Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s Rapunzel grows and grows thanks to local talent

It takes a village to put on a production by Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre. 

According to co-artistic director Rebecca Acosta, this village has been integral to the development of the group’s April performance of Rapunzel – A Storybook Ballet. 

Support comes from many different corners of Baton Rouge. Dance moms and board members sew costumes, while stage managers and tech groups from the Raising Cane’s River Center build sets. Former BRBT dancers return to perform, and local businesses sponsor the organization to keep it going.

Acosta and co-artistic director Jenna Cox are at the center of this project. They make sure no aspect of the production goes unnoticed, from the choreography, music, lights and costumes to fundraising and promotion. 

Acosta and Cox are even more intertwined with this month’s show than usual, since they are the directors who choreographed this ballet years ago. 

“Jenna and I created [the show] back in 2017,” Acosta says. “It was the first full-length ballet that we created together. And at that point, we weren’t artistic directors, we were associate directors, and so this is our baby that we’re bringing back to the stage.”

The ballet portrays the classic fairytale of Rapunzel, including all the main characters and magical twists. Professional and pre-professional dancers take on the roles of fairies, an evil witch, villagers and of course, Rapunzel and her prince.

In 2017, directors brought in the Baton Rouge Magnet High School boys’ step team to showcase their talent in the show. It was such a successful idea that they decided to give the girls’ team a spot to shine this year. 

“[The team] performed, and it was such a wonderful, fabulous production, including them,” Acosta says. “It also opened the eyes of their parents and their friends who came and saw the show—they were just blown away because most of them had never been to a ballet.” 

Acosta and Cox have made some adjustments to update this year’s production. Most notably, it will be shorter than previous years. 

They have also added a partnership with author and LSU Homecoming Queen Kalayna Walker. Walker is an advocate for alopecia awareness and the founder of Alo Bloom, a mentorship program for individuals with alopecia. She will be using this platform to raise funds for the organization. Acosta says that when this opportunity came up, it only felt right to support this cause. 

“One of my family members developed full-on alopecia during COVID and lost all her hair. She’s so excited for the collaboration,” Acosta says. “Whenever we reached out to [Walker], she was like, ‘Absolutely.’ She just thought it was great to do anything in her community to help promote alopecia awareness, but also she was a dancer, and so it’s close to her heart.”

According to Acosta, the show also changes every time a new cast performs. 

This ballet’s cast features former BRBT students and professional dancers in key roles. Amelia Perkins, a former student and the daughter of a BRBT associate director, will dance as Rapunzel. Also returning to the BRBT stage is Patrick Jefferson. Now a professional dancer in Dallas, Jefferson returns to play the Pied Piper. 

BRBT’s current students have been preparing for this show since January. One student, London Griffin, is part of the company’s village in many ways, including playing an actual villager in the show. 

Griffin has been dancing for six years, and her first ballet was a different production of Rapunzel. She says this performance has shown her how much she has grown as a dancer, but it also brings bittersweet emotions. 

“I love dancing with my friends. I feel like we’ve really become family through all of this,” Griffin says. “I’m really excited to have one last dance with my friends, because most of my friends are seniors. … Even though I would want more time.”

Rapunzel – A Storybook Ballet will take the stage at the River Center Theatre on Friday, April 17, at 7 p.m and Saturday, April 18, at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $40 and can be purchased online at batonrougeballet.org.