Joffrey Ballet Dress Rehearsal for Prince Collaboration (Iowa City, Iowa 27th January 1993)

"IT'S BEING ADVERTISED AS ``BALLET WITH A BEAT.'' ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT, THE JOFFREY BALLET WILL TEAM UP WITH ROCK STAR PRINCE FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE OF ``BILLBOARDS,'' WHAT THE BALLET'S ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CALLS THE NATION'S FIRST FULL-LENGTH ROCK BALLET. ``I DON'T WANT TO SOUND PRESUMPTUOUS, BUT IT WILL BE THE BEGINNING OF WHAT I TERM THE `BALLET OF THE 90S,''' SAID GERALD ARPINO, THE JOFFREY'S CO-FOUNDER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR. ``DOING `BILLBOARDS,' TO ME, IS A VERY IMPORTANT MOMENT IN DANCE HISTORY.'' THE SHOW IS THE JOFFREY'S THIRD COLLABORATION WITH HANCHER AUDITORIUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. HANCHER HAS PUT ABOUT $250,000 TOWARD ``BILLBOARDS,'' WHICH WILL COVER NEARLY A THIRD OF THE PRODUCTION COSTS. ARPINO'S INSPIRATION FOR ``BILLBOARDS'' CAME FROM THE THOUSANDS OF MILES HE AND THE JOFFREY HAVE DRIVEN OVER THE YEARS, WITH THE GLITTERING BILLBOARDS ALONG SUNSET STRIP THAT ADVERTISE THE RECORD INDUSTRY STANDING OUT IN HIS MEMORY. PRINCE'S ROLE RESULTED FROM HIS ATTENDING A JOFFREY PERFORMANCE HIS FIRST TRIP TO THE BALLET. HE WAS SO INSPIRED THAT HE ANNOUNCED HE WOULD WRITE MUSIC FOR THE BALLET COMPANY. IT STARTED OUT WITH AN EXTENDED VERSION OF ``THUNDER'' FROM HIS ``DIAMONDS AND PEARLS'' ALBUM, BUT HE INVITED ARPINO TO CHOOSE WHATEVER SONGS HE WANTED FROM THE SINGER'S CAREER. ARPINO HAS CHOSEN 13 SONGS FOR THE PERFORMANCE, WHICH WILL BE DIVIDED UP INTO FOUR SECTIONS FEATURING THE WORK OF FOUR PROMINENT AMERICAN CHOREOGRAPHERS: LAURA DEAN, CHARLES MOULTON, PETER PUCCI AND MARGO SAPPINGTON."

[@hopeclayburnsax9369]

Cool video! Wish I could have seen this back in the day.

[@joannmschultz1647]

I was fortunate enough to see this--with my (now) late sister--when it toured in Cleveland, Ohio. We were in (about) the 8th row. SO close to the stage--hearing pointe shoes as triking the floor, as they danced! I'd had to CONVINCE Carol to see a LIVE performance, by an acclaimed Ballet Company, accompanied by the equally acclaimed Cleveland Orchestra (Took her to Nutracker with me. THAT was VERY hard to get her to see--as The (then) Cleveland Ballet performed EVERY year, for the entire month of December, in the late 80's. She said after seeing Baryshnikov(SIC?)--albeit on TV--NOTHING could be better than HIS performance! The short ending: Carol was blown away by the LIVE performance ( of BOTH Ballets)! It is a memory etched in my heart, sharing those performances with my BFF-Sister.
Oh, and she'd said, as we left, seeing the live performance was SO MUCH better than ANY PERFORMANCE on TV! 🤗

[@JenniferSerenity]

I visited the campus of the University of Iowa in 1996 for I was considering going to law school there. I had a tour guide who had no idea of my obsession with Prince. When they told me Prince was on campus once to observe the dress rehearsal for this ballet I was sold. LOL. I only have seen parts of the ballet online. I called the Joffrey Ballet years ago to see if it would be made available on DVD and they said at that time no. Thanks for making me want to see where to find more clips online. Xo Thanks for sharing!!

[@archivesavi2927]

Wow that's awesome, thank you for sharing :) If you check out Vimeo there are complete recordings of the 'Billboards' performance by the Joffrey Ballet which showcased Prince's music

[@JenniferSerenity]

@@archivesavi2927 Yaah! Thank you. I ended up attending and graduating from the U of Iowa law school ;) c'2000 xo

[@catherinebartlett3756]

William thunder