Today we’d like to introduce you to Judith FLEX Helle.
Judith, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Luminario Ballet began in 2009 as a professional contemporary ballet and aerial dance company, with a show at the Avalon theatre in Hollywood.
Since then, Luminario has performed nationwide, from the East Coast at the Miami Dance Festival to the West Coast at the Music Center’s Los Angeles Walt Disney Concert Hall.
With exceptional dancers from leading international ballet companies, and Cirque du Soleil aerialists, Luminario Ballet provides the talent for great choreographers to express themselves in dance, using music from Chopin to Led Zeppelin.
Artistic director Judith FLEX Helle provides award-winning ballet and aerial dance choreogrpahies as well, from the steaming hot “The Last Supper”, about when Jesus, Judas and Mary went to Coachella music festival 2017; to the icy cold Schubert’s “Winterreise”, a feverish love story set in the winter of 1824.
Luminario Ballet also fulfills music video, TV, movies, and commercial requests; has worked for 5 different symphonies including the LA Philharmonic, and is always ready for a new challenge coming from a new collaboration.
An exceptional collaboration happened with NASA in 2014, when Judith FLEX Helle brought the premier scientific organization of the US into the world of dance, via Luminario Ballet’s beautiful climate change ballet, “TRAILS”. With 6 choreographers contributing, music played live from Phillip Glass; and exceptional media art using the images NASA provided, this exquisite piece is a great way to introduce the topic of our time to audiences in a way that fosters discussion and positive action.
Luminario Ballet has won several dance awards, is supported in part with grants from the LA City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the LA County Arts Commission.
Judith FLEX Helle was named one of the Top 5 Women in Dance Leadership in Southern California by Dance Magazine, and is a judge for the World Choreography Awards and the Reno Aerial Awards.
She mentors other dancers and choreographers and considers nurturing up and coming choreographers an important part of being in the dance community.
Has it been a smooth road?
Creating art is never a smooth road!
It’s a chaotic, terrifying roll through a wild dark woods filled with tortuous traps, frightening finances and missed opportunities. It’s an emotional rollercoaster!
Dance is the least funded and most ephemeral art form- once the performance is over, there is nothing left outside a video, which never tells the whole story of how it felt to be there.
Dancers are not known for great organization, and keeping any company afloat requires attention to detail micro and macro- calm leadership- and a strong will.
But there is truly nothing more satisfying than creating a dance piece, delivering it in a killer great fashion to the audience, and getting a standing ovation with a great review. To do something that affects people, makes them think, love, cry….. that’s communication human to human.
Any artist will say that the path is neither straight nor smooth- but artists typically are so driven, that the rough ride to get to presenting and sharing the work is worth it.
Now as ever, the road is financially difficult- logistically complicated- and often underappreciated.
But Luminario Ballet is entering its 8th season with great repertory, beloved choreographers and dancers, and a dedicated audience ready to rock!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Luminario Ballet of Los Angeles story. Tell us more about the business.
Luminario Ballet performs ballet en pointe and aerial dance a la Cirque du Soleil.
We are known for our cutting-edge, daring, athletic choreography, our gorgeous performers, and our great music.
I am most proud of our body of work which we have brought to over 60,000 audience members; and the respect we have earned from the worldwide dance community.
No other company in the US is able to perform ballet en pointe both classical and neo-classical, contemporary ballet, aerial dance, and modern dance at the technical and artistic level of Luminario Ballet.
That sets us apart from every other dance group in LA, and the US!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The world of dance has popped in the last 10 years- which is fantastic for Luminario Ballet!
The audience has expanded due to the popular TV shows which have educated the general public, and dance is easier to see than before, now being programmed around the city semi-regularly.
As the commercial dance world and the concert dance worlds merge, dance becomes ever more popular and the audience is ever more likely to attend a concert, support a company financially, or produce an event and hire a dance company!
Cirque du Soleil, the number 1 dance employer in the world, has been instrumental in this too- they are highly influential with the highest technical and artistic productions- which inspires everyone to aim higher.
Pricing:
- Dec 15 2018 Viennese Winter Gala at the California Club “Winterreise” $300 all-inclusive: food, drink, performance. Tix on our website
- Mar 9/10/11 2018 shows at the El Portal Theatre NoHo: $30/$40/$50. Tix available on our website or the El Portal Theatre’s website.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.luminarioballet.org
- Phone: 818-235-6588
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/luminarioballet
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Luminario-Ballet-1425555227720793/
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/luminarioballet
- Other: www.youtube.com/luminarioballet
Image Credit:
Marcuss O’Brian
Scott Belding
Paul Antico
Paul Ackerman
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