Fort Wayne Ballet brings back a favorite Valentine’s Day date night tradition: Love Notes. 

The past nine years, FWB has presented this romantic program, one of its hallmarks being the variety of repertory.

This year’s production opens Friday, Feb. 9, at Parkview Physicians Group ArtsLab, where there will also be performances on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 10-11. From there, the ballet will take the show to Eagles Theatre in Wabash on Tuesday, Feb. 13, and Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in Auburn on Wednesday, Feb. 14.

The Show hits the road

If you’ve loved this program in the past, you will be thrilled to learn that FWB is increasing the number of times they will perform this show and the number of locations it will appear in. 

The Fort Wayne community will see this program return to its home in the PPG Arts­Lab, where it has been performed in years past. 

It is incredibly fitting to have Love Notes performed in this black box theater. It is like a box in which one would store real notes from a lover. A matinee performance has been added this year.

Those who attend this performance in Fort Wayne will have the option to purchase tickets for VIP tables for two, which include chocolates, wine, and an intimate front-row viewing. There will also be a cash bar available. 

In addition to Fort Wayne, audiences will be able to see Love Notes in Wabash and Auburn. Audiences in these locations may already be familiar with FWB from the Firefly Tour, which took FWB across the region to various outdoor performance venues. 

At Eagles Theatre, events will include a pre-performance reception where light refreshments and a cash bar will be available. 

This will be the second time Love Notes has made its way to Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum. 

“We performed Love Notes at the Cord Duesenberg Museum last season, but it was later in the season than the Fort Wayne Love Notes performance.” said Karen Gibbons-Brown, artistic director for FWB. “This year, we’re bringing it to Auburn right on Valentine’s Day.” 

VIP tickets are also available for purchase at the Auburn show and, unique from the other venues, will include a full dinner. 

The Dancing

One aspect of Love Notes that audiences have grown to love is the variety of dance styles. Ranging from classical to contemporary works, this show allows guests to experience a broad range of choreography and emotions. 

Love, as we know, is a complex combination of thoughts and feelings, and Love Notes seeks to creatively explore these complexities. 

Familiar faces from FWB will be performing a combination of solo, pas de deux, pas de trio, and ensemble pieces. On the more classical side of the repertory will be “Italian Suite Pas,” “Fancy Free,” “Don Q Pas,” “Ribbon Pas,” and “Pas d’esclave.”

“Italian Suite Pas” will be performed by FWB company dancers Thomas Caleb Roberts and Amber Bailey. First performed in 1983, this Gerald Arpino choreography is described as “an intimate, lyrical and romantic suite with neo-classical movement” by The Gerald Arpino Foundation. 

“Fancy Free,” a lively piece from legendary choreographer Jerome Robbins, will be performed by Roberts, Talbot Rue, David Claypoole, and Tatum Farlow. 

For “Fiery,” passionate love will be on display as Izumi Masaki and Keisuke Nishikawa bring a pas de deux from Don Quixote to life.

“Pas d’esclave” from Le Corsaire, performed by Saki Morimoto and Sunnat Temirov, will round out the classical portion of the program. 

Many of the more contemporary works will be original pieces choreographed by FWB’s faculty and dancers, including Tracy Tritz, Raleigh Sparrow, Lisa Sundstorm, Eleonora Pokhitonova Hartung, Robert La Fosse, and Morimoto. 

Tritz, rehearsal director and choreographer/outreach director, has debuted numerous original works on FWB, including many that have appeared in Love Notes. Another of Tritz’s notable FWB original choreographic debuts was Dracula, which made its world premiere in Fort Wayne in 2020. 

Also returning as a Love Notes choreographer is Sparrow, Youth Company co-director and academy registrar. Audiences were riveted by her hard-hitting duet “What’s Unseen” in the 2022 rendition of Love Notes and her spunky piece “Cheek to Cheek” in 2023. This year, audiences can look forward to an original musical theater piece from Sparrow. 

Nora Pokhitonova Hartung, another beloved faculty member of Auer Academy, will be returning to choreograph an original pas de deux danced by Roberts and Carmie Schiano Nelson. 

FWB faculty members Sundstorm and La Fosse will also be contributing original choreographic pieces. 

In addition, Morimoto, one of FWB’s professional dancers, will be demonstrating her compositional prowess by choreographing an original duet featuring Claypoole and Abby Zinsser. 

Great Variety and Learning Opportunity

While many of these pieces highlight the romantic side of love, there will also be pieces that showcase love in a refreshingly innocent light. 

Gibbons-Brown describes a piece that will be performed by company dancer Doston Turgunov as an upbeat solo that is uplifting and fun to watch. 

“A lot of these pieces just make you smile.” she said. 

Gibbons-Brown said the variety of repertory that appears in Love Notes is a great learning opportunity for the dancers. 

“They have an opportunity to expand the type of repertory they perform and their horizons,” Gibbons-Brown said. “In this program, we ask them to embrace storylines and choreographic challenges that are not always presented to them in a normal performance.” 

If you’re looking for a fun date night activity this Valentine’s Day, look no further than Love Notes. 

Tickets can be purchased for the Fort Wayne and Auburn shows at artstix.org. Tickets to the Wabash show are available for purchase at honeywellarts.org.