Saturday night at 7pm, the Springfield Ballet Company will be performing their annual production of Rockballet for one show only at Sangamon Auditorium. This year the theme is Love the ‘90’s and will include several brand new works to music you know and love from the 1990’s.
Dancers have been hard at work since early this summer learning new choreography for the show this weekend. There is a vivid mix of choreographic styles including Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Contemporary, Mambo and Hip Hop -literally something for everyone’s taste in dance and music.
Rockballet was first performed in 1994 when then ballet mistress, Julie Ratz, brought the idea to the board of directors. Rockballet was created to bring in a completely new audience to the dance world and hopefully attract them to more shows. It was billed as a dance rock concert with a really raw look to the stage and lights that would flash the audience, just like a concert. The first Rockballet was called Rockballet: U2SBC, and all of the pieces in the show were performed to music by the Irish band, U2, who was wildly popular at the time.
In 1994 I was a company dancer and Marketing Director for the Springfield Ballet Company and I did not get the opportunity to dance in the show because I was 9 months pregnant with my oldest son. I stood in the wings and cried the whole time: partially due to pregnancy hormones, feelings of missing out and because I was completely moved by the entire performance. There is a piece in this year’s production that was also performed that year, Lemon by Todd Michael Kiech.
Springfield Ballet Company Director, Julie Ratz says, “I remember praying this idea would work. It was a real stretch to get the board to agree to take the financial risk of such a big event at UIS. Over a thousand came out to see U2SBC. The crowd was really loud and enthusiastic. It was a great success and I am really proud it has lasted this long. It might be time for something new next year but it has been a 25 year awesome adventure.”
Join Springfield Dance SBC members performing in Rockballet -Love the ‘90’s, Saturday at 7pm at Sangamon Auditorium. Call 217-206-6160 or go HERE to get your tickets while they are still available.
