DES MOINES, Iowa — Ballet Des Moines has their final show of the season this Saturday. It’s called The Princess Mermaid Ballet and it is similar to Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
“It’s very similar to the little mermaid, the same trajectory, the plot line is very similar but there are some differences, Ursula is not Ursula, she is the sea witch, which comes from the book,” Professional Ballerina Amelia Grubb said.
Grubb plays the Princess Mermaid and the Crab, or the Little Mermaid and Sebastian. There are two shows on Saturday and the cast switches characters each show.
“[Switching characters is] a way for our dancers to grow in company that we have here,” Ballet Des Moines Artistic Director Serkan Usta said.
There is no singing or dialogue and the story is told entirely by dance and with original music from the Des Moines Community Orchestra.
“It’s amazing, once you see the ballet, the music fits in every movement of the whole story,” Usta said.
“We have these beautiful costumes that were made especially for us and for this production,” Grubb said.
The costumes were all custom made by more than 200 volunteers, and there are a lot of them since the ballet includes 8 professional dancers and 167 dancers from the community. Even though the ballet does not have any singing or speaking, audience members will feel very familiar with the story.
“I wouldn’t think of this show like a ballet, it’s more of a journey, you’re going with these dancers, you’re being taken into this world. You’re really feeling the emotion with these dancers,” Grubb said.
There are two shows on Saturday, April 20th at the Civic Center.
A show at 1 p.m. and another at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are between $19 and $58 and you can buy tickets online at desmoinesperformingarts.org
