Ballet West is an outstanding ballet company. Its brilliant choreography, array of precise techniques, and "difficult to quantify" passion, etc. make Ballet West performances scintillating and memorable. Their recent production of "Romeo and Juliet" was the best R&J ballet performance I've ever witnessed. Notably, Mercurio was played as a volatile hothead AND a jokester, which provided comic relief for 3/4 of the show. Also, Romeo and Juliet had insanely hot chemistry, with neck and chest kisses plus some surprisingly bold touching. Instead of just hinting at intimacy, this production boldly, but tastefully, crosses into PG-13 territory. Epic experience! read more

I just saw Ballet West performance of Jekyll and Hide. I knew a little about the story before I went (which I would recommend). The choreography was excellent as were the costumes. The music put goose bumps on my shin. The dancers were AMAZING! Each set was done beautifully. I would gladly see it again. I do think it is for15 and older audiences. read more

Jekyll and Hyde. I took my son and daughter, both adults. Son's first time. He will never go again. My daughter says she appreciated the talent and technical ability. My son said "it was good" in that voice that says not again in a million years. I was unbelievably disappointed. My daughter and I went to Dracula last year, AMAZING, so I was really looking forward to this performance. Prima ballerina was fantastic as usual. The rest was aweful. BW went WAY to far in the brothel. So shocking it overshadowed everything else. Choreography draggggggged. I couldn't wait for it to end. Box seats. What a waste. read more

Ballet West is a top-notch ballet company with an beautiful costumes and sets, wonderful music, and of course exceptional dancers. Previous reviewers like lili b. who have complained about the quality of the performance are totally mistaken. Ballet West is consistently recognized as one of the best ballet companies in the country and has been nationally recognized for decades. If you attend a matinée performance as lili b. no doubt did, you are sure to find many children in attendance. That is the point after all. Matinée are for kids. But attend an evening performance as I did last night of the classic ballet "The Nutcracker" and you will find a well-dressed and courteous audience, intent on enjoying the performance and NOT eating Cheerios. I have attended numerous Ballet West performances over the years and they never disappoint. I highly recommend attending a Ballet West performance. read more

See all

Wow! I have always loved attending Ballet West performances, but Onegin was the best production that I have seen. The plot was real and vulnerable. The dancers portrayed that vulnerability flawlessly. I loved being able to observe and admire their work. It was a fabulous show! read more

Ballet West - Eccles theater lobby - Performing Arts Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

See all

I was baffled by the choreography and the quality of the dancing during the nutcracker. So many mistakes were made that it felt like a high school production. Also, the difficulty of the choreography was not there for a professional company. Almost no fouettés and those that were included were slow with minimal rotations. If you have never seen any other ballet companies perform, it might be ok for you. Coming from an area with an excellent ballet company, it was kind of embarrassing to watch this production and overpriced. The theater was very small as well. Just feel really baffled by what I just watched. Didn't enjoy this take on the nutcracker. Orchestra was amazing though. read more

Nutcracker 2019 performance was incredibly disappointing. Budgeted over $400 for tickets, took valuable time with my family (2 college boys) to have our one big night together this Xmas for an extremely mediocre performance. I understand it's not NYC or SF; but for these prices and expected caliber of athletes, we found ourselves regretting before intermission. I thought, we could have had fine dining at Vaulters and really had an " entertaining" evening. Truly amazed at the overall lack of skillset and caliber of dancing. The theater is beautiful but I won't spend our hard earned entertainment budget again at Ballet West since they surge premium prices for intermediate skill. Stunned at how disappointing and "small town" this production felt for the prices we paid. I wish I could write a more positive review - but I feel a little of our family Xmas was lost. I am confident the athletes were doing their very best; it's the prices we paid for the skillset that was truly disappointing. read more

Went to the Giselle performance. Incredible! It was my first time seeing this production and it didn't disappoint! I love seeing performances at this theater and supporting Ballet West! This time I had the pleasure of sitting near Adam Sklute during the ballet, and wow was that an amazing experience! You can tell how passionate he is about his work!! I recommend this to anyone. We should all support the arts! read more

Ballet West - Performing Arts Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

See all

After moving to Salt Lake from the New York area, I will admit my expectations for the preforming arts scene was pretty low. I know that sounds like an East Coast snobby thing to say, but growing up in the Midwest and living for years in both Chicago and Boston, has given me a pretty wide range of experience for how to level-set expectations for a City's performing arts scene. Granted, I lean more towards theater over classical dance performance, but even for an untrained eye I was really disappointed with the performance of the Nutcracker I saw at ballet west. I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, and say that the Wednesday show was maybe the B tier cast... but for a professional dance company even the B team is usually impressive to some degree. This was like someone took me to their talented 12 year old nieces show which would be great if I did shell out for tickets. The dancing was exceptionally safe, with lead dancers awkward midway in the claves and legs not up to passé in turns. You could hear almost every jump, almost to the point where I was questioning if this was some kind of intentional modern interpretation or fusion of Tap and Ballet. They did a few cute things that incorporated beehives in (for those who don't know... it's a Utah thing...) but other than that I though the performance was pretty uninspired. read more

Ballet West is the premiere dance company in Utah and one of the best ballet companies in the nation. The productions are superb, with fantastic sets, costumes, and lighting. Not to mention the fantastic dancers! I was introduced to Ballet West when I watched the CW reality show "Breaking Pointe," about a few of the dancers within Ballet West. I was very impressed with the level of skill demonstrated as well as the innovative vision of artistic director Adam Sklute. So I bought my tickets to next performance, and now I'm a season ticket holder. The most recent show, Carmina Burana, was an example of the vision at Ballet West. A full chorus was set on a balcony above the stage, and three soloists actually came on the stage to interact with the dancers. It was phenomenal staging as well as the usual wonderful choreography. Ballet West doesn't shy away from a challenge. read more

Beautiful Sleeping Beauty performance! And Nutcracker. And Cinderella. And Swan Lake. My granddaughters had fun at Aladdin last year and are looking forward to The Little Mermaid. Male dancers need to cover up a bit. ;) Reasonably priced delicious snacks. read more

I took my 70+ year old mother and my daughter to the Nutcracker, spending $250+ to sit in the only remaining seats which were the complete nosebleeds. The ushers pointed out way to multiple flights of stairs. The elevator was OUT OF ORDER!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How can they not have an elevator to help handicapped and elderly to the nosebleeds? My poor elderly mother had a very hard time getting up the multiple flights of stairs. Come to find out out at the end of the show, there was another elevator that the staff tried keeping secret from us. We asked about another elevator before the show and we're told it didn't exist by the staff. The seats were also like economy airline seats but worse. Crammed like sardines and not enough room for legs and knees. All three of us had our knees jammed up against the seats in front of us. The staff were strict about the guests wearing masks for Covid, but made no attempt at social distancing as we were crammed in. Guess Ballet West was more concerned about making money. Terrible experience. Ballet West ran the show and venue. This was their fault. read more

I will admit I only knew about Ballet West through their reality TV show (hey, it's not MTV!). While in town I thought it would be fun to take in one of their performances and it happened to include a piece that was highlighted on their show. I was able to see The Firebird, Petite Mort (this was really good to see live) and Who Cares? and was very pleased with the performances. I really enjoyed seeing the mix of contemporary vs. classical styles of ballet. The music consisted of pieces by Stravinsky, Mozart and Gershwin Even if you aren't a fan of ballet, the choreography in Petite Mort will mesmerize you. I could watch it repeatedly and never tire of it. Apparently the gentleman next to me did not feel the same way as he was counting sheep (snoring!) before the curtain even went up. They offer a talk before each performance to provide some insight and background information on the performance that evening. The performers come out to the lobby area afterwards to mingle and take pictures with the attendees. Ticket prices were very reasonable, especially when compared to the performances in the bigger cities and when considering the level of talent on stage. And make no mistake, there is much talent on that stage with some performers are clearly the current and/or future stars of Ballet West. I would highly recommend attending a Ballet West performance. read more

I grew up dancing and so of course Ballet West, being Utah's big professional company, was special to me. Like my hometown team. As I got older, and became a better dancer I did realize that we do not have the elite of the elite here in Utah. However, it is OURs and it is a chance to enjoy a full length production in a fancy place with professional dancers. The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, the classics, are always going to provide a magical experience if you are going for the experience, and not to criticize technique, although I can understand the inclination to do that. I appreciate that in Utah, the mentality about the Arts seems to lean towards making it available to as many people as possible. Tickets are somewhat expensive, but not more than sports tickets. Also, I know that Ballet West offers matinee performances to children groups to teach kids to appreciate the beauty of movement, classical music and keep the dream 'to be a ballerina when I grow up', alive. Ballet West generally performs at the Capitol Theater and offers a range of ticket prices depending on seating, from orchestra, grand tier, mezzanine, to very affordable balcony tickets. They do a variety of different performances, including both classical and contemporary during their season. read more

I booked 3 tickets on the balcony. Based on the seating plan it was far from obvious that the $80 seats were in the last row against the wall and boxed in by 20 or so seats on the right and below. There was a wall in back and to the left with no access to exit in case of fire or other problem you would have to wait for 50 or more people to evacuate prior to exiting. This is potentially a very dangerous situation and I'm surprised fire Marshall's approve this seating arrangement. Further the performance would be almost invisible from here.I asked for an exchange for an alternative performance or an exchange of even one seat for an alternate seat so at least one of us could see the performance. The Ballet West agent at the ticket window would make zero accommodation for this situation so we left relinquishing $250.00 including donation. Beware - do not book on the balcony. It's at best a poor view and at worst dangerous. read more

recently attended a ballet west performance of 3 pieces: sinfonietta, chaconne, and bolero. lifts and pair dancing this area has seen great improvement over that last two years. i love how delicately, but firmly the male dancers are able to 'float' their partners down to the marley. equally as impressive is how the female dancers make the descent so graceful. chris ruud has always been a great pair dancer, and now his counterparts are catching up, if not surpassing him. really exciting to watch. orchestra improving, but sometimes i really feel like the utah symphony should be in the pit. freelance orchestras only work if they care deeply about their craft. it seems like sometimes they're more worried about the gig and the paycheck. play together or not at all. to their credit, the conductor shoulders some of the blame for splotchy ensemble work. overall dancing improving. the addition of romi beppu to the principal list was a brilliant move. chris ruud is as explosive and expressive as ever. and the promotion of michael bearden to the principal ranks is still up for discussion. but so far so good! sidenote: my girlfriend was impressed with one dancer from the very beginning, and i agreed with her assessment. adrian fry is a great dancer. very impressed with his all around expressive and technical abilities. read more

I just attended Cinderella last night and I like it so much I wanted to go see it again but I found out last night was the last night. :( It was so humorous I just keep thinking about it today and laughing. The ugly stepsisters were so funny and their suitors at the ball were equally funny. Great performance!! read more

The venue doesn't get any better. I have watched Ballet here, been to graduations here, been to the Rooftop Kickoff Party for the Dine O' Round. The entire facility speaks high class with affordable rates to go along with it. The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. Parking is pretty easy to find after all it is Salt Lake City. We were actually thinking about utilizing the space for some events we want to throw in the future. The rooftop is also amazing with great views of Hotel Monaco and nearby high rises. Will definitely be back here again shortly. read more

We went last night. It was an odd rendition of a classical play. They ended the play while she was still in the dream?? She never woke up again. Also, the second half was very slow. No set changes, same dancers over and over and while I understand that ballet dancers are to be thin, one gal ( Second scene-Moroccan style clothes-first act) was painfully thin.. It was hard to watch and all the little girls around me were stunned and sad. Please hire more body-positive dancers. Thin but in shape, not scary skeleton. read more

Ballet West is a 35 member company (with a 10 member Ballet West II) founded in 1963 by Willam Christensen, one of the famous three Christensen brothers who also founded the San Francisco Ballet. The repertoire ranges from Petipa to Mark Morris, Balanchine to Hans Van Manen. Their dancers are drawn from schools and companies across the United States: San Francisco Ballet School, School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theater Studio Company, Boston Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet's professional division to name a few. The dancers are union members of AGMA, with one of the most generous contracts in the industry, which makes getting a spot with Ballet West highly competitive. Recently, Ballet West toured to the Kennedy Center in the Ballet Across America program. See what reviewers Alastair Macauley of the New York times and Sarah Kaufman of the Washington Post thought: www.ballet.co.uk/cgi/reviews_database_search/db_search.cgi read more