Find something fun to do with our calendar of downtown events.
Find something fun to do with our calendar of downtown events.
There’s always something fun going on downtown! Below you’ll find a list of events scheduled for today. Use the filters at the top to find events by date, keyword, and more. You can also view the calendar by month or as a list of 20 events at a time.
Have an event to submit to our calendar? If it is located downtown (within our service area) and open to the public, it’s likely we’ll include it. Send us your event info using our event submission form.
Subscribe to our weekly “e-vents” emails to get downtown event information delivered straight to your inbox.
On Friday, April 12 at 8 pm; Saturday, April 13 at 8 pm; and Sunday, April 14 at 3 pm in the Schuster Center, the Dayton Ballet is thrilled to present Sleeping Beauty: The Story of Briar Rose, the third full-length story ballet of the 2018–2019 Vistas Season. The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, under the leadership of Artistic Director and Conductor Neal Gittleman, will provide Tchaikovsky’s captivating score as the sixth concert in the DPAA’s 2018–2019 Premier Health Masterworks Series.
Leadership Sponsor for this production is ELM Foundation, and Supporting Sponsor is Enterprise Roofing. DPAA’s Innovation Partner for this 2018-2019 Vistas Season is the DP&L Foundation: Powering Innovation in the Performing Arts.
The classic story of Sleeping Beauty was first performed as a ballet in Russia in 1890, with music from the famed composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The story of the beautiful princess, her guardian fairies, the evil spell of the darkened slumber, and the magic kiss has been passed down through generations. The lovely fairy tale has appeared on stage in so many different forms over the last 130 years, depending on the vision of the storyteller at hand.
Dayton Ballet Artistic Director Karen Russo Burke has her own magical vision of this story, influenced by the artwork of Gustav Klimt. Dayton Ballet presents a classical version of Sleeping Beauty with a few creative twists of our own. This original presentation of this classic tale is draped lusciously in nature, with settings of whimsical gardens and ominous forests, with fairies named after flowers from which they pull their virtues, and even down to the beautiful name of our leading maiden: Briar Rose. Evil enters in the form of a vulture-like forest villain named Cinereous, and one prick of the finger from a black rose turns sweet Briar Rose into our beloved Sleeping Beauty.
With original libretto and choreography by Karen Russo Burke, unique costumes by well-known dance designer Christine Darch, amazing sets by Lewis Folden, and live music from the impeccable Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Sleeping Beauty: The Story of Briar Rose takes the stage by storm to steal your heart away.
The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra (DPO), under the leadership of Artistic Director and Conductor Neal Gittleman, joins Dayton Ballet to present this riveting story ballet. “Sleeping Beauty is one of Tchaikovsky’s greatest scores, full of beautiful, colorful music that really lets the orchestra shine—even from ten feet below stage level!” said Conductor Neal Gittleman. “For me, the wonder of Tchaikovsky’s ballet writing is how he masters the three completely different kinds of music that classical ballet demands: short pieces of varying character for the choreographic showpieces, pageantry numbers for the crowd scenes, and narrative dramatic music to tell the story. Sleeping Beauty has all of those, and it’s all amazing, glorious music.”
“Behind the Ballet,” a Q&A with dancers that gives audiences the opportunity to learn more about the life of a dancer with Dayton Ballet, will follow each performance in the theatre.
Tickets for Sleeping Beauty: The Story of Briar Rose begin at $15 and are available at Ticket Center Stage (937) 228-3630 or online at www.daytonperformingarts.org. Senior, teacher and student discounts available at box office. For more information or to order subscriptions, including flexible subscription types that include performances by Dayton Philharmonic, Dayton Opera and Dayton Ballet, visit www.daytonperformingarts.org.