Kentucky Ballet Theatre with Norbe Risco!

Lexington's Warehouse District used to be a stretch you drove past. Now it's a destination, and Kentucky Ballet Theatre is part of why. We sit down with Norbe Risco to trace how a small, determined ballet company helped shape the neighborhood's identity, and how the neighborhood helped the company grow into a year-round cultural anchor.

We dig into what's on the horizon: Ballet Spectrum 2 at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center, where classical meets contemporary and dancers get a rare shot at choreographing on professional artists, plus a full Don Quixote production with bold choices that spotlight strength and character.

Then we go behind the curtain — six-to-seven hour training days, corps precision, injuries (including an ACL tear and a hip replacement), costumes built in-house, the "no gossip" rule that protects company culture, and Norbe's ongoing support of all things ballet.

If you love the performing arts, or the real work that makes beauty look effortless, this one's for you!

Transcript

Warehouse District Transformation

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Which is really exciting.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

We started many, many years ago to change uh the neighborhood because mostly it was industrial around here. And uh and Chuck Walker always uh you know he's a good friend and we always chat and he said, you know, I I have this vision of changing the neighborhood with uh businesses around, but you know, we need to draw more businesses here, uh art related and kind of around that, uh, so it can change the ambience around and finally materialize with all the new businesses around and all that. And now it's a hot place here in town, which is great.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

It is. I mean, it's incredible just how it's turned over, certainly within the last five years, but like the last 10 or 15, it's been like a completely different area.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Exactly. And you know, with the block party that they do and all that, it's more recognition around uh the city that people come and say, hey, the blog party, let's go there to the warehouse plant. I mean, it's really cool. And all the changes that Chad had made here around is really uh, you know, when people come from out of town, friends of mine they say, man, how you have changed a lot around. It's so cool. And I say, see, it's good. You can see the RC side and how businesses are different. Definitely, but it's in a good way.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Well, I think that's one of the the biggest um draws for the warehouse block is that it's not just a uh space for restaurants, it's not just a space for you know uh bars or party area, like it's there's something for everybody here. We talk about that all the time.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Exactly, exactly. You can see from ballet to clothing designers, uh, restaurants, uh pottery, uh children's education. I mean, I everything is around here, which is good. It is, but you were the first. Correct.

Building Kentucky Ballet Theatre

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Yeah, I just love that. So have you always been in this space?

SPEAKER_00 1:58

We always been on this building over here. I remember coming here um in 1998, mid-1998, with the former director, the board president Jen Footie, uh, myself, and Chad Walker. And this was an office building around here. The tenants had moved out. So I looked at the space. I said, Well, this is great. I think uh this is what we uh need because we need, you know, open spaces and all that. So Chad built this wall here because it was all open so we can divide the studios. And then I built with Brian another guy that used to be here in Lexington that worked for uh the Lexington Center a long time ago, and he was married to one of the dancers when we opened the company, and we built all the floors, put the bars and all that. So that's how we started in 1998.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

It's incredible. How much has it changed, like this space and what you've done with Kentucky Ballet Theater in those years? I mean, you had to see a lot of changes.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

It's it's been a huge change because I can tell you, Erica, we start with six dancers. Now, now I have 18. Wow. Which is a big jump for a small company is a big jump because you know you have to prepare everything. It's like paving the way uh to get to a better uh way of performing, uh having more quality and all that with the dancers, and uh and it's a good way to bring um uh Lexington into the world ballet. Because uh my vision always is to you know really work with the dancers that when they live here or go somewhere else, they say, Where were you trained? Oh, in Kentucky Ballet Theater, which we have dancers like that all over the world, you know, and it's good. And they've been principal dancing in big company here in the United States, and and it's good because you know the recognition comes back to us. Like, you know, I got them when they were kids and they were nobody, so I formed them, uh, mold them into professional dancers, and then, you know, give them wings. And then after, you know, you take the experience from here and then you apply that and keep growing as an artist, which is great. So that's one of the things mainly that had happened here in Kentucky Valley Theater. We we work with dancers that you know they come and they stay three, four years, and maybe they say, Oh, I want to try something else, like going to another company, do audition, and then they keep uh uh expanding their horizons.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

So yeah, so do most of the dancers then they they do come from like they're not local Lexingtonians, they're like some of them, but most of them they come from different countries or from all over the United States.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Yeah, yeah. I have dancers right now from Cuba, Mexico, Japan, and United States.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

So I mean, for a small company that's pretty diverse.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I love that diversity. Do they generally like Lexington?

Ballet Spectrum And Don Quixote

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Oh, yeah, they do. Yeah, they do, uh, because you know, Lexington has different things, and it's a nice city, clean city, safe city to live on, uh, and it's good.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Yeah. Yeah. So tell me about your productions now. What's going on in the spring season of 2026?

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Yes, we are working on Ballet Spectrum 2, which is a show that we always do around this time of year at the Downtown Art Center in Lexington, the Pam Miller Downtown Art Center. And uh we combine their classical with neoclassical and contemporary pieces. I bring choreographers from outside the United States, and at the same time, I give the opportunity to some of our dancers to choreograph their own work so it can be showcased. So I do that as well. Um, and then we will have that at the downtown R Center actually this weekend, March 21st and 22nd, uh at around 2 p.m. is when the shows will be.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Okay, fantastic. That's so neat that they get to choreograph. Who normally does the choreography?

SPEAKER_00 5:48

I do. Okay. I do the setting, the choreography for the show, but at this this time I always do that. Yeah, around March, when we do performances at the Downtown Art Center, I give them that opportunity. I think it's good because it's really hard to be in a professional company and you starting to choreograph and then you don't have that opportunity. And it's different when you work with professional dancers than when you work with the students. Because it's not that makes it easy, but it makes your work look better and maybe you achieve the goals that you want. Let me put it that way.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Absolutely. And so, what is going on this summer, too?

SPEAKER_00 6:25

You would say and and then next month in April, we'll have Don Quixote, the whole production of Don Quixote. I love Don Quixote, yeah. Yeah, it's one of the greatest classics, and I always wanted to do it, so I think it's the right time to start uh, you know, presenting that here in Lexington. And it's a ballet that has uh comedy, it has an incredible uh way of uh to showcase the dancers. It's it has it's so vivid in the choreography that uh you love it.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Yeah. I it was my very first Broadway musical was Manolomancha with Don about Don Quixote, and I just have always loved the book.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

When Miguel de Cervantes wrote it, and then after many years he came back uh you know as a ballet, it was fantastic. Uh Marius Petit Pad, I always call the forefather of ballet because he created the most intricate and biggest choreographies in the world, uh like uh Swan Lake, uh Sleeping Beauty, uh Don Quixote, I mean all those. Uh and uh the good thing is I always try to adjust the choreography to uh Kentucky Valley and do our own touch. For example, one thing that people don't know is like uh bullfighters or toreras, females. Oh so instead of using male, I have the spada, which is the main um bullfighter, it's a male dancer, but like uh the bullfighters, females, I'm using the toreras, what we call toreras in 1975, they were not allowed before to be in the in that world because it was just mainly for men. But in 1975, they were allowed to uh you know bullfight and all that and to be actual bullfighters women were okay, yes. Blowing my mind right now. Yes, in 1975 was established. So it's I go with the when I do, I'm gonna do it different way so it can show that strength that woman has in a ballet that you know nobody will think about it. So although they're being punched, but they still have that character of bullfighting, and it's great.

A Cuban Dancer Finds Lexington

SPEAKER_01 8:26

I can't think of anyone better to fight a bull than a woman. Ah, yes. So were you were you um in ballet? Did you do ballet? Yeah, you were a dancer?

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Yes, my whole life. I started when I was 10 years old. Okay, and um in Cuba actually. Okay, so you're from Cuba? Originally I'm from Cuba.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Very cool.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

And I started when I was 10 years old. They do uh several auditions, and I was the only boy in my group with eight girls. My whole career was like that. But in Cuba there is a lot of male dancers, and uh after that I was uh selected to be part of Ballet de Kamaway, that is in in my province, is the biggest company in the whole Cuba is Ballet Kamaway and Ballet National Cuba. And in Kamaway, it was Fernando Alonso, that is the creator of the Cuban Ballet School. He was my mentor and my director, and uh he's a celebrity in the world ballet. Yeah, so uh I worked there after I was hired to work in Mexico because the company Ballet Camahu used to do a lot of tours around the world, and then I got the opportunity to go to Mexico and they hired me, so I went to Mexico to work there as a principal dancer as well, and then after I was hired in Chicago to come here to the United States, and then from Chicago, I came here to Lexington. Why? Why from Chicago to Lexington? Because the company that we had in Chicago, Ballet Theater of Chicago, merged with Lexington Valley, but then Lexington Valley folded in 1998, and then we didn't want uh the you know ballet to go away, and then is when we found Kentucky Ballet Theater.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Oh, so it just all came together in 1998. Wow, fantastic! So do you still dance?

SPEAKER_00 10:05

And no, I I used to do character roles and all that, but I leave it now for other people. Yeah, yeah. So you after 40 some years of dancing, I had enough of dancing. So I just tried to pass my knowledge and you know work with the dancer as you know, partner and stuff like that.

Giselle Mime And Storytelling

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Yeah. Any favorite ballets that you were in though when you were a dancer?

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Uh my first um ballet that big ballet that I did in Cuba, it was Giselle. And I was 19 years old. I was the youngest, Albrecht, that is the main role for the character in Giselle for males. I was the youngest in Cuba I ever done in 19 years old.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Oh, fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

In a professional company.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

So it was very cool. I worked a lot with Fernando Alonso, and he coached me and uh taught me about you know how you have to do this. And I remember when I was working on that, sometimes I would grab a tablecloth and put it around my back like it was a cape. And my family would say, You're crazy. I say, I have to be crazy because it's a big ballet, you don't know how important it is. And so I to work in the mime and the steps and things like that, because that's the hardest part in a ballet dancer. The mime, you don't talk to the audience, you do it through mime. Yeah, and then they need to understand what you're saying because you cannot talk.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

So it's all non-verbal, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Exactly. So uh and it was a great experience. I love it, and that's my favorite ballet, Giselle. Giselle.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Uh, why why is it your favorite? Because you were in it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

And and it was the first one, and the music is amazing. It really it always you when you hear the music, and it it's a ballet that has happiness, it has sadness, but at the same time, it combines it in a way that uh really it brings uh your love for the arts, you know, the upbringing of that is amazing.

Injuries Hip Replacement Daily Grind

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it you know, with ballet, I think people often forget like it's such an athletic uh art form. I mean, you have to be so in, I mean, it's you know, I mean, I I I guess that's common knowledge, but do you're I mean, how have you dealt with that over the years? Have you sustained injuries? Is it yeah, yeah?

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Well, I'm gonna tell you something that tell me uh I brought my all my ligaments when I was 30 years old. And after the ACL in a step right here on this studio. So after four months, I was back dancing. They did the surgery here at UK Sport Medicine that they are great. I keep dancing. So I retired uh 12 years ago of dancing. I was already uh, you know, uh in advanced age, and I said I don't want to dance anymore, so I quit dancing. And I was 42 years old, and uh I just keep coaching and all that, but I always like to, you know, to move, and I was doing a steel ballet class with the dancers, the bar to warm up the body and all that. I feel great. A year or so ago, I started feeling pain on my hips. And I went to physical therapy, got better, went away, came back again. Well, finally, I tell you, a month ago I had my right hip replaced.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Oh, did you? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Yeah, because all the ligaments they were torn, the head of the femur was kind of you know shaved.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

And this is left over from your dancing days.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

And that's it's like, and my surgeon, Dr. Uh Salvi, who he's great here at UK Sport Medicine, he said, Do you know that uh Borishnikov had uh his hips uh replaced? And I said, Yes, I do. And so you're in Garden. Yeah, Misty Koblan was uh she retired and she just was into the Oscars, but uh a year ago she had her hips uh replaced. I mean, it's amazing. Yeah, it's one of the things that could happen, but it's you know, ballet is so athletic that it demands so much strength and training because you have to do a ballet class pretty much every day. You take a break, you say okay, a couple of weeks, but then you at home, you're at home and you're stretching and all that because you want to uh stay uh you know limber and uh you know in a way that you don't lose that strength because it's very easy to lose your your strength. You you take a couple of weeks off. When you come back, you gotta start easy because it's not like you're gonna be on top of your game, you can't.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

That's crazy. So, like the the our muscles in our body can change that quickly, even for somebody in the game.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yeah, because ballet demands so much of precision when you do a jump and turn in the air and you land, it's like tuck. Yeah, but you're not you don't feel that after coming back, you have to get all that groove back.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Uh uh. Yeah. So what is the the like uh your typical dancer and like you're preparing for a show?

SPEAKER_00 14:39

What is the you do every day, you do about a class an hour and a half every day, uh let's say nine to ten thirty or ten to eleven thirty, and then after that you do four and a half to five hours of training. So it's it's a six and a half to seven hour really rough. So it's a full full-time job. Yes, yeah. Yes. And then you know, when you go to the theater, you do the same. You do your rehearsals, you do your class, uh and it's like performing. Yeah, with the all the other elements, the lights. Okay, you gotta move here where this light is. You do the spacing where you show the dancers where to move, and then after, so it's like a moment memory. They they will remember, okay, I have to be here in the quarter, the eighth, in the center, so they know where to move, so it looks uh pretty nice when they are moving in the court de ballet, because that's the hardest part. When you're working by yourself, you can go off of the position that you're supposed to be. Nobody will notice that. But when you're in a court de ballet with eight or ten dancers, sure, you make a diagonal and have to be pretty straight. I mean, things like that.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Because everyone's like relying on you to be so perfect. Yeah. Whew. I don't think I'd be cut out for it, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

It really ballets something because it combines the athleticism, yes, the timing, and the performing uh of you know the mind, the acting. So you're you you have three in that performing art, you have three elements acting, dancing, and music. Yeah, you have to combine everything, plus the costumes they have to wear that sometimes there is a costume that it fits certain way that you could feel a little uncomfortable or have to deal with it. You have wings or things like that. Yeah, uh wigs that you wear, hats. I mean, it is a lot of elements.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

But um, you get used to. Yeah.

Costumes Family Culture Healthy Company

SPEAKER_01 16:24

So well, speaking of costumes, I was taking my own little tour of your of your space. Are you making some of your own back here?

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Yes, we always do our costumes here. Uh, my wife Rafaela, she's the academy director, but at the same time, she's a costume designer, so she makes all the costumes for the productions and all that.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Well, that's clever to marry a costume designer. That's smart of you.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

So what an artsy couple. Yeah, she was the principal dancer here in the company as well when we were dancing together. So, and then after when she retired, uh, she was already the academy director, but uh then she always liked to do costumes and she was doing from the beginning. Yeah, I remember when we were because when I came to the United States, I was in Chicago dancing, and then she started uh developing that taste for making uh unitards and um wear dance, uh dancewear, I'm sorry, for dancers. And um, and then she said, I'm gonna make you something. And I remember when she made my first uh unitar, the seam was twisted, and I said, It doesn't matter, I'll wear it. Yeah, that's so sweet. But it was, you know, uh she was self-taught, yeah, and you know, but she's great doing costumes, and uh, we work together, okay. I need this, and blah blah. How do you want it? So, depending on the style, so she might always work.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

So it's kind of a family operation around here, yeah. In a way, yes. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Kentucky Valley Theater works as a family because even with the dancers, uh, they love it to be here because we when they have a problem, they come to me right away. Hey, Norby, we we need this, or what do you think about this? So it's like you in big company, I'm telling you because I've been there sometimes, there is a jealousy of a role or professionally, sure. But here it's a healthy ambience, which is great. They help each other. Good. I always tell them if I have if you have a problem, you come to me first.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

So I can, you know, see what I can do to make it easier for everybody and to make everybody feel good. And I always tell them I don't like gossips or because that is kind of like you put a potato, bad potato into a sack, everything else is gonna get rotten.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

One bad apple, absolutely. That's correct.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

So I don't do that. I and they love it, they're great.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

And well, I mean, it's good too, since you know you had mentioned that you are helping so many of them at the very beginning of their career. So maybe you're setting the tone for like this is really how like a healthy company looks. Like, we're not gonna be giving into like competition and gossip and all these things that aren't and I always tell them, and not always it's gonna be the way it is here, sure.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

So, but at least if you have that shield, yeah, to or a baseline, exactly, you know where you need to be to keep to be a successful dancer without paying attention for any harmful uh comments from coming from other dancers that you can probably think, oh he's jealous because I got this role, yeah, and he or she didn't.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

So yeah, that has to be so well. I mean, just the performing arts is just so cutthroat. I mean, I did musical theater when I was in uh high school, and even then, you know, like in Norman, Oklahoma, it was like like cutthroat, and it's it's it's a hard, right? It's hard to not always get the parts that you want, you know.

How Choreography Meets New Audiences

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Yeah, but you gotta you gotta raise your bar and then from there go up, not down. Yeah, because that's the only way that you're gonna be successful in this business. And the world ballet has changed and it's keep changing, you know, with the choreographies, the way the choreographers set up new choreographies, as far as you know, uh contemporary pieces or neoclassical, so it's different than the way it was before 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Yeah, I was I was just about to ask, what is how has ballet changed in the time that you even the music that they're using now?

SPEAKER_00 20:16

It's really cool because you can see it, but you it's like making a drawing. You get a pen, and maybe you are inspired about this flower, and then you say, Okay, I'll go this straw here and go this way. But that's the way that they are looking at it now, in a way that they have this idea and they want to portray that with the dancers, so they get the music, they work with the light, so it's really cool when you see it all. When they do their choreography, they are working. I bring, for example, choreographers here. I don't watch it. I go away and when I say, tell me when it's done. When it's done, I come and see it, and then I'll enjoy it because I can see based on the synopsis, the concept that they have, how they translate that with the choreographic work. Yeah. And it's really cool because it's different. And every like like we always say in Cuba, every teacher has their own book. So it's the same with the choreographers, you know, they have their own way of uh seeing things and all that. So they they make it always in a way that is great, and at the same time for the dancers it's challenging and it's good because it makes them more versatile as far as you know working with different uh styles. So that's what it makes uh more of a professional dancer um to be able to do any type of dance.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Yeah, so are has choreography really changed like in the past like 10, 20 years too, in terms of like I mean, ballet is such a classic art form. Of course, it has you know precision in terms of like those certain moves, but is there more of a need lately to like push outside the box or be more of like what new audiences might want?

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Um, both because she always Uh me as a choreographer, I always, for example, here in Lexington. Um I'll try to make a new choreography. I always think about the audience that we have in Lexington.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Smart, yeah. But what is the audience of Lexington?

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Yeah, for example, um I have developed here a taste to do in Lexington, for example, a lot of uh the fairy tales but into ballet. Like, for example, uh Sleeping Beauty, of course. It's like one of the classic Little Mermaid, but don't think that you're gonna see Sebastian. Yeah, they're like all underwater, right? And it's really cool, very challenging, and then the element of the costuming and all that. I combine all that with the sets, it really brings the production to a different level. It's really good. Uh uh Beauty and the Beast. So all those big classics, I have brought that into ballet here, for example, because I know the audience loves that. But at the same time, I always try to introduce the real classics that you know, uh Sun Lake, uh Don Quixote now. I mean, things like that. So you can you need to give the audience a taste of different other ones so they just don't get used to the fairy tale ballads.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Yeah, you have to give them a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Same with the contemporary, we do that, and like I said, you know, we use this time of year to work on new works, choreographic works, uh, contemporary or neoclassical, so the audience can start developing that taste for it. And we've been doing this for 10 years. Because the first time we did it, uh we did it was in 2015 at the Downtown Arts Center. We call it Ballet Up Close and Personal. Uh, because I always thought I need to create do something. And then what I did is we did a show, I leave the dancer on stage, and then I walk out and I talk to the audience about you know what it takes to get there, that show specifically, the work that we do every day, the training, costumes, and all that, and then I'll ask the audience questions for the dancer, so they can tell it's like a QA, and it's really cool, and they can see the dancers so close that they can hear them breathing. I mean, all that they go through in a performance, like when you're at the opera house, you will not feel that. You will see it, but you will not hear the dancers breathing like all that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Yeah, so it's like an up close and personal and you this is the black box theater that you're talking about. The downtown. So I've never been there. Like, what is the setup? It's like the they're in the middle and the audience surrounds them.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

No, I uh what I did I the first time I did, I do it like an L-shaped, but then I change it just to do a proscenium, just in the front. So, but it's still you can uh you are so close to the dancers that uh you can see them so well, yeah, and then have that, you know, that you are part of the show. Yeah, that was the concept that I wanted.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Well, and I love that at the end, like you're breaking down, you know, the barrier between like, okay, you know, you've you've seen this. What questions do you have about this? Like how, you know, on a personal level, like with the dancers and and being a good one.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

And it's good to break that barrier of the fourth wall. Yeah, you have three on the stage, and then the audience is the fourth wall, so that's broken down so they can be part of the show. That was my whole concept. And we've been doing it for 10 years.

Venues Outdoor Shows Holiday Traditions

SPEAKER_01 25:22

I love that. So are can you do you do season tickets?

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Like how do people get uh they can go into our web website, wwkyballet.com, or they can call at 859-252-5245 to get information. But as well, they can call the Downtown Art Center and get tickets there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

But you see, you also perform at the opera house, though.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

You said that's our main venue. We do four shows a year there, and um three for the professional company as well. The Academy does the end of the year performance there, and then we do one at the downtown art center. And then as well, we do Ballon de Stars that I've been directing that since 2000. Oh, that's cool. You know, Bally under the Stars is a classic, it's one of the 20th best uh shows in the South in the United States.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Congrats!

SPEAKER_00 26:14

Yeah, we always get um maybe 8 to 10,000 people in in a weekend of performances, and now we're doing Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday five days of performances. The only thing is your um the weather is the only thing that you have against.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

I was wondering about that. What time of year is this usually?

SPEAKER_00 26:35

It's in August. In August. The first weekend of August.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

That's the only thing, you know. But other than that, uh it is it's great because uh the year before, no, nor in 2025. 2025 we didn't have any problem, but in 2024, we did only one day of performances, but in that day I did two shows. Okay, because you know it was raining every day. Yeah, and and it's fantastic because you know it's an outdoor event.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Where is it?

SPEAKER_00 27:00

It's at Woodland Park.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Woodland Park, cool.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Yes, and then they build a huge stage there, and we bring uh new works that we do there, and it's really cool because you bring your blanket, you sit down, maybe you have your wine or your picnic there, and it's really cool to bring the family kids, it it's suitable for anybody.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

Yeah, I love that. And it's free.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Uh no, uh no. It used to be cheaper. Yeah, yeah, sure. Three dollars, then five. I believe now it's eight dollars or ten. I mean, yeah, but it's it's I mean, it's nothing compared with what you get.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Because really, if you're gonna go and see a show, you gotta pay forty-fifty dollars at least. At least. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

And so what kind of um uh performances are during the Ballet Under the Stars?

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Like, we do the same. We combine contemporary neoclassical and classical pieces, so we bring it all there. But there is a pre-show as well that um the Parks and Ray does. They do an audition for uh kids with different ballet school, and then they set up a show, they have different themes, and and then they perform, they do a pre-show from 8 to 8 45, and then at 9 o'clock, the company, a professional company, will start performing.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Oh, I love that. So it's like dark, yeah. It's really under the stars.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

Yeah, it's really cool. I mean, it's amazing. And then if the where weather permits, it's always uh really great to be, you know, under the blanket of the stars and performing. And if it's not too hot, it's great. Uh huh. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

That's amazing. So have you ever done the nutcracker? Um, do you get that question a lot? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

We do not crackers of the nutcracker. No, well, you get used to. Yeah, sure. So it's like putting a Christmas tree at home. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. So you do it every year. Yeah. So that's what we we've been doing it here. I choreographed the nutcracker here in 2001 for the company. And then we we always change a little bit here and there, depending on the dancers, the choreography, you know, uh new uh costumes that you always have to reinvent a little so it doesn't get bored for you. Sure. And uh be a little bit more challenging for the dancers. Um, because not every dancer is the same. So depending based on the choreography that I set, if you are a dancer that you can jump, jump more or turn more, I will readjust the choreography for you and say, okay, now you do this turn here and this jump here. So to make it look good and at the same time it's challenging for you.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

Yeah, we've done it for 28 years.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Yeah, so you have to reinvent it or else you just be sick of it.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

Although I have to alternate before I created uh choreography called The Night Before Christmas. Oh yeah, based on the poem, I created a whole ballet and it's really cool. And the story is about Santa Claus's, you know, uh dropping all the gifts and he gets through a chimney into the house, and there is a mouse, like in the poem. Yes, he gets freaked out when he tried to run, he hit the head in the mantle of the chimney and he fought, he passed out. Then the kids hear all that commotion, they come out and they find Santa Claus and they help her and say, Well, Sana is not gonna be able to uh deliver all the gifts. Exactly. So he stays there, and then the kids in the family are the ones that they will go around the world to uh give the gifts to the other ones, and then they get to this place where the nicest kids they've been taken there for to have fun and all that, and then all these characters they perform for them. They come back to the house and then Santa wakes up and he's freaking out because he hasn't delivered anything, and then they explain to them that really, um, you know, everything had been taken care of. Santa leaves, and then the the the mom and dad they come out and they say, Well, I think I hear something. And the kid said, No, no, no, you're dreaming. But when they leave, Sana forgot that he put his uh pipe on top of the mantle, and then the father knew that really Sana was there. That's the end of it. But it, you know, in about a twists and turns. Maybe next we'll do uh it's so smart.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Yeah, because there's something about that time of year that people just you know love the ballet. It's like it's just like cozy and it's like so wonderful to go to you know productions where like you're with your family, but it's still about the right, you know, the holiday season. So I love that you're mixing it up.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

And we used to do here Christmas Carl as well.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

A long, long time ago. The former director created that as well. Uh, but we did it here for only about two years. But um no cracker every year or alternating with a night before Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

So which is good.

Cuba Giving Back Dracula Opera Classes

SPEAKER_01 31:42

So, what was it like growing up in Cuba? And how are uh how's the ballet different in Cuba as compared to the United States?

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Well, Cuba, um, growing up in Cuba, you know, it was very competitive because uh you could uh when I did my audition, for example, to get into the vocational school of arts, we went 200 kids. I was the only one that they picked. And uh it was like that. You have groups of different levels, but you know, it was very strict. And after when you went in the fifth uh year of ballet, they do what they is it was a big test that that will define you if you go into the pre-professional division. A lot of kids didn't pass that test, and they were it was like a ballet class, but you have to show uh you know the technique that you have and all that. So, and then and after you have to do a graduation performing to see if you can get into the professional company. Whoa, so yeah, it's three big cutthroat, uh-huh. Yeah, and it was like that. Um ballet in Cuba is a big thing, and uh what makes the Cuban uh dancers uh so successful in the world is the flair, the passion, yeah, how they perform, how powerful and how they do things that with that that flair, that taste in every role that they do, and that's why, plus a technique. It's not I I mean we cannot forget that. And since it's so strict, the the formation that you have in the ballet school, it's it's good, but at the same time, you know, a lot of people cannot make their dreams come true in Cuba.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Do you go back? I have been um every year I went to Cuba to the company that I was a professional dancer there in Ballet de Camaway, that's what it's called. And in that company, I I've been working with them since 2017, and I always set up a show and I bring a donation with all the costumes, choose and all that, because the situation in Cuba is not great.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

And uh so that way they can perform. So I'll bring all the costumes.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

So nice.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Yeah, yes. Last year I didn't go last year because uh they had a problem, uh health problem there with the virus that it was it wasn't COVID, but it was another one that it was really and bad, and I didn't want to go take chances to bring it back here home or anything like that. But I'll go every year and set up a show there, and oh, that's great as a guest choreographer.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

Yeah, yeah. So, what kind of shows have you done there?

SPEAKER_00 34:15

Oh, all types. I even set up No Cracker, Dracula, my Dracula, all those shows.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Oh, Dracula, that'd be amazing.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

Yeah, we always do it in October here at the Opera House. That's one of the uh favorite ones. Yeah, and Dracula is really cool. It's one of my favorite shows that I have choreographed here.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

Are you gonna do it this year?

SPEAKER_00 34:32

Yeah, great in October. Okay, great at the Opera House.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

I definitely want to see it.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

It's cool. It has uh sword fighting and all that, the different characters, the music, the dancing. It's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Yeah, there's been a big uptick in Dracula in the like the recent, you know, like movies and things like that. Yeah, even like such a classic character. Um tell me about what you think about Timothy Chalamet's recent remarks about the art, such as was it ballet and opera? Yes, that was yeah, what did he say? I mean, I thought of you immediately because it just happened this week.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

Yeah, well, that he made a comment that you know that, well, like he will not do ballet or opera to be an artist in a couple of words to say that way. Yeah, and it's a shame on him because his mother and I think his grandmother were ballet dancers. Crazy. So, in honor to that, I will not make a comment to, you know, like that because you know it's disrespectful, exactly. And it's like you're not giving any value to the what your mom did. Yeah, so um I respect everybody's opinion, but I think it was out of play to say something like that, and I'm sure a lot he got a lot a lot of slack because of that. He most certainly did, yeah. And uh, and it's terrible for an artist, because he's an actor, but he's an artist, to do a comment like that about certain performing arts that are such a valuable and traditional element here in the United States. Opera and ballet. I mean, they were bigger. Uh that's the thing. Opera and ballet were bigger than acting. Oh, yes. They are more ancient. Absolutely. So he doesn't think about that because you know, movies, uh, yeah, in the 20th, yeah, 1910, yeah when they started.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

A hundred years old, like babies.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

And then before that, ballet and opera were already big in the world. So it was a little bit out of place.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

It just made him look very out of touch too. Yeah, I think the whole art world, no matter where we came from, we're just like, what is wrong with you? And you're being, you know, he was up for an Oscar, which he did not get. And so people are thinking that that's all somehow related. But I thought that was, yeah, just really distasteful to ballet for sure.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

And to opera that is such because you know, I was a principal dancer at the Little Copera in Chicago, one of the best in the world. Uh and when I worked there, it was I got the the pleasure of working with artists, uh Samuel Reims, one of the bass uh more important in the world. I mean, uh, and incredible singers there, and I can see in opera the quality is extremely high. Oh yeah, and it's so good. The opera in Chicago is fantastic. I mean, I was a principal dancer that would give me uh free tickets, and then I didn't have people to give it, and people will beg me, Norbe, give me your ticket. And Rafaela, my wife, give me your ticket because we didn't have family here. Yeah, so I'll give it to people, and the dress rehearsal were packed, it's like sold out, but they didn't sell the tickets just by invitation or principal dancers that they will give it to us and all that, and it was packed because all the shows were sold out.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

Yeah, I just love that. Is it still the case now?

SPEAKER_00 37:47

Yeah, good. The opera in Chicago is oh yeah. I talked to Samuel Reims, he's a bass singer, deep voice, and he said, Man, your voice is a Norba. It took five years for the uh opera in Chicago to hire him because he was so busy around the world. Oh wow, five years, yeah, yeah. And I have a huge poster. He did Mephistophiles with us there, and he signed it. It's very cool.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Yeah, yeah. So do you go to opera a lot like here?

SPEAKER_00 38:17

Uh not here. I haven't, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

Do we have opera in Lexington?

SPEAKER_00 38:22

Uh the like UK? The UK opera with Everett McCorby. We have worked together and all that. When they have a show that I have time, I'll go. But sometimes, you know, since we are always busy here, even weekends and all that. Um, but we had the pleasure to have worked together. Uh Alicia, his wife, and other singers that they are at UK opera, have worked with us in Carmen and ballets like that that I have set up here that have singing because I want singing there, so they have brought uh singers here.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

That's so neat. So there is like some overlap between the two. I have that.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

I have uh when I choreographed Carmen, I have like um three characters that they will sing.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Oh, incredible!

SPEAKER_00 39:02

And it's really cool. They were singing, and then the dancers in the front were performing while they were singing in the tavern. I love it. Ali Las Pasia is what they call it, that is a tavern. It's really cool for Carmen.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

Amazing. So that way you get a little taste of both. Exactly, exactly. I mean, you are one of I think the hardest working, busiest guys I know. I mean, like, what's your typical week look like? Uh Monday through Sunday. Sunday through Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

Yeah, we work uh the company works uh Tuesday through Saturday, a professional company. The school runs Monday through Saturday, but on weekends, like right now, we are working on Sundays because we have performances, we have rehearsals, and we are working in two production at the same time, so it's pretty tight schedule. And then when I say, okay, I have a Monday off, I gotta sit at home, sit on the computer, and then you know, okay, I gotta put this here for the week of rehearsal for the dancers. Yeah, because I give them a schedule so they know what they were gonna be doing during the week. Because, you know, some some of them sometimes they teach in another place, not here in Fayette County because of the conflict of interest. Because all the dancers they they can do that as well, teach ballet classes. So most of them teach here in the academy. We give we don't hire any other teachers, we give our professional dancers a chance to teach our students, which is great. It's another income, and at the same time, it's a way of uh developing, helping them to expand their uh skill as a ballet teacher.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

Yeah, so the it you can take classes, yes. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:40

I did not realize like anyone, anyone, and we have adult kids, and yeah, adults and kids, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:45

Gotcha. I thought it was just like a production company. No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

We have an academy and then we have a lot of students at different levels, and we as well have adults that they come and say, I want to take ballot class. Okay, perfect.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

Amazing. So we do that, yeah, from like so, like even you know, even if you don't have a vacuum, yeah, it doesn't matter. Cool. So you can just show up. Yeah, it's like an exercise. Okay, yeah, an exercise class. It's incredible. Okay, great. So tell us more about um it ways that we I mean, especially considering that we uh there might be people that were would be interested in taking classes. What are you mentioned your website, what social media are you guys on?

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Yeah, we always are in social media, the website, and it like I mentioned, uh you just go in kyballet.com and get information there, or call 859-252-5245, and then you can call our office here, ask for Jennifer, which is our office manager, and then she can tell you all about it.

SPEAKER_01 41:43

Okay, sounds great. Well, thank you so much for letting me interview the video. Yeah, we've said from the beginning to reminisce from your old days. Yeah, sounds great. Yeah, perfect. Well, we'll be in touch, and I'm definitely going to the um Valley Under the Stars. That sounds right up my alley, too. That's great. And Donkey. Donkey. Yeah, Don Kyote. Thanks again. I think I took it there.