Charlotte Ballet’s new season offers eclectic mix of returning favorites and premiers
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Charlotte Observer Fall Arts Guide 2024
The Observer’s annual guide to the latest arts and culture season highlights returning favorites as well as new exhibitions, events and performances.
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Ballet aficionados, it’s time to warm-up for Charlotte Ballet’s 2024-25 season — dubbed “Unfiltered” — which promises an eclectic mix of premieres, the return of a beloved choreographer and a twist on a classic.
With opening night less than a month away, artistic director Alejandro Cerrudo shares a brief overview of what’s to come this season, which also embraces the collaborative romance the troupe has with choreographer Mthuthuzeli November.
The South African-born and London-based artist captivated audiences last season with his “From Africa with Love.” He returns with a new creation, among three featured during the season opener “Beyond the Surface,” playing throughout October at the ballet’s Patricia McBride & Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux Center for Dance.
November made a lasting impression on the troupe and him as well, Cerrudo said, and the group anticipates working with him again. November’s style puts the dancers at ease to foster their creativity and helps set the bar for the season.
“He has humanity,” Cerrudo told the Charlotte Observer. “He has exercises or games to really connect with the artists and creates a very, very special atmosphere in which the dancers feel a strong connection with him. He established a bond of trust with them.”
Cerrudo added that November cares about people, knows how to read the room and doesn’t use dancers as tools but works to create relationships with them.
“His work was extremely physical,” Cerrudo said, noting that November “had a great sense of limits,” knowing when to push the dancers harder and when the work was was sufficient.
Cerrudo sprinkled a few details about November’s new work, which will be more intimate and has a working title called “Vibes.”
Also returning this season is “HdrM,” pronounced “headroom” by New York-based choreographer Jennifer Archibald. The company first premiered the contemporary piece last season. The work is about real and perceived spaces and mental health, a company spokesperson said in an email.
Rounding out Charlotte Ballet’s opening act is a world premier by Omar Román De Jesús. Cerrudo spoke highly of the New York-based choreographer who is the artistic director of Boca Tuya, a contemporary company, and is currently working the Charlotte Ballet to create the piece.
The opener will be presented at the Center for Dance, an intimate performance space that can bring a heightened level of engagement for audiences.
“The audience is very close to the action,” Cerrudo said, “and it’s a whole different experience that is very powerful and that I personally love.”
Holiday Nutcracker and a world premier
Charlotte Ballet will present “Nutcracker” at the Belk Theater, in December and again work with choreographer Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, with the famous Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky score performed by the Charlotte Symphony.
In addition to the classical standard-bearer, come March, during the “A Realm of Existence” showcase at the Knight Theater, the company will present a mixed-repertoire. That program includes “Walking Mad,” choreographed by Swedish-born Johan Inger for a piece set to Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero”
“I’ve performed it before,” Cerrrudo said. “It has theatricality.”
Two of Cerrudo’s will also be performed this season. Among them, “Cloudless” is an intimate duet for female dancers.
“So often women are partnered and have their weight lifted off the floor,” Cerrudo said in an email. “I wanted to explore two women partnering with each other and holding each other’s weight. They echo, reflect and shadow each other to the poetic, electronic music of Nils Frahm.”
A second piece, “PACOPEPEPLUTO” is a work created for the pure joy of dance, he said.
The piece features male solos and uses music sung by iconic Rat Pack member Dean Martin, including “That’s Amore,” “In the Chapel in the Moonlight” and “Memories Are Made of This.”
“It is a lighter piece that I always tell the dancers before performing to dance for the pleasure of it,” Cerrudo said.
He’s working on a world premiere as well, the first time he will set a piece on the company since becoming artistic director.
‘Carmen’... and Vegas?
The season finale debuting in May will be “Carmen,” also at Knight Theater. The story is a timeless novella of love, jealousy, betrayal and tragic death, traditionally set during 1847 colonial Spain.
But for this presentation, the basic story will have a few contemporary adaptations, setting the drama in 1970s Las Vegas, Cerrudo said.
“It’s gonna be kind of like the gambling feel, like casinos and the light and their shells and in Vegas,” he said. “It’s gonna be special.
This version, choreographed by Andrea Schermoly also will be staged differently, Cerrudo said, with the production staff building new sets and designing new costumes.
“If people came to see Swan Lake, they need to come and see Carmen because we’re creating everything from scratch,” he said.
Want to Go?
The Charlotte Ballet fall opener “Beyond the Surface,” runs from Oct. 4-26, at the Center for Dance, 701 N. Tryon Street. Tickets are on sale now and maybe purchased at this link.
More performance dates for the remaining season and ticket sales may be found at charlotteballet.org.
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This story was originally published September 9, 2024 at 5:58 AM with the headline "Charlotte Ballet’s new season offers eclectic mix of returning favorites and premiers."
