Ariel Rose shares insight into his new ballet for BAE, Néos Chóros.

What was your inspiration for this new ballet?

The music is the main driving force of this piece. Like with a lot of my other work, I tried to capture the essence and sentiments within the music without expressing them outright while still paying respect to its structure. I was also greatly inspired by the architectural build of the score which tested and pushed my abilities to bring it alive visually.

What led you to the music you selected?

Most of this music is actually incredibly complex and I wanted to push myself to follow its structure and design by adhering to multiple components of it simultaneously. What also interested me is that although there are three different composers, to most ears, all of the music sounds as if could have been made by one person, so my goal was also to unify them in a way that would reinforce this relationship.

What do you hope the students take away from their experience working with you and dancing your choreography?
I hope that this challenge in dancing to complicated music (often at a fast pace) has opened up their minds to the different uses of their technique that they spend so much time honing and practicing every day in class. I hope this piece becomes the type of experience they will want to have again someday and will become a source of inspiration to continue working hard at their craft as well as develop a deeper passion for music and moving with musicality.

How do you want your piece to impact your audience?

I hope this piece reminds audiences of the beauty and dynamic elegance of neoclassical ballet. I hope that it sparks a reminder that musicality can open so much more creativity and new fresh air to a very old art form if we study hard at it and allow it to.

Musicality for me isn’t only dancing on the music, but also peeling back some of its layers to find not only the little unique signatures that can become inspiration for steps, formations, canons etc. It can greatly influence how the dancers move and respond to it, thus having a greater effect as a whole.

But mainly. I hope Néos Chóros brings joy and lifts the human spirit.