MINERAL POINT — Twelve years ago Theatre of Ballet Arts (TOBA) produced The Pied Piper of Hamelin as part of its story ballet presentations. Now it comes newly re-choreographed to the stage again in the Platteville Municipal Auditorium this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 18 and 19, along with three compositions by Edvard Grieg to round out the program. 

A small cast of 24 dance students from 10 communities in southwestern Wisconsin and northeast Iowa — Cobb, Darlington, Dodgeville, Dubuque, Linden, Livingston, Mineral Point, Montfort, Platteville, and Rewey — are performing in TOBA’s professional ballet production under the direction of Summer Hamille, artistic director. They have been rehearsing every weekend since the beginning of October. 

“This is a wonderful opportunity for dance students to realize the value of their training and to more deeply understand how their work in class transfers to beautiful choreography on stage,” said Hamille. “It’s always a great joy to watch the improvement over the course of a few short weeks.”

Hamille selected three Grieg compositions and choreographed dances to fit the technical abilities of the performers. “The March of the Trolls” will show off the skills of the beginning level dancers, “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen” will show the skill set of the intermediate dancers, and the advanced dancers will be featured in the first dance of four segments of “Norwegian Dances.” These pieces further allow the participants to grow as performers. 

“We are proud to bring the beautifully athletic art of ballet to rural Wisconsin and make it affordable for families to enjoy live ballet theater together,” Hamille said. 

This production serves the purposes of Theatre of Ballet Arts by producing and directing a dance production, providing a vehicle for both professional dancers and non-professional dance students to perform on stage and to increase public awareness of the cultural dance.