Antwan “Big Boi” Patton (one half of hip hop duo Outkast) is making history with the world’s first hip hop ballet. Teaming up with Atlanta Ballet choreographer Lauri Stallings, they aim to create a fusion of the best elements of these seemingly opposite ends of the musical spectrum.
Big Boi’s contemporary style may seem inherently different from the traditional and classical sounds that normally echo through an Atlanta Ballet performance. But, Stallings said, as a choreographer it’s not a stretch to equate one of hip-hop’s biggest names with some of the most venerated composers who are usually the backdrop for traditional ballets.
“For me [Big Boi's music] sounds like Shostakovich, Stravinsky a little … just today’s Stravinsky,” Stallings said.
“Big” opens today for a limited six show run.
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Reddit
StumbleUpon
this reminds me of when a ballet company in Minneapolis did an entire ballet to Prince’s music many years ago. It was pretty cool. I’d love to see this.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Fusion is next. We see it everywhere recently. Restaurants, clothing, and art. This is one of many steps to melting the world together more and more. Many marketing people say that “everything has been created already”, making it hard to make something new. To make something new it seems to be more and more entrepreneurs are starting to mix the pot. It is great to see a well known pop-music star use some leverage to gain attention.
April 12th, 2008 at 10:35 am