Ballet Des Moines dancer Kate Anderson summons spring in “See the Music.” (Photo: Jami Milne)
How ’bout this weather? Snowy enough for ya? Iowans have an endless gift for meteorological small talk, but some folks think bigger. Like Tom Mattingly, the artistic director of Ballet Des Moines who choreographed two works for the company’s “See the Music” program, which includes dances to the “Four Seasons” piano suite by the contemporary German composer Goetz Oestlind. Dancers (including Kate Anderson, pictured) will cycle through the seasons in the upcoming tour of performances with pianist Douglas-Jayd Burn and the Aizuri Quartet on Feb. 20 at Grinnell College, Feb. 28 at Hoyt Sherman Place and March 2 at Stephens Auditorium in Ames.
The program also marks the company dancer Noah Klarck’s professional debut as a choreographer with his work “Orthodoxy.” It imagines dancers as cogs in an Orwellian machine against a backdrop of piano works by Bach, Brahms and Chopin.
“This is a special program because it’s the first time we’ve been able to dance alongside live music on stage since I joined the company” in 2021, dancer Cameron Miller said. “Audiences see dancers as bringing music to life. But as a dancer, it’s the music that breathes life into our performance. To know they’re performing right there next to you while dancing is a euphoric feeling.”
