Benjamin Millepied is Challenging the Old Guard to Modernize Ballet

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear the extended interview. 

Imagine you’re seated in a beautiful New York City concert hall. The curtain goes down on the first act of a ballet performance. The lights go up for intermission, and you walk out into the lobby with the rest of the audience. And there, suddenly, more dancers appear, wearing street clothes and leaping and twirling across the space usually relegated to waiting for the next act.

"It does change this idea of ballet as behind this red curtain." That's how French-born dancer-turned-choreographer Benjamin Millepied describes one of his new pieces of choreography. He’s been trying to bring ballet out from behind that red curtain for years. His latest work, called "I Feel The Earth Move" premieres tonight  on the stage at the American Ballet Theatre in New York City. And at certain performances, dancers will emerge to perform that second piece in the lobby at intermission.

Some may recognize Millepied as the choreographer for the 2010 thriller movie "Black Swan," which is where he met his future wife, actress Natalie Portman. But Millepied has become a major voice in the arts world, with a mission to  modernize ballet, including with his own contemporary ballet company, LA Dance Project.

Takeaway Producer Alexandra Botti sat down with Millepied in our New York studios, where he explained why the culture of ballet needs to change, how he tried — and failed — to bring diversity to the world’s oldest ballet company, and what it means to create new work in a time of uncertainty.

To hear the conversation with Benjamin Millepied that originally broadcast, click on the listen button below, or hear the extended cut above.