Park City’s BalletNext will let loose a program fittingly titled “Ballet Unleashed” during a two-night run in Salt Lake City. The company will hit the stage Jan. 20 and 21 at the Leona Black Box Theatre in the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway, and founder and artistic di rector Michele Wiles is ready to raise the curtain. “It is inspiring to perform in Salt Lake, and we’ve had huge responses the last two times we’ve been there,” said the former American Ballet Theatre principal. “It almost feels full-circle for me because it reminds me of New York Live Arts, a place I used to perform at when I first created BalletNext. We would perform at the Joyce Theater and at New York Fine Arts, and they have that same, high-level, professional feel. I feel like the Leona Black Box brings my dancing to a new level and a new place, and it inspires me in different ways. I love that feeling and can’t wait to dance there again.” “Ballet Unleashed” is a night of repertoire choreographed by Wiles. Pieces include “Devil Wears Pointe Shoes,” “Post” and excerpts from a new version of “Swan Lake.” “Some of the pieces we have performed before, and we created them here in Park City,” she said. “It was like we were in labs, and, yet, again, they have taken on a new form.” One of the significant changes will be seen in “Post,” a work created to the music of Post Malone. “We added dancer Bashaun Williams, a gorgeous dancer who was with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company for a while,” she said. “Now he’s a guest artist who dances at different places, including BalletNext. I’m excited because the piece has become another version since Bashaun has come in.” Williams will also appear alongside BalletNext’s resident dancer, Matthew Helms, in an expanded-cast version of Wiles’ Western-flavored “Devil Wears Dance Shoes,” which was inspired by her move to Park City.  “We’ve also added six little dancers, so there will be at least 10 to 11 dancers on stage, which I am thrilled about,” she said. “We’ve performed this piece with the younger dancers, but we’ve never had another cowboy. But it works great because there is another male dancer who can do partner work.” The music for “Devil Wears Pointe Shoes” includes Lindsey Stirling’s “Roundtable Rival,” “The Western Medley,” featuring music from “The Good, Bad and Ugly,” “The Magnificent Seven,”  “Rawhide,” “Hoedown” and “The Lone Ranger” — respectively composed by Ennio Morricone, Elmer Bernstein, Dimitri Tiomkin, Aaron Copland and Giochini Rossini — and Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” Wiles said. The story in Daniels’ piece, recounts a fiddle showdown between a boy named Johnny and the Devil, she said. “So, the little ones get to choose sides and cheer for either Johnny or the Devil, which is really fun,” Wiles said. “I’ve always thought of this as a big group piece, and I think this is one of our best versions, yet.” Speaking of contemporary music, Wiles uses “Celestial Melody,” composed by Sergey Ivanov, co-founder of Romowe Rikoito and Kratong, Gerard McMahon’s haunting “Cry Little Sister” from the soundtrack of Joel Schumacher’s 1987 teen horror flick, “The Lost Boys,” and the song “Du Hast” by German heavy metal band Rammstein for the “Swan Lake” excerpts. “The excerpts are from a full ‘Swan Lake’ production that we’ll perform fully on June 7 and 8 in Salt Lake City,” Wiles said. “And it will be like what we did with ‘The Nutcracker’ with our production of ‘Unwrapped.’” “Unwrapped,” which BalletNext performed last month, dissected “The Nutcracker” into an abstract night of dance. “There wasn’t a story and everyone was in sleek costumes, and we added different scene elements like chairs,” she said. “It was a huge success.” Wiles said the goal for revisiting classics and using contemporary music is to bring “traditional ballet into the mainstream of today.” “We are still performing high-level and technical dancing, and while I love classical music, it sometimes doesn’t express the amount of strength you need to do some of this classical-ballet technique,” she said. “I’ve had pianists come tell me that I need to dance to rock music, so, I thought, why not rip the Band-Aid off and see what it’s like to dance to this music, and I really feel music like that keeps us at this high level. I feel it takes us and the audience to a new place.”  “Ballet Unleashed” runs for 55 minutes, and Wiles plans to conduct post-performance Q and A sessions. “Most people stay for that, because they are curious about this whole thing,” she said. Wiles also enjoys these sessions because it gives her an opportunity to think about her livelihood. “Being in Utah is like my third career in dance after American Ballet Theatre, forming BalletNext in New York and then bringing the company to Park City, so three times is a charm,” she said. “Sometimes the Q and A helps me realize the breadth of the career I’ve had, including all of the risks and changes, growth and evolutions that have happened with BalletNext. And being able to talk back with an audience about this makes me realize how grateful I am for all of these opportunities and still able to perform at this level.” Wiles is grateful she moved to Park City, because it opened doors for her to perform in Salt Lake City.  “I moved out here and didn’t know anybody, so I called up my buddy Matt who lives in Colorado, and we’re finally here,” she said. “When I started performing in Salt Lake City, I was a little nervous because people know me in Park City and I have built an audience here. But I’ve met new people, and there are new people coming to classes. And there is definitely an audience in Salt Lake City. They want to see something ‘Unleashed.’” ‘Ballet Unleashed’ by BalletNext When: 6:30 p.m. Jan. 20 Where: Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center’s Leona Wagner Black Box, 138 W. Broadway, Salt Lake City Tickets: my.arttix.org/38330/38331 Web: balletnext.org Also: ‘Ballet Unleashed’ by BalletNext When: 6:30 p.m. Jan. 21 Where: Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center’s Leona Wagner Black Box, 138 W. Broadway, Salt Lake City Tickets: my.arttix.org/38330/38332?z=0 Web: balletnext.org The post BalletNext ‘Unleashes’ a production in Salt Lake City appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less