CHA Dancers featured are Mary Kate Shearer, Alessandra Ferrari-Wong and Hannah Harvey. The image is from 3 Muses for Apollo.
photo by J. Eduave
UTC and Chattanooga Ballet are engaged in a co-sponsorship to make a major cultural event possible for the region Oct. 5-7, featuring Ukraine’s Kyiv City Ballet and Chattanooga Ballet’s professional company, in a production at UTC’s Roland Hayes Concert Hall.
Featuring different works at each of the three performances and a four-day residency with Kyiv City Ballet, this multi-faceted event championed by UTC’s Bob Boyer, represents a new direction for UTC in collaborating with community organizations to achieve broad impact. Wednesday’s performance will feature a full-length Swan Lake by Kyiv City Ballet, with the Thursday and Friday performances split by the two companies featuring mixed repertoire.
“At the heart of everything we do, from how our company performs, to how our teachers train, to where we are involved in the community, we are serving through the power of dance, “ said Brian McSween, Chattanooga Ballet’s CEO and artistic director. “Our partnership with UTC was a way for us to serve Chattanooga by providing a world class ballet experience. It has been wonderful to see ArtsBuild ensure more access for more people which makes us proud to be an arts partner with them.”
ArtsBuild is supporting the project by providing 150 free tickets for underserved youth to attend the performances. ArtsBuild has offered the tickets to several local schools and organizations, including The Bethlehem Center, The Pop-up Project (Dance Alive students), Bridge Refugee Services, Chattanooga Charter School, ELLA Library, and more.
“We are pleased to be able to allocate resources towards this project to give more access for local youth to attend this one-of-a-kind arts experience,” said James McKissic, president of ArtsBuild. “These are the types of special arts programs and opportunities that ArtsBuild can support because of all the donors who contribute to ArtsBuild’s Annual Campaign.”
Chattanooga Ballet is the only professional ballet company in the Chattanooga region. The company works with highly recognized choreographers from around the country to present a repertoire that includes works from classical to contemporary and modern genres. In addition to the regular seasons here in Chattanooga the company proudly represents the city touring throughout the southeast region. The company is a dream caster, inspiring a vision of what could be possible through the art of dance.
Ukraine’s world-renowned Kyiv City Ballet finds itself, like so many millions in their country, as refugees. The company departed Ukraine for a European tour shortly before the Russian invasion and now find themselves unable to return home. A group of presenters representing organizations in 13 cities including New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Fort Worth, and Chattanooga, banded together in April and May to secure a three-month tour for the company this fall, providing performance opportunities and sustaining revenue while they are displaced by war.
Tickets are on sale now. Tickets may be purchased at the UTC Fine Arts Center box office at 752 Vine St. corner of Vine and Palmetto) or online at https://www.utc.edu/arts-and-sciences/college-of-arts-and-sciences/fine-arts-center. Box office hours are 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday.