Ballethnic's Images of Life

Alliance Theatre Presents

A new series of dances inspired by the photography of Herb Snitzer.

Ballethnic is back at the Alliance after their popular production of The Leopard Tale. Their new work, Images of Life, features two ballets – Sanctity, which was reimagined and performed for Reframing the Narrative at the John F. Kennedy Center in DC and a new choreographic work, Jazzing: Memoirs in Jazz, a collaboration with the Breman Museum during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The performance will also feature special guests including Adam L. McKnight, the vocalist.

Act I will feature a new ballet, Jazzing: Memoirs in Jazz, which is a partnership between the Breman Museum and Ballethnic fusing the late photojournalist Herb Snitzer’s photography and Waverly T. Lucas II’s choreography and concepts. The ballet will celebrate their mutual love of dance and jazz music as well as their admiration for some of the most iconic Jazz musicians who ever lived. The ballet will highlight some of the groundbreaking pioneers from different eras from the 50s to the 60s and the shared mintage that reflects the essence of life.

Act II will feature the ballet Sanctity, which was commissioned in 1999 by the National Black Arts Festival and Baba Chuck Davis. It was selected by Baba Chuck Davis to appear at Dance African Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in 1999 to represent Diasporic dance and then again in 2001 for Dance Africa, Brooklyn, and Chicago. Sanctity was reimagined for Reframing the Narrative and performed at the John F. Kennedy Center in DC. The ballet transports the audience to an elegant silk-woven tranquil space illuminated by candles and amplified with the sound of percussive instruments, strings, and the double bass.

The ballet features energetic moves performed en pointe and gravity-defying leaps in the air, as well as stunningly breathtaking lifts and turns. This ballet choreographed by Waverly T. Lucas II in musical collaboration with L. Gerard Reid expresses the importance of the collective work of a community by knowing one’s purpose. The ballet pays homage to the individual as well as family and the community. Each dancer in the ballet presents something personal that symbolizes or assists in creating their place of sanctity and contributes to their being. Each dancer has created a statement that serves as a backdrop for their poetic and dance expression providing insight as to who they are. The movements are balletic and influenced by African dance concepts executed elegantly and percussively performed sur la pointe with breathtaking partnered lifts and turns. The ballet is performed to live music, inspired by percussion instruments from American, African, and Hispanic cultures.

The Ballethnic Dance company is one of only 3 black ballet companies in the US, and the founders, Waverly T. Lucas II and Nena Gilreath, were dancers with the original Black ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem.