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KSJE celebrates 35-year anniversary by offering Ballets with a Twist
By Debi Tracy Olsen, Special to the Tri-City Record
Thursday, Aug 14, 2025 4:47 PM
Catherine Zehr is the artistic force behind the company’s costume design.
Having honed her skills while working at major American fashion houses, her creations evoke the origins and essence of each dance with brilliant colors and ornamentation. Shown: “Hot Toddy,” from “Cocktail Hour: the Show.”
(Nico Malvaldi/Courtesy photo)
For some people, it’s customary to observe a special occasion with a cocktail. San Juan College is celebrating with 14.
No hangovers to be feared, as these cocktails are part of a presentation entitled “Cocktail Hour: The Show” presented by coast-to-coast ballet company Ballets with a Twist. The college’s radio station, KSJE, is celebrating 35 years on the air by sponsoring the event.
“Cocktail Hour” will be presented at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, at the Henderson Fine Arts Center. While tickets are normally in the $25-$35 price range, this presentation is free, said KSJE’s Scott Michlin, general manager at 90.9 FM.
“Our actual anniversary is not until November, but Margaret Clair, director of public arts events with San Juan College and the Henderson Fine Arts Center, had booked Ballets with a Twist, so we thought we’ll just celebrate a few months early,” Michlin said.
“This seemed like a great event that kind of represents a lot of what KSJE does with our supporting of the arts, classical music, jazz, and all the things that we do here at the radio station,” he said. “We’ve got some money set aside for a celebration, so we’re covering the cost of tickets so everybody can come and enjoy the show.”
Ballets With a Twist: The Menu
“Cocktail Hour: The Show,” is the brainchild of Marilyn Klaus, whose choreography has been seen internationally. She formed the program in association with Grammy-nominated composer Stephen Gaboury and costume designer Catherine Zehr.
Growing up in Hollywood, Klaus was strongly influenced by her father and mother’s social dance club background, as well as the cocktail parties and restaurants that were all the rage at that time.
Under this influence, in her 20s she was invited to choreograph for a group show and decided to create a “Mai Tai,” which she remembered her parents drinking at Trader Vic’s in California. In designing the dance, she combined some of the folkloric elements of the hula with classical ballet and a leopard print tutu. “People seemed to really enjoy that,” she said.
“When people used to go out in the evening, they would order these cocktails because they have so much exotic flair,” she said. The seed idea of mixing dance with drink titles fell on the fertile ground of her imagination. The next step was The Martini, featuring a costume in the shape of an upside-down martini glass.
She married her composer partner, and together with costumer designer Zehr they have done a full menu of 40 drink-inspired short ballets. She explained that the fast-paced ballet performances feature pop style music, with each piece being between five and 14 minutes long.
“All of our dancers are classical ballet dancers, but I think they enjoy a chance to kind of let their hair down and use their technique for more theatrical purposes. There are modern influences, but it is a ballet company,” she said.
On the menu for the family-friendly Farmington performance are: Brandy Alexander, Pink Lady, Lemon Drop, Swimming Pool, Manhattan, Cin Cin, Roy Rogers, Scotch on the Rachmaninoff, Grappa, Bloody Mary, Boilermaker, Martini, Gimlet, Sputnik, Hot Toddy, Beer, and the world premiere of Bombay, a tribute to Bombay gin with a Bollywood flair.
If all these references make you thirsty, Michlin explained that the college is whipping up a special mocktail to be sold at intermission. “The Beacon” will be a fundraiser for KSJE.
While tickets for this “night on the town” are free, they must be reserved in advance online at www.sanjuancollege.edu, by phone, 505-566-3430, or in person at the Henderson Fine Arts Center Box Office, 4601 College Blvd., Farmington.
NEW ORLEANS
Previews: COCKTAIL HOUR: THE SHOW at Rosa Hart Theatre
As part of the 2025 Banners at McNeese State University’s cultural season, this production promises a night of glamour, humor and immersive storytelling like no other.
By: Tara Bennett Apr. 23, 2025
When you think of ballet, you might picture tutus, Tchaikovsky and pirouettes under stage lights. But Ballets with a Twist is about to shake up that image, literally. Their genre-defying production COCKTAIL HOUR: THE SHOW is headed to Lake Charles for its Louisiana debut, and it’s anything but traditional.
Presented by the Banners Series at McNeese State University, COCKTAIL HOUR arrives at the Rosa Hart Theatre on Thursday, May 1 for the 2025 cultural season, promising a high-energy, visually stunning evening where classic cocktails inspire captivating characters—and every sip comes with a story.
“I really wanted to take audiences back into a real nightlife feel,” says choreographer and company co-founder Marilyn Klaus, whose goal was to capture the glamour reminiscent of Astaire-Rogers films. “Even though we are a classical ballet company, I wanted the excitement of going out on the town.”
From the show description, COCKTAIL HOUR is set to serve up precisely that. Each dance number is inspired by a different cocktail, presented with clever musical stylings and opulent costumes. One standout is “Martini,” featuring a Bond-esque super spy clad in a tutu shaped like an upside-down martini glass. Another piece, “Bloody Mary,” draws its name from the drink and the historical figure Queen Mary I of England. Other show highlights include “Champagne,” “Brandy Alexander” and “Mint Julep.” Several of the performances are set to transport audiences through time, offering snapshots of culture and history.
“Audiences can recognize familiar artistic and historical references throughout the evening,” Klaus said. “They’re quick, pithy...so the audience can almost time travel throughout the evening to all different kinds of time periods.”
The creative team—Klaus, composer Stephen Gaboury, and Costume Designer Catherine Zehr—works collaboratively, forming a self-described “three-headed Hydra” of innovation. Each piece evolves organically, with choreography, music and costuming developing in tandem.
Manhattan from Cocktail Hour: The Show
Photo by Nico Malvaldi
“There is no formula of any piece,” Gaboury said. “Pieces can change over time. Some pieces start with the music, others with movement. We all feed off each other creatively and [are] expressive in a very free way. Generally, the overall rule of thumb is that it be fun and entertaining.”
The Rosa Hart Theatre show is particularly special, marking the troupe’s first Louisiana performance and an exciting collaboration with the local community. In addition to the professional performance, Ballets with a Twist will incorporate students from the Lake Charles Dance Academy and Lake Area Ballet Theatre into two pieces—“Mint Julep,” featuring younger dancers playing Kentucky Derby ponies at the race track, and “Champagne,” a classic nod to 1930s and ’40s Hollywood.
“They’ll be wearing our costumes, doing full choreography, learning the timing; it’s not just a cameo, it’s the real deal,” Klaus said. “They get to experience the life of a touring dancer for a week. And the energy they bring to the show? It’s infectious.”
The production also includes an indoor collaboration with the South Beauregard High School marching band. Gaboury, who composed a new martial-style score for the number “Brandy Alexander,” notes how the energy of a marching band indoors is unparalleled.
Sputnik from Cocktail Hour: The Show—Photo by Nico Malvaldi
“You never see marching bands indoors, you always see them outdoors on a field,” Gaboury said. “A band inside an auditorium is five times more powerful than it is outdoors. To hear 50 plus musicians in a room play like that is extremely powerful and exciting.”
For Gaboury and Klaus, these community elements aren’t just meaningful but deeply personal.
“There’s so much respect with the ballet and their teachers regionally inculcate that respect,” Klaus said. “And that’s so wonderful because that means they have their parents support, their whole family’s support...The ballet is serious and they get such a kick out of that. They really get super charged and they respect it, but we respect them. It’s really a blast.”
“I think for any artist you remember as a young child those magical performances you’ve gone to that were so inspirational that just changed your life,” Gaboury said. “And you go, ‘Wow, I want to do that.’ So now we have the opportunity to light up a kid’s life and inspire them. It’s just thrilling and amazing.”
As for the audience experience, COCKTAIL HOUR is unlike traditional ballet. With an international cast of 18 dancers, brisk pacing, comedy and glamour in a variety show format, the evening flows like a sophisticated party.
“I really think that the Lake Charles audience will have kind of a scintillating night on the town,” Klaus said. “I don’t think there will be a dull moment.”
Gaboury adds, “I talked to a lot of the men that sort of get dragged along with their wives to the show, and they’re assuming, ‘Oh, it’s ballet, and it’s going to be Swan Lake, and I can take a nap during the show,’ and and they come out and go, ‘I had no idea it’d be like this.’”
With dazzling entertainment for all ages, COCKTAIL HOUR: THE SHOW invites Lake Charles to sip, swirl and savor a new kind of ballet experience. Don’t miss your chance to toast this unforgettable evening on May 1.
Smart Bets: Cocktail Hour: The Show
Posted on November 15, 2024 by Gina Smith
Photo from Cocktail Hour: The Show by Nico Malvaldi
New York City-based dance company Ballets with a Twist blends the talents of choreographer and artistic director Marilyn Klaus, Grammy-nominated composer Stephen Gaboury and costume designer Catherine Zehr. Likewise, its signature production, Cocktail Hour: The Show, mixes tuxedos, tutus, jazz moves, acrobatics and more to celebrate Hollywood’s Golden Age through nine cocktail-themed dance vignettes. First staged in Manhattan in 2009, the show comes to the Tryon Fine Arts Center for a single performance at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21. Through fast-paced music and pop-infused ballet moves, the production travels from sparkling big-city ballrooms to an evening on Manhattan’s Park Avenue to the American Wild West. The show is appropriate for all ages. Tickets cost $38-$48, $20-$25 for students. avl.mx/ea2.
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