The Milwaukee Ballet rehearses a particular number from the Innovative Motion program. Photo by Brian Jacobson.

“Dancers and clowns … The two are the same. Each wears a mask on his soul.” —Salvatore Aiello

The Milwaukee Ballet’s modern dance performance, Innovative Motion, opens next Thursday, Feb. 11, with a very special pre-performance event — Pints Before Pointe — that’s sure to please both ballet aficionados and the ballet-curious alike. ThirdCoast Digest will be there, and we hope you will too. For just $35, you can meet the choreographers personally, plus enjoy free hors d’ouevres, a cash bar and spins by RadioMilwaukee‘s Marcus Doucette from 6 to 7 p.m. in the salon of the InterContinental Hotel, then take your premium seat inside the adjacent Pabst Theater for the opening-night performance. Current ticket holders get in to the special event for just $10.

Innovative Motion celebrates the athleticism and versatility of Milwaukee Ballet’s dancers, and there’s no better way to understand their strength and commitment than to go behind the scenes and watch them prepare. We sent TCD’s Brian Jacobson and 88.9 RadioMilwaukee’s Adam Carr to do just that. The results are this narrated slide show of exclusive rehearsal photos co-mingled with the dancers’ own stories of life in dance. Enjoy, and we hope to see you Feb. 11.

Tickets to the pre-show event and performance are limited and going fast according to the Milwaukee Ballet. Contact Leslie Rivers at 414-902-2102 or lrivers@milwaukeeballet.org to RSVP today.

WIN FREE TICKETS!: Use the comment form below to tell us your all-time favorite movie about dance (or dancing). You could connect with a pair of tickets to the nearly sold-out “Pints Before Pointe” reception on Feb. 11, plus premium seating for opening night of Milwaukee Ballet’s Innovative Motion.

7 Responses to “A behind-the-scenes glimpse of Innovative Motion”

1. “Make Milwaukee”: Milwaukee Ballet | Behind The Dance « Unified Milwaukee says:

   February 18, 2010 at 9:00 pm

   [...] dancer willing to talk. In the end, I culled about six minutes from an hour of conversation for an audio-visual slideshow published on Third Coast Digest’s site. However, having collected all that wonderful material from those dynamic folks, I needed to share [...]
2. Jenny says:

   February 8, 2010 at 9:52 am

   Every girl of the 80′s favorite ~ Girls Just Wanna Have Fun! And I gotta mention the cult classic Breakin’!
   So many great dance films from The 80′s!
   Flash Dance, Fame, Foot Loose, Dirty Dancing!

   [Reply]
3. John says:

   February 5, 2010 at 4:13 pm

   Billy Elliot, it got people who were interested in the art form to be fans.

   [Reply]
4. Liz Ramus says:

   February 5, 2010 at 9:04 am

   It is a tie between Chicago and Chorus Line. However, the Bob Fosse inspired choreography for Chicago would push it over as the all-time favorite.

   [Reply]
5. Tom Strini says:

   February 3, 2010 at 6:03 pm

   Nice job, Brian and Adam.– Tom

   [Reply]
6. Katherine says:

   February 3, 2010 at 11:45 am

   I love The Company. “it is not the steps, it is what is inside them that really counts.” Words to live by.

   [Reply]
7. Cheryl says:

   February 3, 2010 at 9:49 am

   I still love Flashdance!

   [Reply]