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Oklahoma City Ballet to open 2012-13 season

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“It's the story of a young woman who attends a garden party on the eve of her marriage to a man she doesn't love,” Mills said. “You see through dance the story of this woman's evening, her life at the party, and most of all, the emotional context of the people on stage. It takes the classical context of ballet and pointe work and extends it to a whole new level.”

“Left Unsaid,” which dates from 2003, combines music from the Baroque — Johann Sebastian Bach's “Partita No. 2 in D Minor” — with classical technique. But it's more than just dancing to music, Mills points out, adding that the ballet's emotional context drives the choreography.

The evening's finale, “Cobras,” puts the women in heels and the men in tuxes. The sensuous rhythms of Astor Piazzolla's tangos underscore the 1986 ballet's narrative, an exploration of the conflicts between the masculine and feminine influences that exist in all of us.

“Many people think of ballet as tulle skirts, pointe shoes and tiaras,” Mills said. “And it is all that. But there's so much more to ballet. There's a range of ideas and styles from across the decades that interests me.

“I'm so excited about these ballets because they show the company off tremendously. When you see them put together, there's an obvious through line of interpersonal relationships. I'm proud that our company is able to do these works and execute them beautifully.”

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