Courtesy of Saint Louis Ballet/photo by Pratt Kreidich
The Saint Louis Ballet will perform "Nine Sinatra Songs" by Twyla Tharp October 4–6.
Over his 19 years at the Saint Louis Ballet, artistic executive director Gen Horiuchi has slowly but surely honed his artistic agenda. From the beginning, it was clear he’d be shifting the aesthetic toward his comfort zone. Horiuchi spent 16 years with the New York City Ballet, in addition to performing on Broadway and at the opening ceremonies for the 1998 Olympics in his native Japan.
“It's been an adventure,” Horiuchi said. “There was no nationally recognized ballet company in St. Louis when I first came here.”
The company was founded in 1975 and produced just one performance a year. Horiuchi was hired as a guest artist in 1997, became associate artistic director in 1999, and was appointed director in 2000.
“There were maybe seven professional dancers in the company when I first took over,” he said. "I knew that I was going to change the repertoire entirely. I had never been to the Midwest before, and I thought there was a potential here to build a company. So that's why I decided to commit myself. The first 10 or 12 years, it was a challenge, because I had to build the ballet school and the company’s foundation. That’s why you didn’t hear about this company until maybe five or six years ago.”
Horiuchi has a penchant for the classics, building new full-length ballets at a record pace since day one. One of his favorites, Swan Lake, will be performed April 3–5, 2020, at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. And, of course, there’s the holiday favorite, Horiuchi’s staging of The Nutcracker, running November 29–Dec. 1, and again December 18–23.
Tucked between these big story ballets are two rep programs that highlight works by some of the country’s most celebrated choreographers. In addition to a remount of Horiuchi’s More Morra, company debuts of NYCB founder George Balanchine’s iconic Concerto Barocco and the sophisticated suite called Nine Sinatra Songs, by Twyla Tharp, are added to Saint Louis Ballet’s repertoire October 4–6.
On February 14 and 15, the company tackles its first-ever work by former NYCB choreographer in residence—and the Tony Award–winning director and choreographer of An American in Paris—Christopher Wheeldon. The piece is The American, danced to live accompaniment by St. Louis’s acclaimed Arianna String Quartet.
“It’s an extension of our artistic vision for the last four or five years,” says Horiuchi, but the season does seem to signal a kind of sea change. By continuing to add an increasing number of high-profile choreographers’ most cherished works, this season is a kind of barometer, measuring the growth and impact of Horiuchi’s vision and challenging the dancers at the highest level. It is akin to an orchestra playing Mozart or Bach, a risk Horiuchi thinks is worth taking for the region’s only professional ballet company to gain attention on the national stage.
Saint Louis Ballet’s mainstage season begins October 4–6 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Dr. on the University of Missouri–St. Louis campus. Tickets and more information are available at stlouisballet.org.
