Ballet Hispánico Opens Wharton Center Season This Month

Wharton Center will welcome back the nation's leading Latinx dance company, Ballet Hispánico, to the Cobb Great Hall for one night only on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, at 7:30 p.m.

With mesmerizing movement and beautiful storytelling, Ballet Hispánico celebrates Latino culture by bringing it to life on stage. Tickets are on sale now at the official source to purchase Wharton Center tickets online, whartoncenter.com, at the Auto-Owners Insurance Ticket Office, or by calling 1-800-WHARTON.

Celebrating their 51st year as ambassadors of Latinx dance, Ballet Hispánico is a leading oasis of diversity and inclusion. The dance company is the largest Latinx cultural organization in the United States.

Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro says he is committed to keeping Ballet Hispánico founder Tina Ramirez's vision alive. "We want to show artists beyond the stereotypes, to give Hispanic and Latinx people the place they deserve in the American Landscape." Vilaro carries out Ramirez's vision by building social equity, cultural identity, and arts education for all furthering their platform to create leaders.

Ballet Hispánico's artistic excellence, national reputation, and highly regarded strong leadership earned them a $4 million grant and recognition as "One of America's cultural treasures" by the Ford Foundation. Dancer Melissa Verdecia says, "This company is a true testament of showing how verbal language is not our only source of communication, that art and movement, and physical touch is what breaks down these barriers that society has set up for us."

The program is dedicated to the company's 50-year legacy of elevating Latinx choreographers, featuring "Tiburones," by well-known and in-demand choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa; Vicente Nebrada's "Arabesque," a popular flamenco-infused work created in 1984; and "18+1," Gustavo Ramírez Sansano's playful work of subtle humor and electric movement, merged with mambo style.

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