Ballerina Melanie Hamrick speaks with L'OFFICIEL about creating a special dance showcase to support the ballet community, featuring holiday favorites like "The Nutcracker" and "Don Quixote."

From <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/politics-culture/nyc-ballet-empire-rooftop-lincoln-center" target="_blank">pirouetting on rooftops</a> to taking center stage in three new TV shows, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop%20culture/ballet-trend-on-pointe-tiny-pretty-things-netflix-dance-show" target="_blank">ballet is having a moment</a>. For its next act, a global community of dancers is uniting to present a special holiday gala open to all. The virtual showcase, titled A Night at the Ballet, premieres tonight and will be available to stream for free through December 20, although donations are welcome. Created and directed by esteemed ballerinas <a href="https://www.instagram.com/melhamrick/?hl=en" target="_blank">Melanie Hamrick</a>, <a href="https://www.joannadefelice.com/about" target="_blank">Joanna DeFelice</a>, and <a href="http://christineshevchenko.com/" target="_blank">Christine Shevchenko</a>, the performances feature&nbsp;dancers from six top companies from New York City, St. Petersburg, and San Francisco.&nbsp;

To make the show possible, Hamrick, DeFelice, and Shevchenko established a brand new production company and platform,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.liveartsglobal.com/" target="_blank">Live Arts Global</a>, where people can stream performing arts content at no cost. &ldquo;It&#39;s amazing, because it&#39;s three female artists, all with dance backgrounds,&rdquo; Hamrick tells L&rsquo;OFFICIEL. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s woman power&mdash;Christine is a phenomenal superstar ballerina with <a href="https://www.abt.org/" target="_blank">American Ballet Theatre</a>, and our colleague Joanna has an incredible ballet and contemporary background.&rdquo;

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Hamrick herself <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/arts/dance/melanie-hamrick-retiring-ballet.html">retired</a> from ABT in 2019, after 15 years as a member of its corps de ballet. With experience choreographing and producing&mdash;she and her partner, Rolling Stones frontman <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/Culture/5-times-harry-styles-reminded-us-of-mick-jagger" target="_blank">Mick Jagger</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/apr/19/rolling-stones-ballet-porte-rouge-new-york-lincoln-center" target="_blank">created a rock ballet</a> inspired by the British band&rsquo;s music last year&mdash;Live Arts Global seemed like a natural next step, but was also born out of a desire to give back. &ldquo;Our goal is to bring classical ballet to our beloved audiences at no cost and hopefully bring in new fans at the same time,&rdquo; Hamrick says.

A Night at the Ballet isn&rsquo;t only to benefit the audience, but also intended to support the dancers and stage crew involved, who have largely been out of work since the pandemic hit. With theatres across New York City still dark, live arts have all but ceased this year. Offering the next best thing&mdash;a private stage and virtual audience&mdash;Hamrick and her colleagues pulled together <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/gabriela-hearst-pre-fall-2020-ballerinas" target="_blank">dancers</a> from American Ballet Theatre, <a href="https://www.nycballet.com/" target="_blank">New York City Ballet</a>, Mariinsky Theatre, and San Francisco Ballet, along with former talent from Alvin Ailey and <a href="https://www.dancetheatreofharlem.org/" target="_blank">Dance Theater of Harlem</a>, to film the special performances.

&ldquo;To give the dancers the sense of being on stage again was really special,&rdquo; Hamrick shares. &ldquo;Without shows and music and theater, New York doesn&#39;t feel like New York. But everyone has kept a really amazing outlook that we will come back. Let&#39;s keep the momentum and hope.&rdquo;

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Producing the entire show in just under two months amidst the pandemic, the dancers had to get used to a different kind of logistical choreography, too. All the dancers quarantined, or &ldquo;bubbled&rdquo; as Hamrick refers to it, for two weeks before getting to step onto the stage, which they sanitized along with the dressing rooms before the next dancer entered.&nbsp;

Filmed socially distant at a small New York theatre, A Night at the Ballet promises to bring an intimate performance. Featuring beloved excerpts from Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote, and The Nutcracker, in addition to arrangements from After the Rain and Flower Festival, the showcase is a classical ballet medley. Viewers will also get to see a new commissioned piece from former <a href="https://www.alvinailey.org/" target="_blank">Alvin Ailey</a> stars Antonio and Kirven Douthit-Boyd. When choosing what to include, Hamrick says they considered both what they thought audiences would enjoy&mdash;like the favorite Sugar Plum Pas de Deux from The Nutcracker&mdash;and what &ldquo;we as dancers love to see.&rdquo;

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While the world at large opens up at different rates, so too does dance. St. Petersburg&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/" target="_blank">Mariinsky Theatre</a> has reopened to the public, but <a href="https://www.sfballet.org/" target="_blank">San Francisco Ballet</a> has moved to virtual programming for its 2021 season. It was also recently <a href="https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/American-Ballet-Theatre-Cancels-2021-Season-at-the-Metropolitan-Opera-House-20201201" target="_blank">announced</a> that ABT won&rsquo;t be returning to the Metropolitan Opera House for Spring 2021, instead offering digital productions and outdoor performances. To be able to unite dancers from various companies across the globe has shown Hamrick the strong sense of community in the ballet world. She notes that having dancers from Mariinsky and San Francisco lend their support to those in New York, who are still without a studio or theater to perform in, has felt particularly special.

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Although Hamrick herself stepped away from the stage, she hopes to continue creating through Live Arts Global and other projects, like evolving Porte Rouge, the Rolling Stones-inspired ballet. In some ways, she feels that the pandemic catalyzed a new chapter for her. After retiring from ABT, she intended to freelance and work as a choreographer, but without regular practice and training it will be difficult to get back into dancing. &ldquo;Maybe [it] pushed me into full retirement sooner than I would&rsquo;ve liked,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;but it also opened a door to a new career, which I am blessed for as well.&rdquo;

A Night at the Ballet will be available to stream via <a href="https://www.liveartsglobal.com/" target="_blank">Live Arts Global</a>&nbsp;from December 17, 2020 at&nbsp;7 p.m. EST.

Former American Ballet Theatre Mainstay Melanie Hamrick Presents A Night at the Ballet

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