Rock Ballets give dance performance a new beat at Ballet Nouveau Colorado

Contemporary Dance Company Ballet Nouveau Colorado has taken audiences on a theatrical journey throughout the past 10 years, and now as the company wraps up their season with finale performance, Garrett Ammon’s Rock Ballets, the audience can relate to more than dance: they can let the rock iconography and music from Queen, INXS and David Bowie pull them along.

The Rock Ballets show April 13 – 15 at the Performing Arts Complex at Pinnacle Charter School.

Director and choreographer Garrett Ammon said, “Every ballet is a different beast. But I’m a very music driven choreographer.” And this particular ballet is what Ammon hopes will be “a visual experience akin to a graphic novel come to life.”

Ballet Nouveau Colorado was founded in 1992 to create quality ballet training and educational dance programs in Denver. After the Denver community’s expressed interest and desire for dance performance, BNC established a professional company in 2002.

Since the ballet portion of the company was founded 20 years ago, BNC  has committed itself to community programs that have been vital in the creation and success of this non profit organization. BNC offers outreach programs which helps high-need schools in the city strengthen curricula through the integration of dance and performance. The community education program reaches more than 20,000 students throughout the state. Functioning as a school, a professional ballet company and the outreach program, the BNC has become the largest contemporary dance company in Colorado.

Ammon and his wife Dawn Fay, professional dancers from Tennessee, came to the BNC to lead the company; Ammon became the Artistic director and Fay was named the associate artistic director. After the duo took the lead with the company, the BNC was named in the “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine in 2009.

“The three works that make up Rock Ballets are all built around the idea of creating iconography and then repeating those images to tell stories,” Ammon said. “The ballets were each built in a deliberate linear style in regard to their use of space and movement. Dance is a vocabulary for thoughts, dreams and the struggles of human nature; for these ballets, rock music happens to be the soundtrack.”

Garrett Ammon’s Rock Ballets play April 13 – 15, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sun. at 2 p.m. Production takes place at the Performing Arts Complex at Pinnacle Charter School, 1001 W. 84th Ave. I, 80260. Cost: $17 – $44. More info at http://bncdance.com or call 303.466.5685.