions and yet this sort of darkness inherent on the flip side of humanity, or at least that some people think might be inherent, are ripe for exploration. It seems to me that's also what makes it an inherently balletic story, one that can be very well told without words, because we get it. These are archetypical human experiences, archetypes of human nature. So I'd ask y'all how in the movement then, because I agree watching you know them create the ballet, they are creating the ballet on you day by day, rehearsal by rehearsal, and not just sort of saying, here's the map, now go fulfill your role.
Speaker: How have they created a Jekyll experience and movement? And then how could has the Hyde character been called upon to demonstrate that other side? And then when you both dance together, and spoiler alert, you do dance together really well and in and in a really interesting fashion.
Speaker: How does the movement help tell that story? Ja was talking to me a few weeks ago, and he said that like... Jekyll's being represented through the more technical side of ballet, where it's a very, the freedom to express oneself in ballet is only found through like a devotion to technique.
Speaker: Technical mastery is what allows that. And there's a lot of parallels between that and the quintessential accomplished English gentleman scientist, right? Where he is able to express himself through the prowess and through the dedication to his work. And it takes these layers of development and years of diligence to get to that point where you feel somewhat confident in what you're putting on display and what you're bringing to the world. I don't believe I was in the room when they were discussing the high movement quality, but when we kind of explore each other's characters throughout the ballet, I've been able to very much draw from what Alex is bringing to the work.
Speaker: And Alex, what is your experience of that Hyde kind of movement quality that you've been working on in the studio? We did our Dracula recently, the past weekend, and there are some similarities in movement quality with that sinister, like overarching, like almost like hunchbacked, grungy sense of evil like that that you bring to your movement. So I've had a lot of fun exploring like, you know, in ballet, we're always a toe heel whenever we walk, right? But I have been blessed with the ability to go heel toe. Maybe like stomp around, you know, the way I envision Hyde in this ballet is like, I am the personification of Jekyll's temptations, his lust, the side of him that wants to explore these darker sides of himself. So I'm trying to embody that alluring sense in scenes where I'm by myself. But when I'm with Jekyll on stage, Ben definitely brings a lot to the table that I can bounce off of him. And like you really get into the moment with whoever you're dancing with. And Ben has really helped me develop hide and like almost like twist what Jekyll or twist what Ben is doing his movements I can like twist those movements and make them my own in a more like sinister fashion yeah things that wouldn't fly in company class that wouldn't fly in company class exactly Jamalik had even been explicit about the kind of dichotomy of man being explored through the dichotomy of classical technique and whatever we call contemporary ballet, where there are these bending, I think is a good way to put it, as you did, bending of the movement. which in a contemporary ballet company is something that you know you guys kind of do on most shows. Jean-Malik's choreography is certainly in the tradition of classical technique, but it uses those tools to then explore different movements that Petipas Viganova might not have anticipated. But digging deeper into that as Hyde seems to be kind of a fun, fun mission to yeah be as sinister other as you know you want. just You're not exactly Rothbart. You're something much lower to the ground in a way. Very very gremlin-esque.
Speaker: So do you guys find it easier in some ways to dance characters in a story ballet where there is a character? And I mean, you you learn the steps, but the character can kind of be used perhaps as a structure or a guide to your emotional track for the show.
Speaker: Or does that feel, i don't know, more confining than say like a neoclassical piece or something else where it's just bringing the music to life? How are those, you know, different?
Speaker: To have a character to go off of is very freeing in terms of being required to you know hit spot on technique. Like if you have a character, maybe the character doesn't have great technique. or I think it's easier to pull things off technically when you're not thinking about them too much.
Speaker: If you overthink something, then you're so focused on and you can't think about anything else. So like having a character really opens my mind to just feel the movement and focus on the music and what I'm portraying or how I'm acting things out. or you know The character really helps free up the body.
Speaker: The reason I got into ballet was for story ballets. It's really, freeing a great way to put it. I enjoy the separation from self and who I'm portraying. i try to not say, oh, I'm going to do this. I try to think more of like, Jekyll's going to do this. And in a way, it's fulfilling to be able to just represent something entirely different right it's almost as though like oh ben shepherd is not concerned about this performance because jekyll will be performing you know it's like if jekyll messes up jekyll messes up but ben's still ben it's almost addicting in a way to embody someone else and embody a character that yes i've had part in developing and yes i'm drawing from personal like experiences and the way that i'm acting is like
Speaker: drawing from, you know, how I might interact, but also how would Jekyll interact. So I'll use my own emotions as a baseline, and then I will pick and pull based on my personification of Jekyll. Yeah, I really enjoy it. But I think that doing character work has helped inform the neoclassical work with, for example, Schubert Waltz's last year, ah which was the Heinz Pohl Ballet.
Speaker: For that ballet, it's not as clear-cut of a character, but I inhabit a character. The role I played was the brown couple. My role is based on my costume, but it goes deeper than that. I create the character myself. I create what I feel is the representation of the movement or the music and what aspects of the music my character is going to portray. It's a lot of fun to be doing a character again and to do like a story ballet. But over the past few years of my career, I've been able to kind of do character work through
Speaker: the neoclassical lens. That makes a lot of sense how you are always, when you're on stage, inhabiting something. you know You're representing some emotional truth, but on one end of the spectrum, you have nutcracker, the most story ballet. When you're at the Stahlbaum Christmas party, your role is pretty well defined for you. and Then here, there's some more freedom to create something that, yeah, has tracks, but what sparse props and setting that ballet gives you, because we need a lot of space and you need a lot of free hands to dance usually, can help you create something really distinctive with very small infusions of theatrical reality.
Speaker: So let's talk about some of those props. I've seen newspapers being worked with. I've seen beakers of the experimental drug that you've been working on, Ben, in your laboratory.
Speaker: How do those props and your costume help you access that character on stage? It's an interesting challenge. Props introduce almost this sense of reality where I feel as though Richard and Ja are kind of deciding between like a more theatrical pull or a more realistic pull and how much do we want to embed? Like, are we using the props as just a pure representation as one person?
Speaker: might use a circle to represent a ball in a painting, right? Or are we using the props to really tell the story in a clear-cut, almost practical way to the audience? And I think that's being explored currently. seem to be trending more towards the theatrical side and kind of using the props as an extension of the choreography rather than as a vessel for storytelling.
Speaker: But I'm excited to continue working on it. You know, you got to come see the show to see where we... end up going. Yeah, it's been interesting. And as far as costumes go, I'm excited to see what they are. I feel like I'm able to embody a character that much more once I'm dressed as it. Right. You put the makeup on and the costume on, suddenly...
Speaker: You are that character. I find it in Nutcracker Ichi whatever slate of roles I'm doing that night. It's like I put the Rat King face on and I am the Rat King. I cannot be myself and also have a Rat King mask on.
Speaker: And then when take it off, I'm back to bed. This is a a really great look behind the curtain for everyone because ballets, in development especially, are really created in many different rooms between many different stakeholders. You don't know what you'll be wearing. I've seen what you'll be wearing. We've talked about the different kinds of lighting effects of the various possible speakers under debate in production meetings.
Speaker: That decision will get made at one point in the room. We will find out together what the projections look like when we go into the theater. And so in a way, i mean, a ballet is never complete. It is just staged.
Speaker: And we're kind of in the middle of the process of dancers, choreographers, designers, all negotiating what happens on stage in that time to create the greatest effect for the audience. And that's a really exciting, but also now that I'm thinking about it and talking with you know you all about it, a really confusing, strange process that seems to work and I guess can't be any other way. But I bet it's weird to be getting part of the story every day, but living it for hours of time in the studio.
Speaker: Yeah, you nailed it. Even though um not everything is finalized just yet, I think that even when things are finalized, it will still be evolving. How we do things on stage will keep evolving to keep it interesting to us as dancers.
Speaker: If you have a set way of doing something, then it'll get boring after a certain while. Keeping it interesting for ourselves, for each other, this whole process has kept the process interesting. I'm excited to see where it goes, what we do. Me as Hyde, I don't really have any like props to worry about.
Speaker: Right. Just yet? i don't know. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. you're You're the force of nature yourself. Right, right. I am the prop. As we kind of you know begin wrapping up this discussion, I did want to ask you both, as people who've been to a lot of of ballet and been in a lot of ballet,
Speaker: What in this production of Jekyll and Hyde would you think someone who's never been to a ballet before be able to enjoy? And then what do you think someone who has been dancing longer than any of us have been alive or seen everything? What will they have to look forward to in our show?
Speaker: As far as the newcomer, it's going to be a spectacle. That's the magic of story ballets. It's a form of escapism for the audience. You're able to see a different world or the concepts that, in this case, two choreographers and designers and costume designers and lighting and all that. You're seeing this marriage of a bunch of different artistic ideas you're never going to see it the same way twice right there's always going to be a minute change it's a representation of human nature it's really fascinating and it's always a gift to see aspects of the human imagination on display and that's what any audience member will get out of it and that's what I've gotten out of every live performance and like every art experience I've had is I am
Speaker: witnessing someone else's thoughts and witnessing someone else's expression. And it's always, I was about to say it defies my expectations, but I've learned to just go in without expectations and just be receptive and open to kind of seeing what has come of this process.
Speaker: You know, it's it's different every night. And even if it were the same, which it can't be, ballet packs the stage with things happening in every corner And you can watch you know a different person at that second every night. That's part of why then classical ballet, you know with lead, soloist, and a core, is still rewarding to the 50-year season ticket holding ballet of aid. So yeah, I think that there's always something to come see when human imagination is on display each night. Alex, what do you think folks can look forward to when they come to the show at MyArts in a couple weeks?
Speaker: I would say for the newcomer, definitely what Ben said, a spectacle, whether that be um all the brains coming together to create this one major piece of art, as well as and just the sheer tenacity that the dancers bring. It's exciting to watch. There's a lot of things that, you know, people outside of dance don't experience, like people getting you know lifted over their heads and stuff like that. So that's always exciting to watch.
Speaker: Like you said, it's never going to be the same show twice. So a lot of newcomers will find that the show is for them personally. Like, oh, this was made for me because no one's going to see it like i did tonight. You know, people can really be personable with it and and hold it as like a core memory. think it's just going be really special for those newcomers as well as people who've been around the block and know what technique looks like. That's very well put. And I do think maybe you guys are um inured to it since you're with the company every day, but you hit on it, Alex, that the sheer athleticism on display on stage is amazing. And it is worth the price of admission just to you know watch you artist athletes do amazing things to beautiful music, which we haven't actually even talked about yet. But Michael Nyman's score is really something else.
Speaker: And i bet it goes a long way in helping you access the emotions and the characters and the drama, certainly. and some of the darkness as well. Before we go, I wanted to ask what advice would you have if we would ever listen to advice when we're young, which we don't generally, but you should if you're listening to this out there. I'll put it this way. What do you wish that you now had maybe told you then that might have saved you some time or stress or just anything that might help out anyone in life trying to figure things out, but particularly folks earlier in in their dance careers? Don't be afraid to look stupid. As dancers, especially like when I was at 15, I was just afraid of just looking like a fool in class and you know messing up, not getting it right the first time. Even today, like there are some moments where I'm like, ah, I shouldn't be messing up like that. Everyone is on their own journey, and any progress is good progress, and progress nonetheless. So...
Speaker: Don't be afraid to look foolish. Everyone is there to help you. Take the help when you can get it. Always stretch. I got to stretch. always Good advice for all of us. And Ben?
Speaker: I feel, especially at this point in my career, All of the mistakes I made have kind of formed me into this person that I'm now very proud of. What Alex says is excellent advice, right? Do not be afraid to stand out. Do not be afraid to look a fool, but also accept the criticism. Seek the criticism. Don't dance in a way that avoids criticism.
Speaker: being noticed but that doesn't necessarily mean do things poorly i think that has to go along with the try not to make the same mistake twice right i i tell my students this all the time it's like i'm okay with seeing you make mistakes And I am okay with seeing you fall on the floor trying to do something. I'm not okay seeing you do the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. Identify what keeps happening and think about it for a second. Think about the cause. Think about the root of your problem or whatever issue is coming up.
Speaker: And don't be scared to spend time with it. One of my teachers early on, he was like, there's no bad turning days. There's no bad days. There are just days that take a little bit longer to adjust to. And I think that's an important thing.
Speaker: piece of advice is don't discount a day as a bad day and just kind of give up. Accept that that day is different and accept that there's still something to be learned from it. And, you know, at the end of the day, that's progress. The progress is made on the quote worst days, not on the days you feel your best.
Speaker: I think that's wonderful advice for anyone in any stage of life. I think you're right that a lot of mistakes don't need to be met with regret. They led you to where you are and you maybe wouldn't have wanted it otherwise. And so incorporate the mistakes through self-knowledge and turn it into progress. I really like that.
Speaker: Dancers, you guys are so wise. My wife, Emmy, and I have been watching Ted Lasso, and there's a bit from Ted Lasso that has stuck with me. They talk about the word embarrassment and the feeling of embarrassment and how absolutely useless it is.
Speaker: Embarrassment is a useless word. You're feeling shame about an action you've already done that like you tried your best. It didn't work out. So why feel embarrassed? Analyze, move forward, but don't get weighed down by embarrassment or shame. I love it. And it's good to hear, especially in the run-up to Tech Week, when we will all be demanding a lot of ourselves to put on on a good show.
Speaker: Speaking of which, jekyll and Hyde opens on Thursday, October 29th, which happens to be World Ballet Day. And we will have a preview performance that evening. And performances will continue through the weekend.
Speaker: and end on Sunday, November 1st. So thank you again, Alex and Ben, so much for joining me today. This has been a wonderful conversation and I look forward to seeing you in the studio shortly and for everyone in the community to see you on stage in a couple weeks.
Speaker: Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Chris.
Speaker: Thank you for tuning in to at the Bar with Madison Ballet. If you enjoyed this episode, we invite you to experience Madison Ballet in person by joining us at one of our upcoming performances or community events.
Speaker: From accessible, innovative productions to in-depth conversations with artists, our goal is to create welcoming spaces where everyone can experience ballet in a meaningful way.
Speaker: You can find performance dates, event details, and ticket information on our website and social media platforms. Whether it's your first time attending or you're a long-time supporter, we'd love to see you in the audience and share the experience with you live.
Speaker: Thanks again for listening. We hope to see you at the ballet soon.
