It's not unusual to see classical ballet being performed to non-classical music. Over the last twenty years, it's become more and more popular for choreographers to create works set to rock music; the most famous example being the Joffrey Ballet's "Billboards," of course, which was set to music by Prince. Well, it was just announced that we're getting the ultimate rock ballet - set to the music of arguably the most famous rock band to ever live...The Rolling Stones. Just before Christmas, ABT corps member Melanie Hamrick announced that she will be not be performing with the company during their spring season, and instead will be collaborating on a new work with her longtime boyfriend, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. There have been rumors that we may get something like this for the last few months, since Hamrick posted a video on Instagram of her 2-year-old son Dev (who she had with Jagger) dancing to one of the band's best known songs, "Let's Spend The Night Together." But Hamrick's Instagram post confirmed it, saying that Youth America Grand Prix has commissioned the project to premiere at their gala in New York City in April, with another performance scheduled at the Mariinsky Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Though we don't have too many details yet, we do know that the music will be 'curated' by Jagger. Page Six has reported that we'll probably hear classic songs such as "You Can't Always Get What You Want," "Paint it Black," and "She's a Rainbow." And if you (like me!) can't get enough of their awesome music, the band is heading out on their "No Filter Tour" in April, which will be their first extended tour around the United States since 2015. Hopefully the new piece will hit the road in the near future as well!