This June, the American Contemporary Ballet will premiere a new production, The Euterpides, based on the myth of Euterpe, the Greek Muse of music. ACB Director Lincoln Jones worked in tandem on the production with composing prodigy Alma Deutscher, who has been composing sonatas, concertos, a full opera, and now a ballet since age five. The production, emerging in an era where financing the arts proves difficult, has relied on a Kickstarter campaign to bring the ballet to life.

The Euterpides will bring a cinematic experience of ballet to Television City, with Deutscher traveling from Vienna to Los Angeles to conduct the first two performances. “Alma not only has the rare gift of creating beautiful melodies that stay with you,” Jones says. “But the even rarer ability to write great dance music.”

The 20-year-old composer’s first ballet, The Euterpides, transcends centuries of classical dance in a deep connection between music and movement. The mythical tale within the ballet reimagines Euterpe, the Greek Muse of music, who favors a mortal and sends her daughters — the Euterpides — to dance with him. With help from Deutscher, the ACB has created a work of art that will be performed live on a soundstage, allowing audiences to immerse themselves in a visceral world of grandeur.

Deutscher has been lauded by prominent publications and musicians as one of the most gifted musical talents of this generation. In 2019 alone, she was awarded the European Culture Prize at the Vienna State Opera and made her debut at a sold-out Carnegie Hall in New York City.

“When I’m not composing, you’ll find me dancing; it’s my other great passion, so I was over the moon when American Contemporary Ballet asked me to write a short ballet for them to premiere in June,” says Deutscher. “This project is so special because the story itself is about music.”

The collaboration between Jones and Deutscher parallels that of Balanchine and Stravinsky in a process that created classical ballet masterpieces like Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, but with the addition of distance and digital communication. The ballet’s conception spanned continents as the collaborators developed the piece remotely. Jones provided an initial libretto to Deutscher, who was based in Vienna, and the result is a ballet shaped by the art of both composer and choreographer. This transatlantic process has brought a work that is timeless and geographically unbound.

The Euterpides will be presented with the company’s premiere of George Balanchine’s Serenade at a soundstage in Television City, with performances from June 5 to 28. Tickets can be purchased through the American Contemporary Ballet’s website.