On the surface, Ballet 5:8 looks like just another dance company. But the creative impulse of artistic director and chief choreographer Julianna Rubio Slager is driven by her Christian faith and a desire to share the gospel through ballet.

For many of us, history was an integral part of our academic experience. As children, we read our history books and learned of the formative years of our nation, of wars that forever changed the socio-political climate worldwide, and of the trials of the oppressed as they fought for freedom. But the past is doomed to repeat itself unless we take that knowledge, combine it with deep reflection and introspection, and turn that potent mixture into action. While that action can take place in courtrooms and protests, it can also find its home on a proscenium stage. Art, and more specifically, the art of dance, has at its heart the the power to keep the past alive and give voice to its stories. Through thorough research, reflection and creative development, choreographers can shed new light on some of history’s darkest days. But that ability is an art in and of itself, and few are as well equipped to shine that light as Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director, Julianna Slager.