Scarlet: A Dance-Film Hybrid

Ballet 5:8 artistic director Julianna Slager’s Scarlet gives audiences a fresh look and response to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel The Scarlet Letter. The groundbreaking, multidisciplinary production will use classical ballet, film, and spoken word to bring the classic story to life.

The full-length ballet follows the iconic Hester Prynne as she wrestles with her open guilt and grief in a judgmental society, even while Reverend Dimmesdale suffers in silence with his hidden sin and secret love. The classic story delves into the timeless struggles of hypocrisy, shame, and, ultimately, the hope of redemption.

Building from a stunning score by American modernist composer Charles Ives, Scarlet blends an original spoken word performance by local artist Kylla Pate with film elements directed by Alvin Ailey choreographer and film producer Preston Miller. The project weaves the visual strength of film and the emotional impact of spoken word into the beauty, grace, and power of ballet.