BRANDED CONTENT Eric Trope, Ballet Des Moines’ artistic director, says that a major theme of the company’s 2026-27 season is literary inspiration. And the 2026-27 season premiere is no exception. Ghost Stories, the October 23 and 24 performances, will include three separate ballets, each inspire d by spectral tales: the haunting writings of Edgar Allan Poe, a supernatural thriller inspired by graveyard poets, and Giselle, one of the original ghost stories of the ballet canon. “I wanted to lean into the spooky atmosphere of fall as a fun, suspenseful way to begin the season,” Trope says. “I want audiences to feel as though they’re gathered around a campfire, listening as one ghost story unfolds into the next.” One of those stories is the world premiere of Nevermore, created by Ballet Des Moines’ resident choreographer Tom Mattingly and composer Beau Kenyon, who also serves as the company’s director of outreach and education. “The inspiration for Beau’s score and my choreography will pull both from Poe’s writings and his personal life,” Mattingly says of the collaboration. Local creative legend Sarah Dornink will bring haunting, fashion-forward costumes to life. “Working with Sarah on new works is a dream. At this point, we’ve already made ten ballets together, and we’ve developed a great trust and understanding in each other artistically,” Mattingly says. “I love that audiences have an appetite for spooky ballets. There are many plays, movies, and television series in this genre, but outside of Dracula, dance is a fairly new frontier.” Ghost Ballads, a 2023 ballet by Adriana Pierce, guest choreographer and founder of Queer the Ballet [link], is also braving new frontiers. Pierce was inspired by graveyard poets, a group of pre-Romantic era artists writing philosophical poems about mortality, mostly set in church graveyards. “There is a solemn sort of magic to graveyard poetry, like Ghost Ballads, in that they can blend the tantalizing and supernatural with a profound invitation to examine the very human feelings of loss and despair,” Pierce says. “I wanted to create a ballet that would have that same spookiness, mixed with an emotive exploration of the tension between the worlds of the living and the dead.” “Literature has always been a way for us to explore the human experience, and it felt like the perfect jumping-off point for this season.” —artistic director Eric Trope Excerpts from Act II of Giselle round out the evening. After experiencing the pain of  male deceit in Act I, the lead character Giselle is inducted into the Wili sisterhood, a formidable feminist force ofspecters of jilted brides who refuse to remain passive victims of men’s betrayal. Giselle, Trope says, “is one of the great masterpieces of classical ballet—equal parts romance, feminist manifesto, supernatural thriller, making it a timeless story of love, grief, and redemption. It also happens to be one of the spookiest ballets ever created, making it the perfect fit for Ghost Stories.” Local poet and actor Billy Weathers—best known for his arts programming for at-risk Des Moines youth with B.Well Foundation [link] and his East Village bar The Contrary [link]—has been tapped as the narrator for the evening. “Billy has exactly the warmth, presence, and imagination needed to guide us through that journey, and I couldn’t think of a better creative partner for this production,” Trope says. “I’m also thrilled to welcome back the Belin Quartet, whose live performance will add another layer of intimacy and atmosphere to the evening.” One surprise appearance: local community dancers. “I had heard about Dance Vision’s annual performance of Thriller at Halloween on the Hill,” Trope says, “and it immediately struck me as the perfect opportunity to showcase local dancers while giving a nod to a longstanding community tradition.” All together, Ghost Stories will be greater than the sum of its parts. “From zombies to poetry to classical ballet,” Trope says, “I’m excited to explore why we’re so fascinated by the supernatural, the mysterious, and the darker corners of human imagination.” > CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BALLET DES MOINES 655 Walnut Street | Des Moines, IA 50309 | www.balletdesmoines.org ...read more read less