Prestigious National Grant Awarded to Ballet Memphis

When New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) announced that its National Dance Project (NDP) has awarded $669,400 in Production Grants to support the development of new dance works during the 2009-2010 seasons, there was a joyous surprise in our studios. Twenty-one contemporary dance artists and companies—many of the largest, well-known national and international companies among them—will receive NDP Production Grants, and Ballet Memphis is proud to be on that list. Jane Forde, NDP Manager, could see in the various companies an aspect that is very important to Ballet Memphis, and that is an attempt to bridge cultures and create work that will truly engage communities across the United States.

Ballet Memphis' grant will go to fund a new work by choreographer Jane Comfort. Jane Comfort’s ballet, set to a score by Kirk Whalum, is a highly structured, abstract dance that blends classical ballet with contact and modern dance’s sensibility. Known in the business as Whitney Houston’s “sax guy,” the eight-time Grammy nominated African American musician Whalum has composed a score firmly rooted in the gospel tradition. Presented in an evening of mixed repertoire, the ballet celebrates the joy that is gospel: the ability to maintain an utterly enthusiastic and positive spirit in the face of dire circumstances and conditions.

The new work will premiere at this season's AbunDANCE: Joyful Noise, the premiere of Ballet Memphis in their new Midtown home in Playhouse on the Square. Once developed, the works will be available for national touring activity during the 2010-2011 or 2011-2012 performance seasons.

NEFA's National Dance Project Production and Touring grants are generously supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation.

Score one for the little guys!

Putting Down Roots On Stage

A writer from a publication asked this week, "What’s a good example of a past Ballet Memphis piece that was based on Memphis roots music?" Mixing local musical artists into our repertoire has always been important, especially given the strong nature of the Memphis music scene, but there is so much more to communicate. Ballet Memphis made international inroads with the Memphis Project Tour, interpreting the cultural legacy of the South. Performances have been set to the music of such Memphis-area recording artists as B.B. King, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. One of the strongest pieces in this repertoire is In Dreams which showcases the emotion and power of the voice of Roy Orbison, yet remains very "accessible" to people. Another popular piece of work we commissioned is Pork Songs, where the choreographer Trey McIntyre worked with the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi to devise a collection of grainy old recordings about pork. The final selection ranged from "Chitlin's" by Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns, "I Like Pork" by Redd Foxx, "Porker Song" by The Bowmans and more.

But Ballet Memphis is not just about tapping into the culture of music, it's everything Southern roots. Perhaps the most powerful piece in this repertoire is Curtain of Green, choreographed by Julia Adam based on the Eudora Welty work. In just two scenes and with just three dancers the audience explores the inequitable balance of power in the south with both race and men and women. It's a rich, beautiful, simple, stark piece with dancers wearing hair down. Other pieces include I Am a Man, The Awakening and Two Jubilees which was based on a photograph of children dressed up for a cotton parade and tackled the separate celebrations experienced by whites and blacks at the time of high cotton.

Some might say these pieces could only be performed in the South, but Ballet Memphis sold out the Joyce Theatre in New York with these pieces on the bill and still answer requests for it as part of our touring packages. We're proud to give people all over the country a taste for the modern, creative power that can come out of a region with a deep and sometimes troubling history.