New Full-Length Narrative Ballet
The Curious Life of Edgar Allan Poe
Obsession, grief, and passion, told through his tales.
The Curious Life of Edgar Allan Poe is a groundbreaking new ballet by Julianna Rubio Slager and Glorielle Niedfeldt,
blending neo-classical ballet and African Diaspora movement. Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of
America 250, it reimagines Poe's life through his stories as a redemptive exploration of grief, beauty, and moral awakening.
Poe believed a story should be experienced in one sitting. So shall we.
Date: April 18
Pre-show talk: 6:30 PM
Performance: 7:30 PM
Venue: Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Runtime: 90 minutes
After the show: Join us in Harris Lobby Level 1 for live music, contradance, and a masquerade ball.
Come for the atmosphere. Stay for the heartbreak. Stay after for music, dancing, and a masquerade celebration.
Watch
Explore the world of the production through these videos.
Featured Poe Scholars
Harry Lee Poe
Join us for the 6:30 PM pre-show talk with Harry Lee Poe, author, biographer, and Poe scholar.
Chris Semtner
Chris Semtner is Curator of The Poe Museum in Richmond and a leading public interpreter of Poe's life, legacy, and material culture.
What You'll Experience
- Story-first ballet with theatrical clarity and emotional bite.
- Immersive stagecraft shaped by spoken word, sound design, and surreal imagery.
- A fresh movement language blending neo-classical ballet and African Diaspora forms.
- Context before you watch: a 6:30 PM pre-show talk with Harry Lee Poe.
- After the curtain: live music, contradance, and a masquerade ball in Harris Lobby Level 1.
Synopsis
In the shadow of loss, Poe's inner world fractures into the stories he wrote, each episode pulling him toward beauty,
terror, and the possibility of redemption. Love and grief braid together until the question becomes unavoidable:
what do we do with the life we're given, before it vanishes?
Read the longer description
Poe moves through an imagined psychological landscape where memory, desire, and dread collide. The stories that made him immortal emerge as reflections of the man himself, his losses, his longing, his tenderness, and his spirals.
What begins as an atmospheric descent becomes a reckoning: will grief swallow him, or transform him?
Music & Composers
The score draws from major American composers, supporting the production's historical and cultural lens.
Adolphus Hailstork
William Grant Still
Florence Price
Amy Beach
George Morrison
Marco Zanotti
Rebekka Karijord
William Dawson
Meet the Choreographers
Julianna Rubio Slager
Julianna is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Ballet 5:8. A Mexican-American choreographer, she creates original ballets that explore faith,
culture, and the human condition through classical ballet, rich narrative, and emotional depth.
Glorielle Niedfeldt
Glorielle is a Chicago-based choreographer, dancer, and educator whose movement roots draw from ballet, West African, and Afro-Caribbean traditions.
As co-choreographer, she brings a layered, rhythmically complex voice to the work.
Tickets
Tickets are available through the Harris Theater. Plan to arrive early for the 6:30 PM pre-show talk, and stay after the performance for live music, contradance, and a masquerade ball in Harris Lobby Level 1.
Performed in one sitting.
Inspiration Playlist
Curious about the sonic world behind the production? This playlist informed the atmosphere, emotional palette, and pacing.
Come for the story. Stay for the celebration.
Get Tickets
