SCB Company, our resident student ballet company, has been working hard on our brand new story ballet, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This ballet is special for several reasons. Not only is it the premiere for SCB Company, all original choreography, and the first locally-produced story ballet in 17 years, it is also a first-ever collaboration with the Art Department at MSUB.
SCB Company Co-Director, Leigh Schanfein, reached out to Keeara Rhoades, professor of New Media, to see if she might be interested in creating digital images and backdrops for this new venture. Not only was Keeara delighted to join in and serve as our Art Director, several of her students and colleagues jumped on board to be part of this creative endeavor! The resulting work crosses mediums, with live video of our dancers, slow-motion video, stop-motion capture, paper art, digital art, AI modeling, and more.
Art Director Keeara Rhoades, and student Nathan Levine, check framing for slow-motion image capture of our Alice, Audrey Mills.
We couldn't be more grateful for the support of the MSUB Art Department and getting to perform in Petro Hall. Petro was recently outfitted with new lighting elements along with recently acquiring a very high-qualify projector. These will allow our dancers and the digital backdrop to look truly excellent together.
Art Director Keeara Rhoades and her colleague and paper artist Robin Earls, setting paper art stop-motion for the scene where Alice cries. Photo courtesy MSUB.
Our dancers have also had the opportunity to do additional dancing outside of the studio for this project, especially our Alice, Audrey Mills. Our Ballet level 6 class learned choreography that we recorded in Riverfront Park, and Audrey filmed slow-motion capture as well as rapid-fire still image capture to be used in stop-motion animation.
Testing lighting, projection, dimensions, and scale at the theater, and checking video footage.
We hope you are able to come enjoy this show with us and see this whole incredible collaboration come to life! We have one weekend of shows so don't miss out. Our dancers will make you laugh, cry, and delight in Alice's adventures!
Show Times:
Friday, March 2 at 7:00 pm
Saturday, March 3 at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm
Tickets:
Visit the studio Mon-Fri between 3 and 7 pm to purchase tickets in person, or call the studio at 406-702-7262 to purchase over the phone. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.
Photos of our wonderful SCB Company dancers. Photos by Keeara Rhoades.