You walk into a bustling theatre with your friends or your family, not quite sure what to expect. Patrons excitedly take their seats as you do the same. The orchestra begins to tune, and the boisterous crowd falls silent. The somewhat cacophonous noise of the instruments settles into a quiet harmony before fading.
Something special is about to happen.
The lights dim. The audience holds its collective breath. The curtain rises.
Then magic ensues as patrons embark on a journey of creation. The beauty on the stage is unique and ephemeral. Something that will never happen in quite the same way ever again.
Together, they are having an experience. A human experience of live performance as old as humans themselves.
After one particularly riveting performance, one patron noted simply, “It made me feel.”It’s not necessarily what one expects to say walking out of a professional ballet performance and yet, many first-timers are discovering just that. “I’ve never been moved like that by the ballet,” said one recent attendee.
People walk in without knowing what to expect and they rarely walk out the same. So, what’s behind it?
It all comes down to what happens the moment the curtain goes up, when it becomes an experience that is ‘aural as well as visual,’ according to another enthused patron.
Soloist Victoria Vassos knows what that’s like on the other side as the performer. “I hope that the audience trusts me to guide them to another realm so that they can just enjoy what they’re watching and let their mind and soul be somewhere else for a few minutes,” she said.
Watching dancers become suspended in the air, hearing the swell of a full orchestra, and feeling the moment when a piece of music and human body create art that touches a soul is what Soloist William Lynch describes as the moment when “…the audience feels like they’re not sitting in their seats in the theatre, but in the story with us."
That’s not just Lynch’s hope for the audience; it’s what patrons say actually happens. “I felt all the major feelings of a lifetime in a few brief minutes,” said a patron this last season after watching a performance of West Side Story Suite.
People are realizing that a ballet performance stays with a person. Part of the impact is what happens as audiences watch ‘the best athletes in the state of Utah,’ as one audience member described Ballet West dancers.
For Principal Artist Katlyn Addison, her goal is to pull the audience away from their daily lives and hopefully move them in a way they’ll remember once the curtain is down.
“I believe the audience should allow themselves the space for a natural, authentic response to what they see,” Addison said. “Rather than looking for specific meaning, I invite them to simply be present, to enjoy the initial beauty and elegance of the dancers and to let themselves fall in love with the stories unfolding on stage.”
Ballet has a unique language that lets feelings exist and develop as the performance unfolds, as one patron shared after a performance of West Side Story Suite. “The final song was just what we need right now in our world. Truly, it brought tears to my eyes.”
For Soloist Dominic Ballard, being on stage is a transformative moment.
“When I get to dance on stage, I feel a sense of being part of something much greater, something sort of sublime,” said Ballard. “I feel like the emotions are so heightened because of the music and the physicality and I hope that the audience feels that exhilaration.”
Ballet West has been inspiring its audiences for over 60 years, and this season is no different, with seven productions designed to span ballet’s full range of art. Come and see exactly what that patron meant when they said, “It made me feel.”
Season subscriptions offer the best value and ensure you won’t miss a single performance. Come be inspired with Ballet West. Subscribe today.
Learn more at BalletWest.org or call 801-869-6920.