Ballet Company hosts Bela Fleck

The Grand Rapids Ballet Company again combines banjo and ballet with the return of the unique paring of professional dancers with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. The unlikely performance brought played to rave reviews two years prior.

According to excerpts from the story:

The man often called the world’s greatest banjoist is happy to talk about the experience of sharing a stage with a company of ballet dancers. But Bela Fleck also can sum it up in a single word: “Killer!”

GRBC artistic director Gordon Peirce Schmidt doesn’t mince words about the experience. “I wish I had had an opportunity like this when I was a dancer,” Schmidt said. “This is a new thing in dance.”

The first collaboration was a grand jete into the dark for both organizations. “We placed a lot of trust in them,” Fleck said. “Since this was just one show in one city, we were willing to take the risk that it might not be great.”
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