Ballet's Wild West Comes To Chicago This Weekend

By Michelle Meywes Kopeny in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 4, 2013 7:00PM

Ballet West rehearsing George Balanchine’s "Rubies" (from their blog, West Pointe).

Two distinguished ballet companies make their way into town this weekend, both out of the Western states. The region’s namesake, Salt Lake City’s famed Ballet West, presents two different programs over three days at Auditorium Theatre. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because they’re the subject of CW reality TV show Breaking Pointe, which takes a look behind the scenes at all the drama that comes along with being a young dancer in the competitive world of a prestigious company. They’ll begin their run tonight with with an updated vision of Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty by Artistic Director Adam Sklute. They’ll also present a Mixed Rep on Sunday afternoon featuring the Midwest premiere of Val Caniparoli’s “The Lottery” along with a couple of excerpts from George Balanchine’s “Jewels.”

The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet presents a more contemporary program over at the Harris Theater on Saturday for one night only. A highlight for the local audience is the opportunity to see Alejandro Cerrudo’s recent work, Last. Cerrudo is a long-time resident dancer and choreographer with Hubbard Street, but this will be the first time this particular piece is shown in Chicago. Other works (all commissioned specifically for ASFB) include Jorma Elo’s Over Glow and Cayetano Soto’s Beautiful Mistake. See a preview of their season in the video below.

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet from Aspen Santa Fe Ballet on Vimeo.

Ballet West presents The Sleeping Beauty tonight at 7:30 p.m. and tomorrow, Saturday, October 5 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Their Mixed Rep performance is Sunday, October 6 at 3 p.m. Tickets for all shows are $30 to $90. Auditorium Theatre is located at 50 E. Congress.

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s program is tomorrow, Saturday, October 5 p.m. at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 to $75. Harris Theater is located at 205 E. Randolph.