Over the past four decades, The Flaming Lips have set a Guinness World Record for the most live shows played in 24 hours, released music encased in edible gummy skulls and performed a series of Space Bubble Concerts where the band members and audience were all enveloped in inflatable orbs.
Now, the groundbreaking, Grammy-winning Oklahoma City-based art-rockers are involved in a new creative endeavor that will debut in their hometown.
Oklahoma City Ballet will present a world-premiere ballet featuring the music of the Lips May 9-11, 2025, at Civic Center Music Hall.
Created by Oklahoma City Ballet Artistic Director Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye, the new work will mark the first time a professional ballet company has used the Lips' music.
“As a longtime fan of The Flaming Lips, this is like revisiting my childhood, marrying two things I love: rock music and dance. I want to juxtapose typical ballet stereotypes and rock ‘n’ roll stereotypes and hopefully congeal them in a way that changes how one thinks of OKC Ballet,” Jolicoeur-Nye said in a statement.
How will the new Flaming Lips ballet fit into OKC Ballet's 2024-2025 season?
The world-premiere work will be part of “Shorts,” a collection of three short ballets all presented in one show. As has become tradition for the company, OKC Ballet will close its 2024-2025 season with its annual spring “Shorts” program.
Along with the new Flaming Lips ballet, the eclectic 2025 “Shorts” program will feature “Otra Vez,” an Afro-Cuban ballet by Stephanie Martinez , and “Divertimento No. 15,” a neo-classical title by legendary choreographer George Balanchine .
Every element of The Flaming Lips ballet will be created in Oklahoma City, from the sets and costumes to the music and choreography. Plus, it will be performed by OKC Ballet’s professional dancers.
“Oklahoma City Ballet is striving to show ballet in a new light. We want ballet to be accessible and fun, and music is a great avenue to introduce new audiences to ballet," said Whitney Cross, OKC Ballet's director of development and communications, in a statement.
" The Flaming Lips have been OKC’s resident rock stars for 40 years, and we are thrilled to have their blessing and support for this production."
Oklahoma City Ballet will launch its 2024-2025 season with its fifth annual free outdoor show “Ballet Under the Stars” at 7 p.m. Sept. 13 at downtown OKC’s Scissortail Park.
The company then will move its season inside the Civic Center for “Peter Pan” Oct. 18-20; a new production of “The Nutcracker” Dec. 14-23; “Swan Lake” Feb. 7-16; and “Shorts” May 9-11. The season also will include “ Future Voices ,” an annual spring showcase for emerging choreographers, March 20-23 at OKC Ballet’s Susan E. Brackett Dance Center.
Both single and season tickets for all of Oklahoma City Ballet’s 2024-2025 season, including “Shorts,” are available now by calling 405-848-8637 or visiting www.okcballet.org . Season ticketholders receive extra benefits like discounts, first choice of seats, free exchanges and more.
How will the world-premiere work from OKC Ballet showcase the Flaming Lips' 40 years of music-making?
The upcoming world-premiere work from OKC ballet will feature eight Flaming Lips songs spanning multiple decades.
Formed in OKC in 1983, the Lips are marking their 40th anniversary as a band and celebrating the enduring influence of two of their seminal albums at two OKC Labor Day weekend shows: The group's "Summer Freak Out" was set for Friday and Saturday at OKC's Zoo Amphitheatre , where they've previously performed at least one legendary concert.
At Friday's concert, the alt-rockers performed in its entirety their trailblazing 2002 album "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots ." For their Saturday show at the newly upgraded OKC venue , the experimental rockers will play their 1999 masterwork "The Soft Bulletin" track by track.
The "Fearless Freaks " previously recorded their first live concert film, " UFOs at the Zoo : The Legendary Concert in Oklahoma City," at the OKC Zoo's venerable venue in September 2006.
Mayor David Holt on Thursday declared it "Flaming Lips Weekend" in OKC in honor of the band's "Summer Freak Out."
Steven Drozd, the Lips' longtime multi-instrumentalist, shared his excitement for the band's upcoming hometown venture with OKC Ballet.
"The Flaming Lips have made their own sci-fi Christmas movie, been in a nomination for a Tony , won three Grammys, appeared on ' Beverly Hills 90210,' played live with a full orchestra, and now they are entering the world of ballet — of course," he told The Oklahoman.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: The Flaming Lips music to be featured in new Oklahoma City Ballet world-premiere ballet
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