{"id":2636,"date":"2021-09-15T08:30:03","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T15:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/?p=2636"},"modified":"2026-08-30T22:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T05:10:10","slug":"ballet120s-season-finale-soars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/ballet120s-season-finale-soars\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballet120\u2019s Season Finale Soars"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Ballet120\"<\/span><\/div>
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BALLET120'S SEASON FINALE SOARS<\/h1>\n

By Kendall Hardin<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Ballet120\u2019s 2021 dynamic season finale was a show-stopper all night long with its beautiful choreography.\u00a0 Expressions of the Stage<\/em> debuted an assortment of 20 pieces to mesmerize the audience assembled in the Horn Theatre on September 4th.<\/p>\n

The dancers pivoted from sparkling tutus and tiaras en pointe to white t-shirts and bare feet\u2014and everything in between, including percussive tangos and tap.\u00a0 Even the musical accompaniment gyrated from classical Delibes, Tchaikovsky, and Corelli to favorites by Gershwin, Prince, Bobby Darin, and Simon & Garfunkel.<\/p>\n

It was a spectacular spectrum of dance experiences over two hours. Hardly stuffy and boring!\u00a0 In a word: Wow!<\/em><\/p>\n

After re-examining my program the following morning, I realized the enormous choreographic impact of Ballet120 Artistic Director Benjamin Tucker, whose mark appeared on almost every stunning piece (15 of the 20 works).<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, how does one become a gifted choreographer with such a wide range?\u201d I asked Ballet120 dancer\/director\/choreographer Tucker.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy choreographic style is built on collaboration with the dancers in front of me.\u00a0 I am a big believer that if the movement feels good to the dancer, [then] that feeling will be portrayed to the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI prefer to choreograph non-narrative pieces.\u00a0 However, I think it\u2019s important for the dancers to find stories to tell within the work. I often ask the dancers to find a story within the movement, but not to tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n

His rigorous training in various movement styles and exposure to other contemporary choreographers have shaped Tucker's expansive artistic style.<\/p>\n

Among those who inspire him: Moses Pendleton, artistic director of the uber-creative MOMIX dance company, an offshoot of Philobus; Matthew Neenan, choreographer-in-residence with the Pennsylvania Ballet and co-founder of BalletX; Juliano Nunes, Brazilian dancer-choreographer performing with companies across Europe and Canada; and of course, James Canfield, the third artistic director of Nevada Ballet Theatre, currently re-engaged with the NW Dance Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike all art and life, we all interpret things in our own way,\u201d Ben continues.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t want to put my feelings on others.\u00a0 I prefer they discover something for themselves.\u00a0 \u2018Nothing is everything; everything is something.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Special Note:\u00a0Expressions of the Stage<\/em>\u00a0also showcased pieces by guest choreographers Phaedra Jarrett, Caroline MacDonald, Tristen Sosa, Morgan Stillman, and Ballet120 dancer Ekaterina Pokrovskaya, plus a new musical composition by Rylan Leo Helmuth.\u00a0 The company\u2019s new season debuts in the spring of 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Ballet120\u2019s 2021 dynamic season finale was a show-stopper all night long with its beautiful choreography.\u00a0 Expressions of the Stage debuted an assortment of 20 pieces to mesmerize the audience assembled in the Horn Theatre on September 4th.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2360,4520],"tags":[3200,3480,3516,3515,3198,267],"class_list":["post-2636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-entertainment","tag-ballet","tag-ballet120","tag-benjamin-tucker","tag-expressions-of-the-stage","tag-kendall-hardin","tag-las-vegas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11392,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions\/11392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}