The Playhouse Company, in association with the South African National Dance Trust, presents It’s Beautiful at The Ballet at The Playhouse on 22 and 23 December 2022.
“It is with great pleasure that we bring our audiences It’s Beautiful at The Ballet, a wonderful bouquet of dance, gathered together from the great performance art that is Ballet”, says Ms Lynda Bukhosini, Playhouse Company Chief Executive and Artistic Director. “Ballet is one of the most taxing of all genres for the performer. For audiences, though, the experience is one of sheer exhilaration and beauty.”
Fresh from a triumphant season in Cape Town in October, where it met with standing ovations, It’s Beautiful at The Ballet is set to take the Durban stage by storm. This exciting collaboration of dance will be performed at The Playhouse to live accompaniment by the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Eddie Clayton. The production features a selection of pieces by leading SA choreographers*, Veronica Paeper, Sean Bovim, Adele Blank and Dane Hurst, curated as a mixed programme of wow factor ballet entertainment.
Ballet has inspired many quotes from dancers, choreographers, writers, and humorists. So many quotations deserve to be shared. It’s Beautiful at The Ballet is a celebration of the ideas that have been expressed about this artform. Some are inspiring. Some are down to earth, some are revealing, and some are amusing. They each have something to say to the audience.
George Balanchine, one of the greatest of all choreographers, said: “Ballet is like a rose. It is beautiful and you admire it, but you don’t ask what it means”. The great American ballerina, Suzanne Farrell, Balanchine’s muse, said: “You can’t put ballet into words. That is why we dance”. Said Robyn Taylor (SANDT trustee): “This is no ordinary programme of disconnected short works. Actor Ashley Dowds threads them together by prefacing each with quirky dance-related quotes, such as Twyla Tharp’s ‘Dancing is like a bank robbery; it takes split second timing’.”
It’s Beautiful at The Ballet comprises an inspiring and joyful programme of short pieces which promise sheer entertainment. The duration of the production is as follows: Act 1 runs approximately 43 minutes, Act 2 is approximately 36 minutes, with a 20-minute interval between the acts.
Three performances only: 22 December at 14h00 and 18h00; 23 December at 15h00. Pre-booking advised. Tickets: R100 – R150. Available now at Webtickets.
