Heavy Metal Ballet? You Bet! Meet Ballet Deviare

By Meghan
July 2nd, 2008

So my friends over at the metalmommies.com turned me onto to one of the coolest and innovative artistic fusions I’ve ever seen or heard. Some of you may have already heard the buzz, but for those of you have not, prepare to be buzzed.

Ballet Deviare is a ballet company out of New York that was established back in 2003. The difference between Ballet Deviare and other ballet companies is that they are set to the sounds of heavy metal. A live metal band. That’s right live metal and ballet. How cool is that?

Created by choreographer and director, Laura Kowalewski and director Andrew Carpenter, Ballet Deviare fuses different metal genres (grind, death, black, and progressive) with movements including classical ballet, modern, butoh, and something called heavy metal posturing.

They’re latest production, Memento Mori, completed a sold out run at the Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York City this past May. The reviews were phenomenal. Ballet Deviare has been featured in a number of magazines (Metal Edge included!) as well as being showcased on Headbanger’s Ball.

Music used in Memento Mori includes material from, Arsis, Negura Bunget, Japanische Kampfhoersplele (JaKa), Funeral, Celestiial, and Gwynbleidd, who performed live for Memento Mori. A great selection of metal bands, all of whom have pages on myspace (except Celestiial).

Though Ballet Deviare is in New York City, thanks to myspace and YouTube I was able to get a glimpse at the amazing performances put on by the company. The grace and beauty of these elegant ballet dancers somehow manages to flow perfectly with the deep passion and dark tone of the metal music, creating a totally new movement in art.

I’ve checked, and so far there is nothing like this on the West Coast. There is nothing like Ballet Deviare anywhere, in fact. Those of you lucky enough to be near NYC, please check them out. And those of you who are not, like me, check out the Ballet Deviare myspace page and the clip below and keep the buzz moving.