Repertoire

In 2018 premiere The Space in Between, Ballet 5:8’s Artistic Director Julianna Slager draws inspiration from The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, exploring the nature of eternity and the joy found on its shores.

An audience favorite, The Four Seasons of the Soul is an intense, poignant reflection on life expressed through the four seasons of nature. The neoclassical work is a beautiful, unforgettable experience that challenges us to see life through the lens of the bigger picture.

The 2017 premiere “All God’s Children” is a ballet based on a poem by Sojourner Truth.

Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director Julianna Slager's 2017 premiere The Mother is an interpretation of the poem by Pulitzer Prize author and Chicagoan Gwendolyn Brooks.

The 2017 premiere Shades of Refrain is a modern day plunge into the deep end of human emotion. It peels back the layers of disguise and masquerade to reveal the naked human heart.

The 2017 premiere Strangers and Angels is set in Ellis Island 1917 and 2017. Strangers pass under the shadow of Lady Liberty eager for a fresh start and filled with hope.

This innovative full length ballet - inspired by the novel The Scarlet Letter - is a hybrid work that uses both film and dance to portray a deeply emotional story. Premiered in March, 2017 at the Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago. 

Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director Julianna Slager's 2016 premiere Meditations uses light and movement to contemplate experience and perspective.

Ripple Effect is an intensely physical and emotional work by Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director Julianna Slager that uses movement to explore and reflect the reality of words: they may seem very small, but their impact echoes.

Julianna Slager's Before the Vows looks at the sweetness and pure beauty of romance.

Choreographed by former Houston Ballet dancer Caleb Mitchell, The Stor(ies) of You and Me considers the many stories that shape our story and make us who we are. 

Eden is a neoclassical ballet that reflects on the story of creation as set in motion by the Master Creator, painting a living, moving picture of the first seven days of the existence of our world.

Something of a sequel to Julianna Slager's 2014 work Indwelling, Interplay presents a formidable exploration of the human imagination. The works two main characters, Wisdom and Folly, embody an ongoing debate within the mind and imagination. Exploring concepts drawn from the book of Proverbs and employing an angular, geometric movement style, Interplay is a captivating duel of movement, ideas and emotion. 

Belteshazzar: A Perilous Tale is a full-length story ballet in three acts, created by Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director Julianna Slager in 2015 to bring an old, familiar and yet relevant story to life in the form of classical ballet. 

And Mercy is a work created especially for Ballet 5:8 by New York choreographer and Chicago native Preston Miller. And Mercy explores concepts of judgment, grace and mercy in an athletic, contemporary style that engages the eye in continuous, connected movement emerging seamlessly from the music

Mi Familia is a flamenco-styled ballet is drawn from Artistic Director Julianna Slager’s own experiences growing up in a multi-racial family. The work celebrates the beauty of family and relationships that transcends racial and cultural differences.

Sigao Ekklesia presents a challenging shift in perspective, technically, artistically, intellectually and emotionally from the company’s largely neoclassical repertoire. The beauty of the thing is that Sigao challenges our perspective with captivating results.

The Story of Job is a two-act neoclassical ballet that asks the question, "why does God allow bad things happen to good people?"

Musings, a comical work about the love of dance, is a chance for the dancers to show their witty side and a chance for you to join us in a good laugh. 

As We Pray is a contemporary ballet inspired by our human need – seemingly rooted in the very the depths of our souls – to reach up and be in communication with God. In the ballet, the choreography of Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director Julianna Slager takes us through living, moving, emotion-filled pictures of many different kinds prayer.