Photos from the Jet Duet – A Ballet with a Boeing
If you were curious, like me, as to how a ballet company could possibly partner a Boeing (yes, a real plane in the sky, not a plus-sized dancer – sies don’t be rude); or if you missed this aerial ballet performance at the recent Swartkops Airshow outside Pretoria, we’ve put together a quick 30-second photo presentation to get you up to air speed…
(Photos by Mariola Biela courtesy of Mango airline.)
Taking ballet outdoors and to the sky. Photo by Mariola Biela courtesy of Mango airline.
Ballet in unexpected places with an unusual partner
As far as we can tell, this type of synchronised aerial collaboration hasn’t been attempted before. But by all accounts, on Saturday 11 May 2013 the South African Mzansi Ballet dancers and the pilots of Mango’s new-generation Boeing 737-800 performed a perfect lift-off with many plane twists and ballet turns to entertain the 35 000 strong crowd.
Here’s a comment from one of the dancers, Michael Revie (the foremost male dancer partnering Burnise Silvius in the photo alongside):
“As a principal dancer for South African Mzansi Ballet, a keen air plane model enthusiast and aviation fanatic, it was an incredible experience for me to perform at this first ever choreographic collaboration between ballet dancers and a Boeing 737-800.
I had a wonderful time combining the art and craft of my day job with the mechanical engineering wonders of aviation. A performance I will never forget!”
While the majority of this Swartkops audience would have attended the Airshow for the airplanes and their tricks, they certainly got to see aerial manoeuvres of a different kind with SA Mzansi Ballet’s virtuoso dancers.
Let’s hope the crowd went home with a whole new appreciation for dance (and let’s hope their plane-dancer-plane-dancer-plane-dancer whiplash recovers quickly).
For more details on this novel ballet performance, the ballet dancers involved, the choreography and more, see the original full story here.
Category: Performance
