🩰 Kilts and point shoes: Orlando Ballet’s ‘Director’s Choice’ highlights Celtic heritage

ORLANDO, Fla. – St. Patrick’s Day has passed, but one group is continuing the celebration through dance.

Point shoes and kilts are not a combination you’d expect to see in a performance, but when it comes to ”Director’s Choice” presented by the Orlando Ballet, anything goes.

“I use Scottish Highland dancing. There’s Morris dancing, where the arms are strictly down by your side. And then also traditional Irish dancing as well,” artistic director Jorden Morris said. “All those sort of traditional, what we think and feel, is truly Celtic and then kind of fusing that with balletic moves and twists. It came out really well.”

The production, “Deverell,” will have its Central Florida debut. Morris describes the performance as his version of Riverdance, an ode to his family heritage.

“It was really to pay respect and homage to my Celtic grandparents. My grandfather was Welsh and my grandmother was Irish and they met on a boat headed to Canada,” Morris said.

For some Orlando Ballet dancers, it was back to the basics learning about traditional Irish step dancing.

“They haven’t done a lot of it. So there was a bit of workshopping of where it’s almost a little bit like learning a new language and how to speak it and the inflections and the dialects. But the dancers just love the music and they gravitate to it,” Morris said.

It’s part of the closing performance for the Orlando Ballet’s “Director’s Choice” Show featuring three different ballets by three different choreographers.

“It’s a sort of a buffet of dance. So you’re not coming in just seeing one person’s choreography and moves. You’re seeing the dancers serve up three different tastings of dance,” Morris said.

The first piece on the program is “A World Premiere” by Keith Gill.

“If you’ve seen his works in the past, you know he’s very witty, He’s very genius, just a great theatrical director and choreographer as well. His ballets are always super interesting and complex, humorous and thought provoking,” Morris said.

The middle piece was choreographed by Stephanie Martinez.

“It’s called ‘Dos Lados,’ which means two sides. She really experiments with the two sides of people, the duality of people: the good side, the bad side, the happy side, the sad side, the ambitious side and the introvert side,” Morris said.

“Director’s Choice” presented by the Orlando Ballet runs March 28-31 at the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando. Click HERE for times and ticketing information.

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