New Orleans Ballet

Like all of the other major performing arts, dance has a deep-rooted tradition in New Orleans. Long before professional dance companies were established in the United States, operas and stage productions featured dancers in colorful costumes, performing their graceful movement art to the accompaniment of classical music and what would later come known to be “show tunes.” In the days of the Old French Opera House, from the mid 19th century to the early 20th century, ballet was very much a part of some of the classic French operas, as well as the epic operas in the Wagnerian German repertoire. On board the steam-powered riverboats that once plied the waters of the Mississippi River, dance revues, to the accompaniment of rollicking barrelhouse pianos, were very much a part of the live entertainment of those traveling up and down the river. Burlesque, once considered risqué and vulgar to the more cultured, also has a long, colorful history in New Orleans, and is now recognized as the performance art form it actually is.

Today there are two major companies staging or presenting ballet in New Orleans, in addition to several smaller companies which may only stage one production a year – most notably Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker around the Christmas holidays. Below are the two premiere ballet companies of the Crescent City.

The New Orleans Ballet Association

Photo by Angela Sterling

Photo by Mike Keating

Founded in 1969, the New Orleans Ballet Association is the city’s premier dance company. It originally featured local dancers, but then it gradually expanded to its present-day status of booking national and international touring companies.

Over the years NOBA has showcased the talents of some of the leading companies of Russia, Spain, Ireland, Ukraine and other European nations, as well as Japan, Africa and Latin America. Renowned American companies such as the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, the Elisa Monte Dance Company, Parsons Dance Company, MOMIX, Twyla Tharp, and Edward Villella’s Miami City Ballet have also performed there in recent years. France’s famed Joffrey Ballet and Russia’s renowned Bolshoi Ballet have also appeared on the company’s bill at various times.

Offering four to five mainstage performances a year, NOBA attempts to vary its repertoire as widely as possible. In addition to staging classical ballet performances, it also books companies known for folk dancing, jazz, and more modern and innovative urban dance styles. Occasionally individual stars are headlined, like Savion Glover, one of the premiere tap dancers of the present day.

The award-winning company has also become renowned for its vast, innovative teaching network. Thousands of students throughout the Gulf South region have learned their techniques from highly qualified dance instructors working under NOBA’s aegis.

For tickets and information call 522-0996 or visit www.nobadance.com.

New Orleans Ballet Theatre

Performing under the auspices of the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans Ballet Theatre was founded in December 2002 by returning native son, Gregory Schramel and wife Marjorie Hardwick.

After dancing as Principals and Soloists in Miami City Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and Dallas Ballet, the couple founded NOBT to offer audiences a unique dance experience steeped in the contemporary traditions honed by such dance luminaries as George Balanchine, Maurice Bejart and Twyla Tharp. The company reflects the decidedly international flavor of the city, drawing professional classical ballet dancers from South America and Europe as well as New Orleans. The artists of NOBT have appeared with or are currently dancing with major ballet companies of North and South America, Europe and the Far East.

NOBT's foremost goal is “to give locally trained dancers an opportunity to thrive in their own community, and to create and express their own personal artistic voice.” Additionally, the artistic directors teach hundreds of underprivileged girls free ballet classes each year through the Girls First program.

Schramel, the artistic director and artistic advisor of the Schramel Conservatory of Dance, is from New Orleans and a graduate of the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA). He studied at the School of American Ballet and has danced with half a dozen American companies, performing all over the world. Hardwick, associate director and ballet mistress, and director of the Schramel Conservatory of Dance, is a Dallas native. She, too, trained at the School Of American Ballet in New York and danced with the American Ballet Theatre and most of the same companies as her husband – traveling widely with him. In addition, NOBT has a staff of half a dozen highly qualified dance instructors.

NOBT is located in the Contemporary Arts Center. For tickets and performance information, call the NOBT Box Office at (504) 210-0222 or click here to purchase tickets online.