STORY BALLET is a surreal dance theater quintet re-interpolating Hector Berlioz’s historic 1830 composition, Symphonie Fantastique. This re-contextualization queers the original tale into an 75-minute contemporary performance exploring the intersection of mental health de-stigmatization and perception. The work engages technology to externalize the internal experience of the lived realities of performers navigating fragmentation, physical labor, and identity.

Berlioz’s original narrative objectifies “the/a woman” as an obsession that haunts him throughout the program music’s narrative. STORY BALLET subverts this concept, redefining the symphony’s story as “dancing with the ghost of one’s self” and uses the symphony’s five movements as dramaturgical frameworks for examination. The cast of five embodies different facets of the central character, each grappling with their own obsessions and past selves. Noir lighting, holographic projections akin to 1800’s Pepper’s Ghost illusions, motion capture, sculptural laser walls and live sound sampling reinforce the performers’ descent into a phantasmagoric nightmare.

STORY BALLET is a surreal dance theater quintet re-interpolating Hector Berlioz’s historic 1830 composition, Symphonie Fantastique. This re-contextualization queers the original tale into an 75-minute contemporary performance exploring the intersection of mental health de-stigmatization and perception. The work engages technology to externalize the internal experience of the lived realities of performers navigating fragmentation, physical labor, and identity.

Berlioz’s original narrative objectifies “the/a woman” as an obsession that haunts him throughout the program music’s narrative. STORY BALLET subverts this concept, redefining the symphony’s story as “dancing with the ghost of one’s self” and uses the symphony’s five movements as dramaturgical frameworks for examination. The cast of five embodies different facets of the central character, each grappling with their own obsessions and past selves. Noir lighting, holographic projections akin to 1800’s Pepper’s Ghost illusions, motion capture, sculptural laser walls and live sound sampling reinforce the performers’ descent into a phantasmagoric nightmare.

STORY BALLET is a surreal dance theater quintet re-interpolating Hector Berlioz’s historic 1830 composition, Symphonie Fantastique. This re-contextualization queers the original tale into an 75-minute contemporary performance exploring the intersection of mental health de-stigmatization and perception. The work engages technology to externalize the internal experience of the lived realities of performers navigating fragmentation, physical labor, and identity.

Berlioz’s original narrative objectifies “the/a woman” as an obsession that haunts him throughout the program music’s narrative. STORY BALLET subverts this concept, redefining the symphony’s story as “dancing with the ghost of one’s self” and uses the symphony’s five movements as dramaturgical frameworks for examination. The cast of five embodies different facets of the central character, each grappling with their own obsessions and past selves. Noir lighting, holographic projections akin to 1800’s Pepper’s Ghost illusions, motion capture, sculptural laser walls and live sound sampling reinforce the performers’ descent into a phantasmagoric nightmare.

Eisemann Center Presents 2026-2027 Season

Amalia Hernández was a dancer and choreographer, founder of the Ballet Folklórico de México in 1952. From a very young age, she began a long journey through Mexican culture that would lead her to rescue the traditional dances around Mexico. She managed to project to the world the beauty of our country through movement, from pre-Columbian cultures and Spanish influences to the revolutionary times.

With her first performances in 1952, she obtained public recognition as a cultural representative of Mexico. Her great success established the Ballet in the Palace of Fine Arts as its permanent venue since October 11, 1959.

With more than 30 million spectators and countless recognitions, Amalia Hernández’s artistic legacy remains valid thanks to the more than 120 original choreographies with great technical difficulty, elaborate typical costumes, and first-rate artists, consolidating the Ballet as the best dance company in the world in its genre.

Eisemann Center Presents 2026-2027 Season

Amalia Hernández was a dancer and choreographer, founder of the Ballet Folklórico de México in 1952. From a very young age, she began a long journey through Mexican culture that would lead her to rescue the traditional dances around Mexico. She managed to project to the world the beauty of our country through movement, from pre-Columbian cultures and Spanish influences to the revolutionary times.

With her first performances in 1952, she obtained public recognition as a cultural representative of Mexico. Her great success established the Ballet in the Palace of Fine Arts as its permanent venue since October 11, 1959.

With more than 30 million spectators and countless recognitions, Amalia Hernández’s artistic legacy remains valid thanks to the more than 120 original choreographies with great technical difficulty, elaborate typical costumes, and first-rate artists, consolidating the Ballet as the best dance company in the world in its genre.