NASCAR and ballet. Two words you probably never thought to combine together.

It’s not April Fool’s Day as I write this because as you can see in the date up there above my name it’s April 9th when I wrote this article. You thought Chris came up with something with the racing coffin? Well then, just when you think you’ve seen it all and heard it all, you’ve got to click on “read more” to see this!

Jayski.com is one of my favorite websites with pretty accurate gossip about NASCAR racing, be it Nextel, Busch, or Craftman truck. A lot of good rumors can be found at the site regarding what is going on, what recently happened, or what may happen. Every once in awhile the site throws in a bit of oddity that just make you go “huh?” and laugh.

For instance, how about this? That’s right ladies and gentlemen! NASCAR Ballet is coming to a theatre near you! Or at least in this case, to the Roanoke Ballet Theatre in Roanoke, VA. From their website (at roanokeballet.org) is the following:

An all original exploration into the pop-culture that is NASCAR, performed by dancers, musicians, videographers, live calling by Mike Stevens of Channel 7 and NASCAR drivers, Ward Burton, Frank Kimmel and Rick Mast.

NASCAR Ballet is the next installment of Roanoke Ballet Theatre’s desire to create an appreciation for dance through popular culture. NASCAR Ballet centers around 20 ballet and modern dancers (who represent cars) who circle a forty foot horseshoe track that banks around the corner complete with break away railings. Three huge monitors are suspended about the dancers heads. One of which serve as the “TV” as the local Channel 7 sportscaster, Mike Stevens, calls the race live and it is projected onto the monitor. Mike will be joined by NASCAR drivers, who he interviews during the production. Another monitor, relays live footage of the “pit” as dancers lift, rotate and spin one another during the “pit stop”. The third screen continuously plays pre-made commercials by sponsoring companies. As the dancers gracefully careen around the track, collide and are rebuilt, logos of sponsoring companies are displayed prominently all over their bodies.

We are teaming many different art forms together with an original score of sound effects blended with instruments, live interviews and rampant commercialism to try to recreate the aesthetic of NASCAR. This production will inundate the viewer with sight, sound, color and even smell (pyrotechnics). We are going for the whole experience.

We are hoping through this production to expand the traditional dance audience to include others who may never have experienced dance. The race is represented in a fun, wholesome environment and respect for the sport is at it’s heart.

I don’t know about you but I think I would really like to see this myself just for the spectacle of it all. I’ve been to a couple of ballet performances (not by choice, guys…you know what I mean) and who wouldn’t want to see an explosion during a ballet?

In fact, I think it would be a hoot to see the real drivers themselves running around in a circle with some of them slamming into each other for a caution. Can you imagine “Fatback” McSwain lifting and spinning around Bobby Labonte during a pit stop?