Ballet co.Laboratory 2023/24 ANNUAL REPORT

October 4, 2024

We invite you to read between these pages for the results from our 6th season, Page To Stage: A Season Of Novel Ideas. Thank you to our collaborators who helped make these activities possible. Together, we are reframing the narrative of what ballet is and who ballet is for.

Ballet co.Laboratory 2022/23 ANNUAL REPORT

October 1, 2023

Ballet Co.Laboratory would like to share our heartfelt thanks for our generous 2022/23 supporters. As you review our Report to the Community, we hope you will reflect on the great impact our donor's have made on our community of professional artists, students, and outreach participants. 

New ballet show honors women's creativity and resilience through their evolving relationship to the kitchen

Fox 9
March 26, 2023

St. Paul's Ballet Co. Labratory's new show, "Kitchen Dances," features performances in a rebuilt "Frankfurt Kitchen," an efficient kitchen plan developed by a female architect in 1926 to give women more time outside the home.

‘the snow queen’ review: Hans Christian andersen’s magical tale of friendship revisited

Star Tribune
Sheila Regan
December 7, 2022

In addition to the enthusiasm the company sparks in fans, it showed its gift for originality. Rather than producing yet another version of “The Nutcracker” for the holiday season, it veered, setting a Hans Christian Andersen tale to music by British composer Dame Ethel Smyth.

Ballet Co.Laboratoty 2021/22 Annual Report

September 1, 2022

As the curtain rises on Ballet Co.Laboratory's 5th anniversary, we'd like to take a moment to thank our donors for their gracious support throughout our 2021/22 season. Last season was noteworthy in so many ways and we are delighted to present you with the results of our 4th season in our 2021/22 Report to the Community.

‘Lunar Lullaby’ re-creates classic children’s book ‘goodnight moon’ through dance

Pioneer Press
Ross Raihala
February 17, 2022

The idea is to bring the book to life through dance for a young audience. That said, Waterbury thinks teens and adults will relate as well, to nostalgia for the source material or through the music, which includes jazz and popular hits from Frank Sinatra, Van Morrison, Doris Day, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Ella Fitzgerald.

When ‘Nutcracker’ meets ‘wonderland', a new friendship forms amid the wonders, mysteries

Star Tribune
Sheila Regan
December, 2021

The concept of Ballet Co.Laboratory's production changed up the usual Nutcracker fare taken up by local ballet companies all over. It’s popularity is enduring for its score, the imaginative world it creates and perhaps because the ballet has become a kind of proxy recital for companies that have attached educational programs, where young students perform with pro dancers.

Ballet Co.laboratory expansion includes new theater venue

The St. Paul Voice
Jake Spitzack
December, 2021

"'The theater will give us the opportunity to present on a more regular basis and let the community see what we have to offer,” said Artistic Director Zoé Henrot. “It will also give other small to mid-size performing arts organizations an affordable 200-seat venue to share their art in.'"

In a first, American Ballet Theater dancers set to rock Minnesota's Arboretum

Star Tribune
Rohan Preston
July 8, 2021

Anna Roehr, school studio manager at St. Paul-based Ballet Co.Laboratory, is bringing nine youngsters to one workshop.

There are not many moments when a dancer in Minnesota gets in-person lessons from an experienced ABT dancer, Roehr said.

"We've had virtual classes, over 1,200 of those, and outdoor performances to stay engaged. And we can teach and even make progress on Zoom. But just being in the same space, being able to see one of the bigger companies in the U.S. and the world, and taking classes physically together — that's meaningful to me and my students, as well," she added.

Ballet Co.Laboratory’s unique business model has kept its dancers securely employed throughout the pandemic

Pointe Magazine
Kyra Laubacher
March 22, 2021

“As a company, even though we dance together beautifully, we have different body types and backgrounds, and we all identify very differently. That's what allows us to tell all these diverse narratives that haven't been told authentically yet. We always give a nod to what came before us—we wouldn't be here without our history—but we do reimagine that rep.”

Local ballet company pivoted. Now see their pirouettes.

Pioneer Press
Kathy Berdan
March 17, 2021

When the pandemic knocked performing arts flat a year ago, it didn’t take Ballet Co.Laboratory long to get back on its toes.

Four days after the March 13, 2020, COVID-19 shutdown, Ballet Co.Laboratory was teaching classes via Zoom. Even though Co.Lab founder and artistic director Zoe Henrot says she’d never used the video conferencing technology before.

Tiny Balcony Concerts bring huge joy in Ramsey Hill neighborhood

Pioneer Press
Kathy Berdan
September 29, 2020

“It’s just a little moment of joy,” Beeman said. They’ve seen Mettenbrink perform with a cellist, accordionist and neighbor Dan Chouinard and dancer Zoe Henrot, founder and artistic director of St. Paul’s Ballet Co.Laboratory. They’ve been there for Tango Tuesdays, the last of which will be Tuesday, Sept. 29.

Henrot and some of the dancers from her company will be back for the finale. In an email, Henrot said, “Emilia is collaborating with the entire Ballet Co.Laboratory Company and some of our advanced students. We will have 16 swans dancing in total!”

Violinist Emilia Mettenbrink's Tiny Balcony Concerts take a bow on Oct. 2

Classical Music Features MPR
Bill Ward
September 29, 2020

As the corner of Portland Avenue and Kent Street became something of a musical mecca, Mettenbrink reached out to her fellow yoga instructor, Ballet Co.Laboratory artistic director Zoé Henrot, and soon enough there were occasional dancers on the sidewalk in front of the house.

The crowds, sitting across the street on steps or chairs in front of St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church, steadily grew by the dozens. Chouinard estimated that 50 or 60 people watched when Henrot performed "The Dying Swan" from Camille Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals.

Twin Cities dance community puts its toe into uncharted territory this fall

Sheila Regan
September 17, 2020

Ballet Co-Laboratory will take things outdoors for its “Drive-In Forward” fundraiser Oct. 24, with music streamed into vehicles.

Cowles announces 2020-21 season

Pamela Espeland
September 16, 2020

The Cowles Center has announced a 2020-21 season that honors earlier commitments and looks toward the future, when every performance might be a hybrid.

Called “Take Back the Stage,” it will feature artists who were scheduled to perform in the Spring 2020 season but never got the chance. Most performances will be available two ways: live and in person on the Goodale Stage (with capacity limits and other safety protocols in place) and livestreamed.

PIONEER PRESS | FALL ARTS GUIDE

Kathy Berdan
September 12, 2020

The dance company kicks off its 2020-21 season with “Drive-In Forward” on Oct. 24. Guests will cruise over to the BCL parking lot in St. Paul for an afternoon of dance and other amusements from the comfort (and safety) of their own vehicles. Music will be streamed to guests’ car radios while dancers perform live on an outdoor stage. The season will continue with a dance film for the holidays and the premiere of the delayed “Freddie — Break Free,” a contemporary rock ballet exploring the life of Queen’s Freddie Mercury. For info on the season of the drive-in event, go to balletcolaboratory.org.