A Perfect Balance
Producing, Presenting, Promoting
Great Artistic Events
Live and on Film
John Neumeier
Celebrating one of the world’s great choreographers and directors, John Neumeier has been director of the Hamburg Ballet an astonishing 50 years and built a Company and repertoire of international acclaim. A one-hour documentary about this extraordinary and vital force in ballet will be released in late 2024.
United We Dance, Act I
As the theaters closed and dancers quarantined, we asked some of our Indianapolis gala artists and related-choreographers if they would share their favorite performances and a zoom interview that explores their artform and the effect of COVID on the performing arts and on their lives. (Released September 2020)
Artists: Herman Cornejo, Robbert Fairchild, Marcelo Gomes, Julie Kent, John Neumeier, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Natalia Osipova, Tiler Peck, Iana Salenko, Daniil Simkin, Ivan Vasiliev and Christopher Wheeldon.
United We Dance, Act 2
Major companies around the world close their doors as the pandemic arrives. Dancers reflect on their artform and memorable performances as they contemplate the future health of the artform they love – dance.
Artists: Edward Clug, Melissa Hamilton, Maria Kochetkova, Edwaard Liang, Vitor Luiz, Anastasia Matvienko, Denis Matvienko, Gillian Murphy, Iana Salenko, Daniil Simkin, Eric Underwood, Christopher Wheeldon and James Whiteside.
United We Dance, Act 3
As theaters around the world remain shuttered, dancers contemplate preparing for their return to the live performance. And as global issues of racial equity, diversity, and inclusion rise to prominence, the dance world rallies to change how it has been perceived and how it might better serve diverse communities moving forward.
Join stars of American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, The Royal Ballet, and other international stars looking back at 2020 and stunning performances past from Indianapolis City Ballet’s Evening with the Stars.
Designers of the Dance
Released in 2018 on PBS, Designers of the Dance takes you into the studio before going into the theater for an amazing evening of ballet. Discover how some of today;s greatest works were created in this Emmy-nominated film, in distribution on more than 175 PBS stations nationally and available free online at PBS.org
A Perfect Balance
Released in 2015, A Perfect Balance shares with you the some of the world’s greatest dancers, their lives and, for each, one memorable performance you will cherish. An Emmy-nominated film still in distribution on more than 160 PBS stations nationally, it is available free online at PBS.org
Christopher Wheeldon
In March of 2020, as the world entered its first pandemic lockdown, we had a chance to catch up with Christopher Wheeldon. He speaks about his life and work and shares with us excerpts from “Liturgy” with Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall, “After the Rain” with Yuan Yuan Tan and Damian Smith, “This Bitter Earth” with Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild and “Tryst” with Melissa Hamilton and Eric Underwood.
Alexei Ratmansky
This one-hour Q&A with renowned choreographer Alexei Ratmansky is conducted by John Meehan and explores his background, his approach to contemporary works and his re-staging of famous Marius Petipa classics from their original notations.
Mikhail Lavrovsky
Mikhail Lavrovsky is a celebrated former principal artist of the Bolshoi Ballet. He is the son of renowned Romeo and Juliet choreographer Leonid Lavrovsky and a teacher and coach of the Bolshoi Theater and School.
Acheron
In 2021, the Ballet World lost Liam Scarlett. His work lives in the repertoire of renowned companies around the world and his genius can be seen in Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild’s performance of this pas de deux from Acheron in 2016.
An Afternoon with David Howard
Salut D'Amour: A Tribute to Wilhelm Burmann
In recognition and thanks for one of the greatest teachers ever, some of his legendary students talk about Wilhelm (Willy) Burmann as he, from a 2012 interview, shares his background and thinking of ballet. Celebrate his wonderful legacy with Julio Bocca, Herman Cornejo, Joaquin De Luz, Marcelo Gomes, Julie Kent, Maria Kowroski, Edwaard Liang, Alicia Graf Mack, Wendy Whelan and James Whiteside. See the trailer here and link to the full film.
Young Stars of Ballet
Released in 2013, Young Stars of Ballet joins, on one stage, some of today’s and tomorrow’s stars in classical and contemporary repertoire. Look into the future of ballet in this 2013 classical. An Emmy-nominated film remained in distribution on more than 160 PBS stations nationally for 6 years and is available free here.
Dance Prix de New York: Education and Opportunity
Beginning in 2015 in Indianapolis, IN, USA, a gathering of some of the foremost teachers, including directors of international dance conservatories and principal dancers from major international companies, convened to work with and offer opportunity to a pre-qualified, elite group of young dancers. The event has been reproduced biennially with the 2019 Dance Prix de New York taking place at New York University Tisch School of the Arts in Manhattan and including a complete and separate contemporary dance track.
See the day-by-day progression of events at the 2019 Dance Prix de New York including a compilation of lectures, demonstrations, classes, performances and more. Click link on title (Off-site adobe link)
Diversity in Dance
Theresa Howard, Founder, Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet
In 2017, in preparation for the ICBDC, Shelly Power, then-director of the Prix de Lausanne, introduced us to Theresa Howard. Theresa graciously agreed to speak with us in this interview while advising and directing a coordinated program between the two competitions to scholarship young dancers of color into the competitions as a pathway to premier training and contracts with major companies and schools.
Today's Dance Leaders
An Insider's View
Colin Connor
Artistic Director of Jose Limon Dance, Colin Connor talks about his company, his choreography and the nature of a career in contemporary dance.
Cynthia Harvey
Artistic Director of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at ABT, Cynthia Harvey talks about her directorship and her career as a Star of ABT and The Royal Ballet.
Maxim Beloserkovsky and Irina Dvorovenko
Join Irina and Maxim at Bloch NYC as they discuss their careers at American Ballet Theatre, Teaching and Coaching and the Dance Prix de New York.
Richard Chen See
Richard Chen See discusses the development of a dance artist and his experiences at Paul Taylor as a dancer, teacher, and regisseur.
Daniel Ulbricht
Join New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Daniel Ulbricht as he speaks about his career, the many hats he wears as a dancer, educator, producer and more, and his role as a teacher and panelist at the Dance Prix de New York (March 16 to 21, 2019).
Melanie Person
Melanie Person, Chair of the Classical Track of the Dance Prix de New York, Co-Director of The Ailey School and Director of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program discusses the Ailey School’s curriculum, the value of competitions
Seán Curran
Artistic Director and Choreographer of Seán Curran Dance and Chair of NYU/Tisch Dance, Seán shares his thoughts in advance of the March 2019 Dance Prix de New York of which he chairs the contemporary track and hosts on behalf of Tisch School of the Arts.
Jacqulyn Buglisi
Jacquelyn Buglisi is Artistic Director of Buglisi Dance Theatre and is an internationally renowned choreographer. A former Principal Dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company under Martha Graham, she is also a master teacher and advocate of the Graham Technique and Chair of the Modern Department at the Ailey School.
Roy Round: Retrospective
Celebrating 50 Years of Dance Photography
by Renowned Photographer Roy Round
“It goes without saying that an opportunity to photograph a famous person does not make a good picture. Roy’s sensibility reflected the artist he was portraying but, moreover, it was because he is an artist in his own right that we are left with a body of work of such unique texture and feeling that one is aware that they are witnessing the classic meeting of subject matter and portrayal that defines art itself.”
Kevin McKenzie
Event Production
Creating and producing events is a vital service that combines forces of planning, finance, artistic and creative, PR, marketing and more. Defining your goals, creating a program, determining and maintaining a budget, identifying and cultivating your audience, providing an environment that is efficient and embracing and communications that are clear and compelling are skills best shared by a team. Tasked with the goal of returning great ballet to Indianapolis, we created an international gala that, for an annual cost of less than 20% of what the previous resident company spent in a year, had a global reach, sparking event-specific destination travel and spawning Emmy-nominated performance documentaries with national and international distribution.