Wednesday, October 8, 2008
It's a Shoe-In | Ballet West's Point Shoe Art Competition
In 2009 Ballet West will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Ballets Russes—the legendary dance company founded by Serge Diaghilev that first introduced the 20th century icons Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Coco Chanel, and George Balanchine to the world stage. He threw together painters and choreographers; poets and composers and out of these unlikely collaborations sprang extraordinary ballets such as Afternoon of the Faun, Petrouchka, Firebird, Rite of Spring, Apollo, and Parade.
In the same spirit of collaboration and invitation that inspired Diaghilev at the start of the 20th century, Ballet West would like to reach out to the artistic community here in Utah to see what you have to offer now in the 21st century.
This is what we propose:
We would like to give you one pair of pointe shoes. And we would like you to give us back a piece of art.
The theme is "Brave New World". Every ballet in the 2008-2009 Ballet West season (with the exception of the Nutcracker) is new to Ballet West. The ballets travel from a magical island in the Caribbean to Japan to the Middle East to the mountainous terrain of the Caucasus to the perfumed salons of Paris.
Please submit your sketches to this email address to submissions@balletwest.org as soon as possible so we can put together a list of artists to distribute the shoes to. Regrettably pairs of shoes are limited so we will be going with the most unique designs with the fastest execution.
Good luck and we look forward to seeing your work—
Jami Lynn Vienneau and Christopher Renstrom
Ballet West Ambassadors
¶ 2:25 PM 
In 2009 Ballet West will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Ballets Russes—the legendary dance company founded by Serge Diaghilev that first introduced the 20th century icons Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Coco Chanel, and George Balanchine to the world stage. He threw together painters and choreographers; poets and composers and out of these unlikely collaborations sprang extraordinary ballets such as Afternoon of the Faun, Petrouchka, Firebird, Rite of Spring, Apollo, and Parade.
In the same spirit of collaboration and invitation that inspired Diaghilev at the start of the 20th century, Ballet West would like to reach out to the artistic community here in Utah to see what you have to offer now in the 21st century.
This is what we propose:
We would like to give you one pair of pointe shoes. And we would like you to give us back a piece of art.
The theme is "Brave New World". Every ballet in the 2008-2009 Ballet West season (with the exception of the Nutcracker) is new to Ballet West. The ballets travel from a magical island in the Caribbean to Japan to the Middle East to the mountainous terrain of the Caucasus to the perfumed salons of Paris.
You can do whatever you want with these shoes—including re-imagining or re-shaping them all together! Anything goes as long as the end result is [a] transportable and [b] non-perishable. We want to encourage you to explore all kinds of mediums and to push the
boundaries.
boundaries.
The shoes will be displayed in the lobby of the Capitol Theater during the run of each ballet, so the sooner that you, the artist, complete your piece, the more exposure it will get. In the end the shoes will be auctioned off at the Ballet West Fashion Show (May 30th) with all
proceeds going to Ballet West. What you, the artist, get in return is exposure to thousands of our audience, donors, and patrons—many of whom buy and collect art as well as have an avid interest in promoting the arts here in Utah and the careers of Utah artists. But it doesn't
stop there. Like Diaghilev, it is Artistic Director Adam Sklute's vision to work with Utahan artists on future ballets. That could mean commissioning a score, collaborating on a "site specific" work, or even a new full-length story ballet with costumes and sets designed by
a local artist. Anything can happen, but the first step is the shoes.
proceeds going to Ballet West. What you, the artist, get in return is exposure to thousands of our audience, donors, and patrons—many of whom buy and collect art as well as have an avid interest in promoting the arts here in Utah and the careers of Utah artists. But it doesn't
stop there. Like Diaghilev, it is Artistic Director Adam Sklute's vision to work with Utahan artists on future ballets. That could mean commissioning a score, collaborating on a "site specific" work, or even a new full-length story ballet with costumes and sets designed by
a local artist. Anything can happen, but the first step is the shoes.
Please submit your sketches to this email address to submissions@balletwest.org as soon as possible so we can put together a list of artists to distribute the shoes to. Regrettably pairs of shoes are limited so we will be going with the most unique designs with the fastest execution.
Good luck and we look forward to seeing your work—
Jami Lynn Vienneau and Christopher Renstrom
Ballet West Ambassadors
