Performance Dates
Friday, March 20 Senior Dress Rehearsal
Friday, March 20
Saturday, March 21
Saturday, March 21
Sunday, March 22
Thursday, March 26
This bold new triple bill brings vibrant energy to the stage.
A new work by Company Dancer and local choreographer Leiland Charles alongside Juanjo Arquez’s fiery creation, Ignite and Ratmansky's lyrical Seven Sonatas.
Innovative movement and powerful storytelling clash in perfect harmony.
Show Details
Run Time Approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes
This is a mixed-rep ballet. Mixed-rep ballets are several unrelated short ballets with intermissions, similar to a collection of short stories.
Choreography Leiland Charles WORLD PREMIERE
Leiland Charles, a dance and choreographer rapidly gaining new acclaim, was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He first stepped into a dance studio at the age of three with the Howard County Ballet in Ellicott City under the direction of Kathi Ferguson. Leiland furthered his artistic training at The Juilliard School under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes, graduating with a BFA in 2014. While at Juilliard, he performed works by Nacho Duato, William Forsythe, Twyla Tharp, Alexander Ekman, and many others.
Upon graduation, Leiland joined Alberta Ballet in Calgary, Canada for three seasons, where he danced roles such as Benvolio in Jean Grand-Maître’s Romeo and Juliet and Red Couple in Jiří Kylián’s Forgotten Land. In his six seasons at BalletMet, Leiland has enjoyed performing numerous works including In Creases by Justin Peck and Cacti by Alexander Ekman. Leiland’s original choreography includes Passages for Alberta Ballet, Togetherness for BalletMet 2, Figurines for BalletMet, and The Tides, created for the 2022 National Choreographer’s Initiative. His choreographic approach involves tailoring musically-inspired movement to individual strengths. Rapport with the artists is instrumental to Leiland’s process, building a studio atmosphere of supportive collaboration that results in rich connections appearing onstage. Leiland continues to perform with BalletMet while choreographing and teaching dance in the Columbus community. He has been with BalletMet since our 17/18 season.
Choreography Juanjo Arquez IGNITE
Juanjo Arqués is a Spanish choreographer based in Amsterdam. Before moving to the Netherlands, he danced with Ballet Victor Ullate and with English National Ballet. Arqués joined Dutch National Ballet in 2004 under the direction of Ted Brandsen, and three years later he was promoted to Soloist. He performed works by notable choreographers including William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, David Dawson and Hans van Manen. In 2012 he decided to stop his dancing career to focus exclusively on choreography. Four years later he was appointed as Young Creative Associate by Het National Ballet.
Arqués has created the majority of his works for Dutch National Ballet and its Junior ensemble but also has produce creations for international ballet companies and festivals such as the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Theatre Ballet Moscow, Compañia Nacional de Danza, NRW Junior Ballet Dortmund, Acosta Danza, New York Choreographic Institute, Origen Cultural Festival, Whim W’him, and Continuum Contemporary Ballet.
He has been named ‘Promising Talent Of Year 2017’ by Tanz Magazine for his work ‘Homo Ludens’. In 2014 he was nominated for the Dutch Dans Awards Prize, in 2016 for the prestigious Golden Mask Awards in Moscow for best choreographer and best classical production for ‘Minos’ and this season he was nominated for the Benois de la Danse 2019 as best choreographer for his latest creation ‘Ignite’.
Mr. Arqués is a versatile choreographer who works within the dance field but also in theatre, films, fashion and performing arts.In 2014 he collaborated staging the theatre production ‘Vaslav’ based on Arthur Japin’s novel of Vaslav Nijinsky’s and ‘Performing Gender’, a European dance project on the research themes for identity and sexual orientation at the Mambo Museum in Bologna. In 2016 film directors Saskia Boddeke and Peter Greenaway commissioned Mr. Arqués to choreograph a poetic multi-screen-video installation inspired by Matisse’s paintings ‘La Danse’ and ‘La Musique’ at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. He was invited to the New York University as a guest artist to research on his choreographic vision in dance.
His new dance projects for the current season includes National Moravian-Silesian Theater, Junior Ballet Antwerp, Deutsche Ballet & Oper am Rhein and Dutch National Ballet.
Choreography Alexei Ratmansky SEVEN SONATAS
Born in St. Petersburg, Alexei Ratmansky trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow. He was a principal dancer with the Ukrainian National Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and Royal Danish Ballet. As a choreographer, Mr. Ratmansky has created ballets for Dutch National Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the State Ballet of Georgia. His 1998 work, Dreams of Japan, earned a prestigious Golden Mask Award by the Theatre Union of Russia.
In 2003, Mr. Ratmansky was invited to mount a full-length ballet, The Bright Stream, at the Bolshoi Theatre, a production which would win for him the appointment of Bolshoi Theatre artistic director in 2004. For the Bolshoi Ballet, he also choreographed full-length productions of The Bolt (2005) and re-staged Le Corsaire (2007) and the Soviet-era Flames of Paris (2008). Under Mr. Ratmansky’s direction, the Bolshoi Ballet was named “Best Foreign Company” in 2005 and 2007 by The Critics’ Circle in London, and he received a Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for The Bright Stream.
In 2005, Mr. Ratmansky was awarded the Benois de la Danse prize for his choreography of Anna Karenina for Royal Danish Ballet, and in 2007, he won a Golden Mask Award for Best Choreographer for his production of Jeu de Cartes for the Bolshoi Ballet.
Alexei Ratmansky joined American Ballet Theatre as Artist in Residence in January 2009.
Digital Tickets
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Davidson Theatre
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FAQ
Where do I park?
There are parking garages near the Ohio and the Capitol theatres, as well as limited metered street parking (most of which is free after 6 pm and on Sundays).
Ohio Statehouse Parking Garage
$5 during events
Enter from westbound Broad Street or Third Street.
Riffe Center Parking Garage
$5 during events
Enter from Front Street. Take the elevators to the third floor and proceed along the hall to the Davidson Theatre. (For the Box Office or Will Call, descend the escalators to the first floor.)
Downtown traffic can be heavy, so please plan ahead. We recommend arriving 20-30 minutes early to park, find your seat, explore the program and relax before the performance. Audience members who arrive late may not be seated until intermission.
What do I wear?
This is our most-asked question, and the answer is: You probably won’t feel out of place no matter what you wear. If you want to wear jeans, go for it—we promise you won’t be alone. If you want to dress up, feel free. Many others do, too. We don’t see as much formal-wear in the theater as we once did, though it wouldn’t be unusual to see a tux or a gown at a performance. Basically, anything goes.
Do the dancers talk?
No, dancers express the story or meaning through the movement. In some story ballets, dancers will use pantomime (exaggerated movements) to help you understand what’s happening. If you see a ballet with pantomime, head to the lobby, where we’ll have more information and guidance. If you ever struggle to follow along, feel free to chat with a BalletMet staff member in the lobby who will happily answer any questions you have.
When do I clap?
If you are wowed by something you just saw, please do applaud. At BalletMet, we love to hear clapping. It’s uplifting to those performing, as they can often feel your excitement and energy on stage. So applaud whenever you see fit! Note: Not every ballet company feels this way, so keep that in mind if you happen to be at another company’s performance.
Ticket Policy
All sales are final and tickets are non-refundable. Casting, program, schedule, and pricing subject to change without notice. BalletMet reserves the right to return and refund any tickets identified as being sold above face value, minus ticket fees.