Interview: Marilyn Klaus of BALLETS WITH A TWIST: COCKTAIL HOUR at PTC-CHARTS

Central Arkansas is overflowing with talent. Not only do we have amazing artists, the ACANSA directors go in search of creative troupes to entertain and enhance our already thriving community. To finish out The Eighth Annual ACANSA Festival of the South, BALLETS WITH A TWIST will be serving up the drinks through dance at UA-PTC CHARTS Saturday, Sept. 23, at 7:30pm.  

Broadway World was thrilled to be able to chat with New York based company BALLETS WITH A TWIST Artistic Director and Choreographer Marilyn Klaus about their show and visit to North Little Rock 

BWW: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me. We are excited that you guys are coming to PTC-CHARTS. 

Marilyn Klaus: Yeah, we're excited too. It's actually our first time. We've been trying to get down there earlier before the pandemic, and then all of that that happened, and so we are finally coming.  

BWW: Yes, the pandemic interrupted everyone’s lives, but we are thrilled that you agreed to bring COCKTAIL HOUR THE SHOW this year. How did all of that come about? You're out of New York, right?  

Marilyn: We first met people from ACANSA at one of the arts conferences that takes place in the United States-- there's a Midwest one, a Western one and a New York one. When the ACANSA representative visited our booth and viewed our videos that showed our dances, costumes and original music, he booked us right away.  

BWW: Well that is fortunate for us. So, this is not a tour? You’re coming to Arkansas specifically for us?  

Marilyn: Yes, we're coming down for you. We often do tour from state to state, but this time we are coming back to New York due to scheduling. Our dates are already set, so right our next show is in Augusta, Georgia, in October. After that, we go to Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Last year we toured in Iowa and Wisconsin. During that we did stay out on the road, you know, so it just depends on when the timing of an event is. I have been keeping my toes crossed that we won't have any inclement hurricane related weather, because we've been seeing how it has been messing up the flights. So, I've been making daily offerings to whomever to make sure we're going to be able to get those flights.  

BWW: We will do what we can here for you. How big is the company?   

Marilyn: We have 10 ladies and five gentlemen, all classical ballet dancers. Then,  I'm the choreographer, and the composer and costume designer and lighting designer. We all travel together.  

BWW: Like a big family.....that’s great. Sounds like fun. 

Marilyn: It's a big group, because we have a variety of numbers...something for everyone.  

BWW: Tell me about them. 

Marilyn: Hot Toddy is a big number that takes place around the 1920s like in a Speakeasy. It has characters, like guys in top hats and canes, and then their wives are society ladies, so that's a big number. We have some fun solos, like, Shirley Temple. Kids love her. She's kind of a hip hop kind of a Shirley Temple. She was dreadlocks and is a little bit of a Rockstar. We have Roy Rogers. That number was inspired by my kid brother, who would order the Roy Rogers when I would order the Shirley Temple. Of course, Roy Rogers is a country western number, so we have a variety. It's a family oriented show.  

BWW: Well, this is going to be so great. What about the music. 

Marilyn: Our music is pretty much all original, except for the Roy Rogers, which we do to the theme from the television show Rawhide.  

BWW: That will be fun to see! How long have y'all been doing BALLETS WITH A TWIST?   

Marilyn: Well, I started putting different choreographic pieces together in 1996, then we did our first show, Big Cocktail Hour show about 10 or 12 years ago. Since that time, we added a tremendous amount of repertory with different cocktails. Then we added other drinks, like Beer, which is a quintet for five gentlemen. We've only done it once before in Wisconsin, so we added it this year and will be doing that for you. It's really exciting seeing them all dance together. We are continually adding new work. We now have about 40 pieces, so when we return to places like Augusta, we have enough cocktails where we can do a completely new show.  

BWW: Not to give it all away, but what else do you have for us? 

Marilyn: We have Champagne, which has cultural references. Some of our pieces are historical. We do a Brandy Alexander, but have made it about Alexander the Great. We have Manhattan references with waiters and baristas and a woman who walks her little dog down 5th Ave. We have so many different characters. 

BWW: So why did you create this cocktail world?  

Marilyn: It’s important to us to really bring the audience in so that they not only enjoy the classical ballet, but they feel like they can understand it and are part of it.  

BWW: So is the dancing different?   

Marilyn: All of the dancers are classical ballet dancers, so it is interesting to see what the audience takes away. Every dance has completely different music, completely different styles and point of view. In every dance, the movement is created specifically to go with the concept, so even though we use the classic vocabulary due to our training, the dances are done with a twist. The dances wear all sorts of different shoes depending on the character. Some are wearing point shoes, but others have jazz shoes, or whatever the character needs. By combining the dancing with acting and costumes, we try to make it accessible for the audience.  

BWW: Well, I can’t wait to see it! I look forward to seeing you Saturday! This is going to be so much fun. 

For more information about BALLETS WITH A TWIST, visit their website at https://www.balletswithatwist.com. For tickets to the show, go to the ACANSA website at https://acansa.org/ticketing. 

Broadway World would like to thank Nico Malvaldi for the use of these beautiful photos. For more from this artist, check out the website at http://nicomalvaldi.com.