By Breya Jones for Louisville Public Media
The work of two Louisville artists is set to collide, with the Louisville Ballet performing to the music of rapper Jack Harlow in November.
Photo by Kateryna Sellers, Louisville Ballet
The piece entitled “502” sets choreography by Ching Ching Wong to selections of Jack Harlow’s music.
Wong was in Louisville this week to choreograph the dance.
Wong said she found herself comfortable in creating movement around Harlow’s music.
“There’s a grooviness and pulse that I am naturally inclined and lean forward into,” Wong said. “This opportunity to collaborate with his sound, it almost allowed me, perhaps, to be more myself.”
Wong said creating “502” was a collaborative process between her and the Louisville Ballet’s dancers and production team.
She said it feels like all the creative brains in the space linked.
“It’s tasty, it’s delicious, I have to say, you know, it’s spontaneous, it’s instinctual. And it allows us to navigate these uncharted waters with openness,” Wong said.
The uncharted waters Wong is referring to is setting ballet — a dance style largely thought of classical — to the contemporary music style of hip-hop.
One of the ballet’s artistic directors, Harald Uwe Kern, said this type of work hearkens back to ballet’s early roots.
“Historically any ballet we consider a classic today, at one point was contemporary to contemporary music,” Kern said. “We cannot keep staying in the past. We love to do the classics. We like them very much. But it’s a living art form.”
Kern said audiences have shunned pieces of ballet since its inception because they were set to the contemporary music of the time.
“If you go back in time, all that happened before, we’re not inventing something new,” Kern explained. “There was a riot at the opening night of ‘Rite of Spring’ in Paris, because the dancers didn’t understand the music. Somebody was yelling the counts in the wing.”
He said it’s important for people in ballet leadership positions to keep pushing for what the dance can look like.