BRAVI, SAINT LOUIS BALLET CLASSIC, CONTEMPORARY DANCING THAT DELIGHTS
He remembers feeling so comfortable in St. Louis, he took a big leap of faith by deciding to live here and launch a new ballet school. He started with 40 students, and says he’s up to 400 now. “People here do appreciate good dance education and love ballet as an art form,” he says. The company’s repertoire includes full-length ballets, as well as contemporary work from renowned choreographers,
such
as
George
Balanchine,
Christopher d’Amboise, Jessica Lang, Twyla Tharp, Tom Gold, Emery LeCrone, Amy Seiwert, Nilas Martins and Michael Uthoff. In addition to a season of productions and the local training program, the Saint Louis Ballet team conducts an outreach program, Pointe to Succeed, for students at select urban schools. Gen’s advice to those wanting to attend a ballet
EXQUISITE ENTERTAINMENT WITH CHARMING,
performance for the first time: “There’s nothing that
ELEGANT CHOREOGRAPHY AND SOME OF THE
anyone needs to study about ballet before attending.
LOVELIEST DANCERS FOUND PERFORMING IN
You will see what you see,” he says. “The beauty of
THE MIDWEST ARE ACCESSIBLE TO ST. LOUIS
ballet comes from individual interpretations.”
REGIONAL RESIDENTS AND VISITORS VIA THE
Gen says attendance of the local ballet perfor-
SAINT LOUIS BALLET. The group is the area’s only
mances over the past five years has increased by
professional ballet company, and operates a training
30 percent.
program for young dancers in Chesterfield. Under the direction of former New York City Ballet principal dancer Gen Horiuchi, the ballet company’s
UPCOMING SAINT LOUIS BALLET PERFORMANCES:
classically trained dancers (currently tallying 21)
+ February 14-16: Could This Be Love? / Saint
are selected in a competitive national audition, and
Louis Ballet + Arianna String Quartet featuring
come to St. Louis from a large universe of training
Tony Award-Winner Christopher Wheeldon’s
programs and ballet companies, including Japan,
The American
Oregon, Texas, Washington, Connecticut, Illinois, Pennsylvania and of course, Missouri.
For the first time, Saint Louis Ballet pairs with the talent Arianna String Quartet for its annual
This is a special year for Gen, who himself
Valentine’s weekend performances. Could This Be
relocated to St. Louis during the 2000-2001 ballet
Love? is a program of romantic works, features The
season, making this his 20th season of spear-
American, a ballet by Tony Award-Winning director
heading the company.
and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. A former
He says he danced in New York for 20 years and
Royal Ballet dancer and Gold Medal winner at the
discovered the overall attraction of St. Louis first as
Prix de Lausanne, Christopher was called by one
a guest dancer. “I always loved baseball, and was a
CONTINUED >
Yankees fan. Then I saw what a huge baseball town St. Louis is. The fans were so supportive, when a St. Louis player struck out, they still clapped for him ARTICLE JULIE
and looked forward to his next at-bat. The same
BROWN PATTON
type of deep support happened while we were
PHOTOGRAPHY
dancing. When something interesting happened
COURTESY OF SAINT
on stage, the audience immediately applauded with
LOUIS BALLET
such strong support,” explains Gen. January 2020 | Chesterfield Lifestyle
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