Clay Rice's children's book Ants 'N' Uncles is becoming a ballet. Choreographed by Josha Williams of International Ballet of Greenville, the new production debuts May 9th with three free performances across the Greenville area, including a featured slot at the Artisphere festival downtown.
-- International Ballet of Greenville will premiere a new children’s ballet adaptation of Ants ’N’ Uncles, the popular picture book by silhouette artist Clay Rice, on Saturday, May 9th. The production will be performed three times in one day at venues across the Greenville area, including a featured performance at the Artisphere arts festival.
Interested parties can find more information at Rice Galleries.
Choreographed by Josha Williams, Trainee Program Director at International Ballet of Greenville, the ballet adapts Clay Rice’s rhyming children’s book into a movement-based storytelling experience. The original book follows an uncle who steps on an ant hill and is sent on an involuntary, around-the-world dance tour, with stops in Texas, Mexico, and Egypt, among other locations. Williams’s adaptation translates the story’s humor, rhythm, and global travel into choreography performed by International Ballet’s Trainee dancers, ages 12 to 17.
The May 9th schedule includes performances at 10:00 AM at the Five Forks Library in Simpsonville, 11:30 AM at the Hughes Main Library in downtown Greenville, and 2:30 PM on the Fred Collins Stage at the Grand Bohemian Lodge as part of the Artisphere festival. All three performances are free and open to the public, with no tickets or registration required.
The Artisphere performance marks the ballet’s inclusion in one of the largest arts festivals in the Southeast. The Fred Collins Stage is a covered outdoor stage located on the lawn of the Grand Bohemian Lodge near Falls Park.
Williams has led the choreography for International Ballet’s Storytime ballet series for several years, with each production created specifically for the current group of Trainee dancers. The library performance program is part of International Ballet’s broader community mission to provide free arts experiences for families across the region.
The connection between Williams and Rice extends beyond this production. Williams first met Clay Rice when she commissioned a silhouette of her son. She later discovered that Rice’s grandfather, the late silhouette artist Carew Rice, had cut silhouettes of her own grandfather and great-grandfather decades earlier, a generational link that Williams has cited as part of her inspiration for adapting Ants ’N’ Uncles into a ballet.
International Ballet of Greenville is a nonprofit organization supported by the South Carolina Arts Commission, the Greenville Metropolitan Arts Council, and individual and corporate donors. The organization’s Trainee program serves as the entry point to its Youth Company and produces work ranging from community library performances to mainstage productions at the Peace Center in downtown Greenville.
Contact Info:
Name: Clay Rice
Email: Send Email
Organization: Clay Rice Galleries
Address: 9057 Wiggins Road, Green Pond, SC 29446, United States
Phone: +1-843-697-4353
Website: https://ricegalleries.com/
Source: PressCable
Release ID: 89191142
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